Tausch is a kind of game I was playing, the object is which is to figure out, "What is Tausch?"
Literally, Tausch is a German word meaning the same as "exchange". It preserves a sense of connection, unification, whereas the Latin-derived word that English retains suggests division, separation. In Germany, Local Exchange Trading Systems (LETS) are known as Tauschrings - a pleasant word suggesting a chain of connections. Tausch is more like the Spanish "trueque", or barter. However Tausch is more than barter, because it happens in a chain or within a network.
The thought behind Tausch is, "How can we exchange things without measuring them?". Measuring value along a linear scale leads to arbitrage, derivative values, and default. The exchange sidetracks into the measurement itself rather than the thing being measured.
While I was playing the Tausch game I made a double-sided postcard which I would hand to people in order to get them thinking about what Tausch is. There was a 'zine which a few people have copies of, but I no longer have the originals. Here are scans of the postcard:
If i ever remember more about how Tausch works, I will write it down here.