Chapter 10 Going Through the Rules

Peach exchanged a look with her sisters. While their hostile looks were still there, there was also a smidgen of defeat visible in their faces. Peach herself couldn't blame them, as she felt that way too. She looked back over at the Koopas, all gathered around the table. Iggy had pulled out two decks of cards from his hammerspace, and said cards now sat in a neatly organized pile in the table's center. Peach cautiously took a step forward, her eyes darting between her sisters and Solar. She didn't dare look at the Koopas directly.

"Okay," Iggy said once he cleared out his throat. "I suppose we should go over the rules."

Peach relaxed a little bit. While the idea of playing a card game had been exciting when it was originally suggested, her knowledge of A Thousand Blank White Cards was obviously very limited. As much as she disliked the Koopas, and as much as she would continue disliking them, she was a little bit grateful that they were here to explain the rules of this mystery card game. She took a seat at the table.

"Now," Iggy said, an authoritative and knowledgeable tone present in his voice. "A Thousand Blank White Cards is a fairly unique game amongst the variety of cards games, as rules vary depending on who you're playing with as well as the house rules that the players typically abide by." He adjusted his glasses, his authoritarian nature present in every movement he made. "Since I am most familiar with how my family likes to play the game, that is the set of rules that I will present here."

Peach leaned forward, as did Aqua, Daisy, and Solar. There was a sort of suspense in the air. Whether or not it was a good type of suspense remained to be seen.

Iggy pointed to the first deck in the center of the table. "One rule that remains consistent no matter what version of the game you are playing is the nature of the cards." He picked up the card on top of the deck and displayed it to the non-Koopas. "As you can see, these cards are just blank white index cards, which is where we get the name of the game." He picked up another card in the other deck and displayed that too. This one had writing and a hand drawn picture on the back. "The reason for this is because the cards that are used throughout the game are created by the players themselves."

Daisy noticeably perked up upon hearing that. "That's…actually kind of cool."

"Yeah!" Bowser Junior exclaimed. "It allows you to get creative!"

Lemmy giggled. "Honestly, I don't find it very card to decide what I want to do in this game!" He burst into laughter, drawing an eye roll out of Peach and a disgusted shake of the head from Aqua.

Iggy sniffed and looked over at his chortling brother. "Thank you so much Lemonade; your contributions to this conversation are unparalleled." He put both cards back on their respective decks. "Now I will get into the nitty gritty details about the game."

"One rule that we Koopas like to abide by is the points system." He picked up another card and pointed to the writing on its back. "For the most part, cards typically bestow a number of points on the people who draw them from the deck. For example, this one awards the player five hundred points." He cleared his throat. "That is typically what you need to keep track of if you want to win; your point value. Of course, the game itself doesn't end until every single card in the deck is drawn and distributed."

Peach nodded. "Okay…"

"Yes." A smile grew on the Koopaling's face. "Now, here is where things get interesting." He scanned through the deck until he located one particular card. "Some cards give the player options of who to play them to. What I mean by that is that you can play it to yourself; if you do that, you get the points on the card as long as you do the task presented on it, if there is a task at all." He pointed to another line printed on the card. "You can also play the card to another person; forcing them to do the task. Having them do the task can either award them points, or prevent them from losing points. As you can imagine, this can add a layer of strategy to the game; there are times where you have to be cunning when handling your cards." He pointed to the last line written on the card. "Finally, the third option is that you can play the card to the center. If you do that, then everyone is forced to complete the task."

Peach thought about this. It…it honestly sounded like fun. A little bizarre and a little mean at points, but overall a lot of fun. After all, sometimes the most enjoyable games involved being seedy or malicious towards your opponents. While she would never admit it, Peach loved being mean to her opponents. Especially if said opponents were the Koopas.

"Now," Iggy continued. "This game can include up to about thirty people."

Aqua's eyes grew wide. "Thirty?!"

"Yes," Iggy sand with a nod. "As you can imagine, this game is particularly popular as a party game." He scanned over the room. "Now, we have thirteen people in total present. Since that is an odd number, I do not believe that splitting off into separate groups would be a good idea. Instead, I suggest we all take part and play around this table."

Peach nodded. She took a seat at the table, scooting close to it. Every one else took a seat as well. Some of the people, particularly Bowser, had to really squeeze up tight in order to make room. However, they all managed to take their seat. Peach was grateful that she wasn't seated next to any of the Koopas; instead, she was in between Daisy and Solar.

"As I said before," Iggy continued, "this game ends when all the cards are drawn, and the winner is the one with the most points." He picked up the deck with no writing on any of the cards. "While we do have cards that were premade, I would recommend that we all take some time to create new cards. It will help all of us to feel involved."

With that, he distributed the cards around the table, giving each person about five a piece. Once she had a pen in hand, Peach admittedly felt powerful. There was something about constructing the cards that will be used in the game that made her feel like she was an all powerful goddess. She normally wouldn't indulge in this sort of power fantasy, but now…? Now, everything was at her fingertips. She held the fate of the others in her hands.

"Don't be afraid to get creative with your cards," Iggy advised as he wrote on one of his. "The more creativity involved, the more fun this game will be."

Peach nodded. She thought about what to put on her five cards for about a minute, mulling over the endless options in her head, Then, doing her absolute best to hide her wicked smile, she constructed her cards. Three out of the five were basic cards; they just awarded the player who drew them points. The other two though…oh, Heaven have mercy on whoever drew those cards. Peach felt goosebumps form all over her body when she finished drawing them.

"I'm all set," she said. She gave the cards back to Iggy. Bowser and Solar had finished creating their cards around the same time as she did, so they all sat around the table watching the others constructing their five cards.

"This is exciting," Bowser said with a grin. He looked right at Peach. "I'm glad that I'm playing this game with you."

Peach sniffed. "Yes. It's SO wonderful," she said.

Bowser, unaware of the sarcasm, laughed. "It is!" He looked over at Solar. "And I'm sure Shiny Boy is going to have fun playing this too! He seems like the kind of guy who enjoys this sort of thing!"

Solar's milky white face turned rose pink as he blushed. "I'm…I'm sure I will."

Bowser laughed again, the sound so strong that it carried throughout the room. He leaned against the table, grinning from ear to ear as he looked at Peach. "Do you think we can consider this an official date?"

Peach's own face grew warm. "Of course not! I'm only here because Rosalina invited me!"

Bowser's grin grew bigger. "Rosalina might be the reason you arrived. But I think I am the reason you're going to stay."

Peach shook her head. "Yeah. I'm sure that's it."

"I'm done," Aqua said as she gave her cards to Iggy.

"Me too," said Wendy. Morton, Daisy, Ludwig, Lemmy, and Larry each gave their cards to the bespectacled Koopaling. He carefully put them in a pile and shuffled them.

"Okay," Iggy said. "Looks like we're almost done." He looked over at his immediate older brother. "Roy, we're just waiting on you."

"I know, I know, I just need a sec." Roy bit his lip as he hastily wrote on one of his cards. "Man, this is a lot harder than it looks."

"What's so hard about it?" asked Larry. "All you have to do is come up with cards that will be best at screwing someone over!"

Peach felt tempted to glare at Larry. However, she ultimately decided it would be hypocritical, given the thoughts she had while making her cards.

"Come on, come on," Roy muttered, his hand writing extra fast. Finally, he stopped. "Done!" He gave the cards to Iggy, who shuffled them in the deck.

"Alright." He distributed cards around the group, giving everyone three a piece. He put the remaining cards in the center face down. He picked up his own cards with a sly grin. "I'm ready when you are."

Peach chuckled as she lifted her cards. "I was born ready."