MATR1X 0VERL0AD

A cyberpunk solitaire game

Written & Designed by M1CHAEL ELL10TT

Based on GR1DCANN0N by T0M FRANC1S

Produced by my Patrons:

M1CHAEL BA1N
C1NDY CHAMBERLA1N
SARA CH1CAZUL
NAV1
PATR0N
TER1
M1KE TH0RPE
T1M
T0NY
GU1LLAUME TREMBLAY

http://patreon.com/notwriting

🖳♦♣♥♠🕱
/INFLUENCES
//GR1DCANN0N by T0M FRANC1S
//GENTLEMAN BAND1T by ALL1S0N ARTH
//DUNGE0N SOL1TA1RE: T0MB 0F F0UR K1NGS by MATTHEW L0WES
INTR0.TXT
Connecting to http://fanfiction.pacifica...
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It is the year 21XX.

You are the best hacker in Pacifica Prime. You’ve been scraping
pay-data off of corporate servers and scouting the dark corners of the
neon-lit matrix since you were old enough to handle your mom’s ancient
dvorak keyboard.

No one knows the matrix like you do.

You’ve run scams with other hacker collectives to leak unreleased

intellectual property. You once cracked a corporate manager’s illicit
credit account and used the money you stole to throw the best block
party Pacifica Prime has ever seen. One time you arranged for a whole
shipment of Amazing Prime™ slurry to be delivered to climate disaster
refugees.

But that’s all bits and bytes compared to this next job. Every run
you’ve made was a setup for this moment. You have your sights on the
biggest score of all: a single hack targeting the Royals of Pacifica
Prime.

The Royals are untouchable. Corporate CEOs, celebrities, and oligarchs

who control all the money and power in Pacifica Prime. You’re about to
steal everything they own and leave them for dead, burned from the
inside out by their compromised cyberware. One night, one hack, one
hell of a fortune. If you survive you’ll have enough money to make a
new world, a better world. If you fail, well, you’ve been on the run
from these corporate suits for your whole life. Hackers don’t retire in
Pacifica Prime.
GAME.RULES
/Run matr1x_0verl0ad.exe
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MATR1X OVERL0AD is a cyberpunk solitaire game about killing the rich by

hacking the internet. You’ll use a standard set of playing cards,
jokers loaded, to lay out a grid representing the internet and surround
it with royal cards that represent your targets. You’ll stack cards by
order of their value on the grid, representing your efforts as a hacker
to try to kill your targets, avoid ICE, and get out alive.

/SETUP
Start with a shuffled deck of playing cards, jokers loaded.

With the deck face-down, draw cards one by one and lay them face up in
a 3×3 grid, skipping the center position. This is the matrix, a
representation of the internet. If you draw any royals (jacks, queens,
or kings) when laying out the matrix put them face down in a separate
pile and keep drawing until you’ve made the grid without any royals.

If you drew any royals when setting up the matrix you now place them
the same way you will when playing: put them outside the matrix,
adjacent to the card in the matrix that it is most similar to. That
means placing the royal next to the highest value card of the same
suit. If none of the cards in the matrix match the royal’s suit, then
place it next to the highest value card of the same colour. If none of
the cards in the matrix match the royal’s colour, then place it next to
the card that has the highest value. If there is a tie you choose where
to put the royal. If the card most similar to the royal is on a corner
of the matrix, you can choose which side of the card to place the
royal.
//SETUP.EXAMPLE
/Run setup_example.exe
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Here is an example of a player setting up the matrix. The player has

drawn cards from the deck and laid them out in a 3x3 grid, skipping the
center space. They have set aside the 3 royals they drew when laying
out the grid in a face down pile and are now ready to place them.

5 2 4
♥ ♥ ♣
10 6
♣ ♥
3 7 5
♥ ♣ ♣

The player then places the royals outside the matrix. They draw and
place the K♣ first next to the 10♣ since it is the highest value card
of the same suit. Next they place the Q♦ next to the 6♥ since there are
no diamonds and the 6♥ is the highest card of the same colour. Finally
they place the J♠ next to the 7♣ since there are no spades and the 7♣
is the highest card of the same colour.

5 2 4
♥ ♥ ♣
K 10 6 Q
♣ ♣ ♥ ♦
3 7 5
♥ ♣ ♣
J
♠
/PLAY
You are now ready to play MATR1X 0VERL0AD. You play by drawing a card
from the deck and following these rules:

//R0YALS
If the card is a royal it is one of the targets of your epic
hack, and must be placed using the placement rules above.
<<<We started calling them royals after the climate
apocalypse. All that power and money spread across so few
people. Of course we worshipped them, we needed to eat.>>>

//PR0GRAMS
If the card has a value of 2-10 this is one of the programs in
your epic hack and you must place it on one of the cards in the
matrix to form a stack. It can go on any card with the same or
lower value.
<<<Well-known exploits, malware, multi-headed worms, trojan
packages, storage doublers, and an entire flat of Amazing
Prime™ energy drinks. Everything a hacker needs.>>>

//RESETS
If the card is an ace or joker these are different types of
resets. When you reset a stack pick it up and add it to the
bottom of the deck. Then place the ace or joker where that stack
was in the matrix.

///ACES
Aces are a soft reset. You can play an ace on any stack of
cards in the matrix to reset it and add it to the bottom of
the deck. Aces have a value of 1.

///J0KERS
Jokers are a hard reset. You must play a joker on the stack
that has the lowest value showing on the top card. If
there’s a tie, then you can choose either of the lowest
cards. Jokers have a value of zero and their suit is wild
[they can be whatever suit you like].

Empty spaces in the matrix have a value of zero.

/K1LL1NG R0YALS
When you place a card in the matrix opposite a royal – so that there
are two cards in a row between the stack where you placed a card and a
royal – those two cards become an overload of malicious code that you
are firing at the royal through the matrix. The sum of the two card
values is the overload’s power. If the sum of the overload is equal to
or greater than the health of the royal, the royal is killed. If the
sum of the overload is less than the health of the royal, nothing
happens.

Different types of royals have different numeric values and different

methods by which they can be killed.

//JACKS
Jacks have 11 health. To kill a jack the cards in the overload
can be any suit.
<<<The lowest of the royals. Glorified middle-managers. It
doesn’t take much to hack these fools. Some of them still
have their passwords set to “secret”.>>>

//QUEENS
Queens have 12 health. To kill a queen all cards in the overload
must match the colour of the queen.
<<<True royals, these billionaires will take a little
creativity to put in the ground.>>>

//K1NGS
Kings have 13 health. To kill a king all cards in the overload
must match the suit of the king.
<<<The richest of the rich. Your programs will need to be
perfect to crack their cyberware and liquidate their
significant assets.>>>

Resetting a stack with an ace or joker also triggers an overload.

When you kill a royal, flip over their card and any associated ICE face
down.
/ICE
If you cannot place a card in the matrix [because the card in hand has
a lower value than any card showing in the matrix] it is added as
Intrusion Countermeasure Electronics [ICE] to one of the royals.

ICE is placed on top or underneath the royal that it is most similar to

[closest value and suit, just like the rules for placing a royal] and
increases the royal’s health by the card’s value. When you place ICE
make sure the cards do not completely overlap so that you can see the
value of each card. This will make it easier to calculate the health of
each royal when playing.

For example, if you cannot place a 3♠ on any stack of the matrix and
the K♠ and Q♠ are alive and have been placed outside the matrix with no
ICE, you would place the 3♠ offset on the Q♠, since it has the closest
value [12 rather than 13]. The queen’s health is now 15 [12 health for
the queen + 3 health from the 3♠].

If there is a tie when placing ICE you may choose which of the tied
royals gets additional ICE.

If there are no royals around the matrix when you draw a card that you
cannot play, it is placed as preventative ICE [the royals have heard
rumours that you’re coming for them]. Place the ICE following the rules
for placing a royal [near the highest value and closest suit in the
matrix]. When a royal is placed on a spot with preventative ICE it
automatically adds the ICE to its health.

Cards played as ICE never return to the deck or matrix.

//PLAY.EXAMPLE
/Run play_example.exe
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Here is an example of a game of MATR1X 0VERL0AD already in progress.

The player has killed 6 royals and flipped their cards over. 5 royals
remain alive outside the matrix, and 1 royal is still in the deck. The
J♦ has the 3♦ as ICE and so has a total health of 14. The player’s deck
and latest draw are shown on the top left of the diagram below. The
player has just drawn the 6♣ and must play it as a program in the
matrix.

🕱 6
♣
K
♠ 🕱 🕱
Q 6 7 10 J 3
♠ ♠ ♣ ♦ ♦ ♦
5 8 8 K
♠ ♦ ♥ ♥

🕱 8
♣
A
♣
9
♣ 🕱
J
♣ 🕱 🕱
The player has 3 valid choices for where to place the card.

They could place it on the 5♠ triggering an overload against the K♥.

This would not kill the K♥ because the cards in the overload (the 8♦
and 8♥) do not both match the king’s suit.

The player could also play the 6♣ on the A♣. This would not trigger an
overload since the royal opposite this stack is dead. This would also
make it difficult to play any lower valued cards in the future, which
means more royals could get ICE and become more difficult to kill.

The player chooses the third possibility, to place the 6♣ on the 6♠.
 🕱 K
♠ 🕱 🕱
Q 6 7 10 J 3
♠ ♣ ♣ ♦ ♦ ♦
5 8 8 K
♠ ♦ ♥ ♥

🕱 8
♣
A
♣
9
♣ 🕱
J
♣ 🕱 🕱
Since the 6♣ is placed opposite a living royal [the J♦] the card
triggers an overload targeting the J♦. The overload includes the 7♣ and
10♦, which have a total value of 17. The J♦ has a health of 14 [a base
health of 11 plus the 3♦ as ICE]. The overload is greater than the
jack’s health and doesn’t need to match the jack’s suit or colour, so
the J♦ dies.

This play also kills the J♣, since it triggers an overload with a sum
greater than that jack’s health. The player flips those cards over and
continues to play.

🕱 K
♠ 🕱 🕱
Q
♠
6
♣
7
♣
10
♦ 🕱
5 8 8 K
♠ ♦ ♥ ♥

🕱 8
♣
A
♣
9
♣ 🕱
🕱 🕱 🕱
/END1NG THE GAME
There is only one way to win MATR1X 0VERL0AD.

//K1LL ALL THE R0YALS

When you kill all the royals in the deck (all 3 jacks, 3 queens,
and 3 kings) you’ve won!
<<<Congrats, you have done the impossible and can retire to
a life of revolutionary justice.>>>

There are 3 ways to lose MATR1X 0VERL0AD.

//0UT 0F T1ME
If the deck is empty and there are still royals living around the
matrix, you lose. You ran out of time and resources so the royals
are going to hunt you down.
<<<Let’s be honest, it was always going to end this way.>>>

//BLACK ICE
If any royal accrues enough ICE to bring it’s total value to more
than 20, you lose. The royal has gathered enough ICE that hacking
their system has become impossible.
<<<The royals’ private security will definitely track you
down, kill you, and burn your entire apartment complex to
the ground.>>>

//FATAL 1NF1N1TE RECURS10N ERR0R

It is possible to get stuck in an infinite loop where all you can
do is place a reset card (a joker or ace), replay the cards in
the stack, and play a reset again, unable to kill any remaining
royals. If this happens, you lose.
<<<Your suite of elite hacking software and black market
gear has malfunctioned. Don’t worry, you’ll be brain dead
by the time the cops find you.>>>

Disconnecting...