Some other math/crypto sci-fi

[Bill Stewart]

>> >> You could do a collectable card game based on the patent mess, but the
>> >> idea of a collectable card game has already been patented.  (Now
owned by
>> >> Hasbro now that they bought Wizards of the Cost.)

On a slightly more cypherpunkish theme, before Cryptonomicon had the
base-52 Solitaire encryption, there had been some people who'd done
256-card implementations of RC4.  That's a lot of cards -
a 64-card version would still be reasonably secure.
The Illuminati collectable-card-game cards from Steve Jackson Games
would do well (maybe there are 256?), but it's easier to do
something with suits and numbers on lots of the cards;
a Tarot deck has something like 79 cards, and an appropriate
amount of deliberate obfuscation.  
There's also the Silicon Valley Tarot (which first appeared on the web, 
www.svtarot.com, but SJG sells the cards) which has more localized archetypes,
like The Hacker, The Garage, The Ace of Cubicles, Bugs, Encryption.





				Thanks! 
					Bill
Bill Stewart, bill.stewart at pobox.com
PGP Fingerprint D454 E202 CBC8 40BF  3C85 B884 0ABE 4639