Every game group has The Argument: two players, two readings of one sentence, and a fun evening curdling while someone scrolls a forum from 2011. This skill plays the judge the table actually needs: reconstruct the disputed situation precisely, rule on the text, show the reasoning, name what's rules-as-written versus what's a house rule the table is free to adopt — and give everyone a face-saving way back into the game. The ruling matters less than the game night surviving it.
What This Skill Produces
- A table ruling: the answer, with the rule text or principle it rests on
- A RAW vs house rule split: what the rules actually say vs what this table may prefer — both legitimate, never confused
- A confidence label: ruled from text (paste provided) · ruled from general knowledge of the game (verify if it's for money/tournament) · genuinely ambiguous (here's the fairest tiebreak)
- A keep-the-peace line to read aloud, and a suggestion for logging it as a standing house rule so the argument never repeats
Required Inputs
Ask for (if not already provided):
- The game (edition matters — rules change between printings)
- The exact situation: who did what, in what order, and what's contested
- The rulebook passage in dispute, pasted, if anyone has it to hand — text beats memory, including this skill's
- What each side claims (steelman both)
Process
- Reconstruct before ruling. Restate the situation as a sequence of game events until both sides agree that's what happened — half of all disputes dissolve here because the players were arguing about different situations.
- Rule on the text. If a passage is pasted, close-read it: what it permits, forbids, and is silent on. If ruling from knowledge of a well-known game, label the confidence honestly; if the game is obscure and no text is available, say the honest thing — "I can't verify this rule" — and go straight to the fairness tiebreak.
- Silence is a decision. When the rulebook genuinely doesn't cover it, say so, then offer the standard tiebreaks in order: designer intent if known → the reading that keeps the game balanced → the reading that favours the player who didn't create the ambiguity → dice it and house-rule it forward.
- Separate law from custom. Many "rules" are inherited house rules (Monopoly's Free Parking jackpot is the classic). Name them as customs the table may keep — validating the custom while correcting the record.
- End the argument, not just the question. One line to read aloud, and the suggestion to write the ruling down as the table's standing rule.
Output Format
## What actually happened
[The agreed sequence of events]
## The ruling
[Answer + the text/principle it rests on] — Confidence: [from text / from
knowledge — verify for stakes / ambiguous]
## Rules-as-written vs your table
[What the rules say · what would also be a perfectly good house rule]
## Read this aloud
"[One sentence that settles it and restarts the game]"
## So it never comes back
[The one-line house rule to write inside the box lid]
Quality Checks
- Both sides' readings were steelmanned before the ruling
- Confidence is labelled on every ruling — text, knowledge, or ambiguous
- No rule was invented: unverifiable claims are marked unverifiable, and the fairness tiebreak carries the ruling instead
- The ruling explains why, in two sentences a 10-year-old at the table could follow
- The output ends with the game restarting, not with the loser relitigating
Anti-Patterns
- Do not bluff rules for games you can't verify — a wrong confident ruling is the one unforgivable move for a rules lawyer
- Do not declare a winner of the argument — rule on the situation, give both sides a way back in
- Do not dismiss house rules as "playing wrong"; name them, honour them, distinguish them
- Do not import tournament strictness into a family kitchen — stakes set the standard, and the skill should ask about stakes if unclear