Gavel
Original · an auction for three to five
Every coin you spend is a point you no longer have.
Ready to play now.
A demonstration of Gavel, played by the computer against itself.
Gavel — playing itself
Ways to play
Alone, against the computer
Your own pace, no arranging anything. Take a move back whenever you like.
Play alone5 opponents, weakest first
- Random HandRaises the minimum half the time and passes the rest. It takes 30 houses of 239 decided off the Accountant at three seats and 586 of the 1800 lots between them — a bidder with no reserve buys plenty and keeps nothing.
- The AccountantWorks out what the lot is worth to its own client, thins that by the number of bidders still in, and names that whole number outright the first time it is asked. 209–30 over Random Hand at three seats, 176–22 at four, 150–22 at five. Its flaw is every honest reserve’s: it always buys at exactly what it was willing to pay.
- The NibblerThe same reserve, bid a coin at a time from underneath. Not a different number — a different thought: it wins the lots the Accountant wins and pays what the room made it pay. 203–41 over the Accountant at three seats and 760 lots to 446 between them; 192–32 at five seats.
- The Public PriceStops pricing the lot for itself and pays the BASE, every lot, every time. It throws its own client away as a guide, and what it buys is denial: nobody gets a lot under its public number and the Nibbler’s bargains stop existing. 166–79 at three seats, 144–67 at four, 105–73 at five — the thinnest step on this ladder, and the note says so.
- The AuctioneerThe Public Price on five lots and something else entirely on the sixth: with the bag spent, every purse public and every base known, it works out the highest bid that still leaves it ahead and nibbles to exactly that. It counts its rivals’ banked premiums at nothing, which is what the room can honestly count them at, and its own at full — the last lot is the one lot where the client is the margin. 220–25 at three seats, 915 lots to 172.
Together, in the same room
3–5 players. One device goes round the table, or everybody plays off the same screen.
Play in the same roomOnline, at a table
A room code, joinable from anywhere. Pause tonight and pick it up next week from your device.
Play online
About
Six lots from a public bag, three to five purses, and one hammer. Each lot has a base value anybody can count — and a private premium your own client pays you on top, dealt face down, so nobody in the room values the same lot the same. Raise or pass for good; the last bidder standing pays their bid and opens the next lot. At the hammer, lots won count their base, your client’s premiums are revealed and counted, and every coin left counts one.
How it feels
- A room reading a room
- Bargaining with arithmetic
- Somebody always pays too much
What the design is for
A coin is a point
Not scoring money, spending it: a lot won is worth its base and a coin kept is worth one, so no lot is ever worth its full price to a bidder who is not behind. The whole game is which side of that trade you end up on.
Your client stays yours
Each bidder holds a private premium on every lot, dealt face down, and it is banked out of sight and revealed only at the hammer. It used to be added straight into the public column of lots won, which meant a table could read a rival’s secret off the house sheet by subtracting the base; there is a test now that fails if any seat’s premium appears in another seat’s view.
The premium is what makes it a game
Sit five identical bidders down with the clients switched off and the probe prints `300 houses drew 300` — every house level, no decision anywhere in it. Switch the clients on and the same five bidders draw 86 of 300. The secret is not flavour; it is the whole of the disagreement.
The leader never bids against itself
When the turn comes back round to the bidder whose money is already on the table, everyone who could have answered has declined, and the hammer falls. The rostrum used to go round regardless and hand the leader the microphone, where its only legal move was to pass and throw away the lot it was winning.
The bag is a countdown
Six lots from a known multiset: the table can always count what is still coming, and the last lot — bases known, purses public, premiums live — is an arithmetic problem everybody can do and nobody can avoid.
Taught by the hammer
Five steps: the first bid, the coin you refuse to spend, the raise that taxes somebody else, the last lot’s subtraction — and then the whole house to yourself. Every posed lesson deals the clients to nothing, so the sums the text promises are the sums on the screen.
- Best at
- 4
- Kind
- Party
- Table
- Competitive
- Studio
- Board.game Originals
The opponents
Random Hand
Raises the minimum half the time and passes the rest. It takes 30 houses of 239 decided off the Accountant at three seats and 586 of the 1800 lots between them — a bidder with no reserve buys plenty and keeps nothing.
The Accountant
Works out what the lot is worth to its own client, thins that by the number of bidders still in, and names that whole number outright the first time it is asked. 209–30 over Random Hand at three seats, 176–22 at four, 150–22 at five. Its flaw is every honest reserve’s: it always buys at exactly what it was willing to pay.
The Nibbler
The same reserve, bid a coin at a time from underneath. Not a different number — a different thought: it wins the lots the Accountant wins and pays what the room made it pay. 203–41 over the Accountant at three seats and 760 lots to 446 between them; 192–32 at five seats.
The Public Price
Stops pricing the lot for itself and pays the BASE, every lot, every time. It throws its own client away as a guide, and what it buys is denial: nobody gets a lot under its public number and the Nibbler’s bargains stop existing. 166–79 at three seats, 144–67 at four, 105–73 at five — the thinnest step on this ladder, and the note says so.
The Auctioneer
The Public Price on five lots and something else entirely on the sixth: with the bag spent, every purse public and every base known, it works out the highest bid that still leaves it ahead and nibbles to exactly that. It counts its rivals’ banked premiums at nothing, which is what the room can honestly count them at, and its own at full — the last lot is the one lot where the client is the margin. 220–25 at three seats, 915 lots to 172.
Achievements
0 of 5 earned
The Hammer
Win a house of Gavel.
Never Bid a Lot
Win the house without taking a single lot.
Still Holding
Win with more than half your starting purse unspent.
The Collector
Win having taken more value off the table than anybody.
By One Coin
Win the house by a single point.
Key art
Key art — Board.game art system
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