Fork You

Fork you, a game of knifey spoony
Fork You is a card game played by most factions and travellers in the New England Commonwealth

Background
Originally used to provide judgements for disputes in the wasteland, the game is a direct evolution from rock, paper, scissors after they forgot the original hand signs. As most denziens of the wasteland will at least own one set of cutlery for personal use, it was a convenient tool for using luck and a little strategy to provide bloodless resolutions to differences of opinions without wasting time scouring the wasteland for scraps of cardboard.

Fork you can be played anywhere, from deciding whose washing the dishes to playing for caps, it is the simple go to for killing time considering Angry Birds and mobile phones don't exist in the Fallout universe

Obtaining Cutlery and raising stakes
Usually wastelanders carry a personal set of eating implements as they adhere to the soldiers credo - " be prepared to eat or sleep whenever you can because you never know when you can next"

You can stake caps at the start of the game (even playing a round to set the limit) or play for the cutlery itself. Notable games have been played with expensive pre-war silver cutlery changing hands as rounds are won and lost

Gameplay
Fork You (or "knifey spoony") is played between two people sitting at a table concealing their cutlery under it, or behind their back. They choose one implement in their "attack" hand (right), and the rest in their "defence" hand (left) hidden from view, and reveal their choices together The attack hands are compared in a manner similar to rock, paper, scissors. Its basic iteration is a simultaneous, zero-sum game, it has only two possible outcomes: a draw, or a win for one player and a loss for the other. {| border="0" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="1" style="width:500px;" class="article-table" ! scope="col"|tableware         equivalent          variant          conquers         loses to     order ! scope="col"|
 * +Cutlery types

3-Spoon          Paper          Thief          Fork            Knife

 * }
 * }

The initial play is with the attack hand, and in simple games it is determined exactly as the game it evolved from. A player who decides to present their knife will beat another player who has chosen spoon, but will lose to one who has played fork; a play of spoon will lose to a play of knife. If both players choose the same item, the game is tied and the defence hand comes into play.

The easiest way to remember these combinations that are taught to wastlanders at the dinner table at an early age is to remember a cascading set of of combinations. They always follow the knife - fork - spoon order, and the implement loses to the next one in the order, but beats the one preceeding

Most variants play in the following order, but contrarians may play in a different order. Most New Englanders will dismiss such play styles as a new york thing and refuse to use the variant

People outside of the wasteland who are familiar with the original game may find it hard to acclimatise themselves to the new playing items, considering many wastelanders may not have seen paper or scissors, and the clenched fist of the rock tends to suggest other intentions, they would find it just as hard to remember the hand symbol game you may be used to.

If you are still befuddled by the combinations, you can always try caravan

Defence hand
In the situation where the players 'draw' (or parry) the defence hand comes into play. No one has the time for replays in post apocalyptica so the leftover cutlery is hidden and one is chosen for the attack hand again. This is played just as the previous, except the previous attack hand is out of play.

In the event another parry is made, the leftover card are openly played, usually resulting in the start of a brand new round

Whoever wins takes the losing implement or the stakes that had been set prior to the game.

At this point some winning players may use the tableware to make celebratory music, but this is largely considered bad form and potential for encouraging the use of the losers cutlery for poking holes in meatbags.

Behind the scenes

 * The development of this game came after a discussion on a boring train journey as an alternative to the complications of caravan. It was intended as a fun way for players to interact with characters in the region other than the obvious hack & slash tactic
 * The idea that modern accepted concepts may evolve or change into potentially unrecognisable forms is an ongoing theme within the design guide for FOV

Bugs

 * This game has not been playtested until I wash the dishes, and any outside suggestions will be considered
 * Great care has been made to limit the "Bethesda bugs" that infest much of the wasteland, but their appearance is more common but less welcome than that of the mysterious stranger