Chances are you’ve heard the old idiom, “What goes around, comes around”. It’s an old bit a folksy wisdom, but the idea it conveys – what you do to those around you forms repercussions – has been seeded throughout human civilization for, well, about as long as we’ve had civilization. In fact, it can be argued that one of the central tenets of a lawful society is that the only way for us to function and progress at all is to not give into every impulse we may have. That we restrain ourselves from acts which take advantage of other people – for risk of it becoming acceptable for others to do it to us in turn. This is why for millennia cultures have discouraged peoples not to lie, or cheat, or steal, or murder someone simply because they can.
We have lots of ways to explain the belief that our actions have consequences because we eventually realized it’s pretty important to our mutual survival. Hence the myriad means of expression. Reciprocity. Comeuppance. Just Desserts. That whole “do unto others” thing.
Or, in the case of many Eastern beliefs, the idea of karma.
Karma is the idea of a cosmic cause and effect, a collective balancing act in which your deeds will circle back on you. If you do good things, good things will be returned in kind. If you do bad things, the universe will make you suffer. In many cases, such as Hinduism, this ethereal ledger spans multiple lifetimes, whether as a human or…another part of the animal kingdom.
This is the setting you’ll find yourself part of in the lightweight and visually vibrant card game Karmaka. Borrowing from the general premise of the karmic cycle, players move through a series of several short rounds as various creatures. During each of these rounds, players are presented with a clever conundrum, where they must balance playing enough cards to reach the next stage of reincarnation on the one hand while setting aside enough cards to help them in the next round on the other. Some of these cards are there merely to aid you, but many of the most also punish your opponents at the same time. However, in true karmic fashion, using those cards on someone in one round are almost guaranteed to come back and be used against you in the next.
In this game, what goes around truly does come around. The question becomes: what kind of lives will you lead?
To that end, we’ve decided to offer up a bit of karmic reciprocity ourselves. To celebrate the end of 2016 and usher in a year we all hope will be more optimistic, we’ve prepared a little site survey for you to take to help us make sure we’re doing our best for our readers & listeners.
To balance out that task, we’re giving going to be raffling off a couple items for your efforts. One lucky survey participant will be drawn at random to win:
- One Retail Copy of Karmaka and
- One $25 Gift Card to Amazon.com
From now until midnight EST on January 6th you can check the contest out by clicking on the survey link below. Just follow the entry form and proceed with the completing the survey in its entirety. That’s it! And may karma favor your ambitions!
Click Here For The Ultimate Questions – aka A 2016 CR Site Survey
The Fine Print: The Cardboard Republic, in conjunction with Hemisphere Games and is giving this game away strictly for entertainment purposes. This act is not a paid endorsement by Hemisphere or any other entity. This contest is open to individuals only. Staff members of The Cardboard Republic and Hemisphere Games are not eligible to participate. For winners outside of the Continental US, the publisher reserves the right to request they cover part or all of the shipping costs.