Spellbinder (game)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Spellbinder (also known as Waving Hands) is a 1977 pencil-and-paper game that was invented by Richard Bartle and first published in his fanzine Sauce of the Nile. It has since been re-created in a variety of formats, including X-Windows, play-by-email, Java applet, and web-based.

Two or more players assign to wizards, and they have to 'cast spells' at each other. These spells are cast through gestures: each turn, the player chooses two gestures, one for each hand, from clap (C), wave (W), snap (S), wriggle fingers (F), proffered palm (P) and digit point (D). These gestures are built up via many turns to form spells. For instance, one can cast the spell "Magic Missle" by performing the S (snap) gesture followed by the D (digit point) with the same hand. Thus, one could conceivably cast two spells at once; however, this is only useful infrequently for various reasons.