Panopticon

This is a game designed for classrooms and workshops for exploring power, surveillance and resistance. The game is best played with between 8-12 players

All of the players except one are collectively known as the Hands. Their objective is to trade cards until one Hand has four cards of the same kind in different suits. They win and lose collectively. One player is known as the Eye and they have the same objective, but win or lose alone.

Organise a standard deck of playing cards into sets of four (eg, four kings, four sixes). Create a deck with as many sets of four as there are Hands (if you have 10 Hands, create a deck of 40 cards: 10 sets of four). Shuffle well. Distribute four random cards to each Hand, but not to the Eye.

The Hands stand in a circle, within reach of their neighbors, facing outwards from the centre so their backs face one another. Each turn of the game lasts 20 seconds. During this time, Hands may give cards to the people immediately on their left or right. Hands may not move from their position. No Hand may have more than four cards at one time. A Hand may only give one card at a time to their neighbors. Hands are absolutely forbidden from any verbal communication, including making sounds.

The Eye stands in the middle of the circle of Hands. Because the Hands are facing outward, they cannot see the Eye. The Eye observes the Hands. The Eye has a timer. They clap to start the turn and the Hands may now give one another cards. After 20 seconds, the Eye claps again to end the turn, and the Hands must immediately stop exchanging cards.

The Eye may now select one Hand and inspect their cards. The Eye may take as many of that Hand's cards as they like, returning the rest. The Eye may have no more than four cards and must give any extra to the Hand.

After the Eye has completed their inspection, they clap to initiate a new turn, which lasts 20 seconds. This continues until someone wins.

During any turn, if the Eye catches any of the Hands breaking the above rules they may end the turn immediately and take cheating Hand's cards, as above.

As soon as any player has four of the same card they hold them up and announce they have one. If the Hands win, the Hand who collected all four cards becomes the new Eye, and the former Eye becomes a Hand. If the Eye wins, they remain the eye. Collect all the cards and shuffle them and redistribute four new random cards to each Hand. The Hands now change position so they are not beside the same Hands as in the last round. Another round begins.

The rules of this game are intentionally minimalist and teachers and facilitators should not seek to clarify or embellish them, but simply repeat them if needed.

Max Haiven, 2026, CC BY-NC-SA