Artemis Fowl - Mini Stories

Artemis Fowl and the Eternity Code

One of the fairy people's most popular pastimes is a card game called Bolloms Up. This game is almost the direct opposite of the human card game poker. In Bolloms Up, the object is to end up with the least valuable hand possible. 

There are four suits: acorns, toads, a weird shape known as splats which is which is thought to be based on the shape a stinkworm would make if it were stepped on by a troll, and of course, bolloms, which gives the game its name. Historians tell us that the curved 'w' shapes which represent bolloms are actually supposed to represent ocean waves, but gamblers prefer to call them bolloms and now the name has stuck. 

If a player realises that he is in danger of assembling a good hand, which is bad, he must trick his opponents into taking his valuable cards. The most valuable cards are a golden acorn, a king toad, an eight pointed splat, and a mega bollom. There is also a hologrammed wild card which can be anything the holding player wishes it to be. If you are tricked into taking a wild card then you must get rid of it in the next two rounds or it freezes at its current value. 

When playing Bolloms Up, it is very important to hide any behaviour might betray nervousness or glee. These behaviours are called tells. An elf's tell is to toy with his pointed ears. Sprites sometimes flap their wings, causing a downdraft, which is never a good idea in a card game. Gnomes eat anything they can reach, including insects and pieces of furniture, and dwarves lose control of their internal gases. Once these gases build up past a certain point, it becomes almost impossible to hold them in. 

So if you see a dwarf with a red face, it is a good bet that he has a very bad hand. Which is good.

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Here it is! I enjoyed this one a lot more than the last one, because I certainly did! The next mini story will be coming up soon :)