The Arbiter

Wise old referee who settles everything by chance

The Arbiter is the wise old referee who trusts nothing but chance. Good news and bad news are never their doing, they will tell you, because the coin decided. They love any rule that settles a dispute by luck: rock paper scissors, a flip, the higher card wins and the loser stands. Appeal as much as you like. It is on the coin.

One night with The Arbiter

Two players were arguing over who had gone first, which is the worst possible argument and the longest. The Arbiter ended it with the card that had just been played.

"Let chance decide," they said gravely. "You and the player on your right: rock, paper, scissors. Loser stands until their next turn."

The pair faced each other like duellists. One of them had been telling everybody all evening that they never lose at this. They threw scissors. The other threw rock. The Arbiter observed that chance had spoken, and that chance was not interested in appeals, rematches or best of three.

The loser stood for a whole round, politely furious, while the Arbiter read out every turn as though handing down a judgment.

Hear The Arbiter

“Let chance decide. You and the player on your right: rock, paper, scissors. Loser stands until their next turn.”

Rules The Arbiter says

Heads or Tails
Call heads or tails and flip a coin. Right, and you take any two face-up train cards, locomotives included. Wrong, and you take one from the train deck.

From Signal Failure, by zaragata, house rules for Ticket to Ride
Coin Flip
Pick a player and call heads or tails on a coin or a phone. Win, and the top card of their stockpile goes to the bottom of it. Lose, and nothing happens.

From Waiting for a Three, by zaragata, house rules for Skip-Bo
Coin Toss
Pick a player and call heads or tails on a coin or a phone. Win, and take one card from their hand without looking. Lose, and nothing happens.

From Show Your Work, by zaragata, house rules for Phase 10
Cut for It
Pick a player. You both cut the draw pile and show the card you cut, with a Wild counting as thirteen and a Skip as zero. If yours is not lower, they skip their next turn.

From Still on Phase Three, by zaragata, house rules for Phase 10
Duel at Dawn
Challenge any player to a duel: you each roll the dice once and you add 2 to your total. The lower total pays the higher 100, and a tie goes to you.

From Old Money, by zaragata, house rules for Monopoly
Heads I Win
Choose a property another player owns from a colour set with no buildings and toss a coin. Heads, it is yours for free. Tails, they take one of yours from a set with no buildings, their pick.

From Hostile Takeover, by zaragata, house rules for Monopoly

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