Dec 2 RussCon Report

There were 15 of us, including newcomer Fred and the long-overdue return of ChrisB. (Perhaps That Damn Wofford will return now.) Wendy brought Quo Vadis and graciously left it (and other games) for our December enjoyment, as she will be vacationing for several weeks in New Zealand, land of kiwis. Watch out for the zombies! (Dead Alive!)

Wendy's also left the Knights of the Dinner Table Bundle of Trouble (collection of issues 1, 2, 3) around for several weeks, so check it out if you like KODT. Speaking of printed stuff, don't forget the bags of books and magazines up for grabs from William. (But don't go taking my or Wendy's KODT home with you!)

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Games Report:

QuoVadis 4 JP 3 RussW 1 Doug -1 WendyWhi -3
DurchDieWueste 4 James 3 Brady 1 Fred -1 Marty -3
Bohnanza 4 WendyWhi 3 RussW 1 JP -1 Doug -3
ElCaballero 4 JeffF 3 Ken 1 Jay -1 Alfred -3
Bohnanza 4 Doug 3 Jay 1 William -1 Alfred -3
Elfenland 6 Marty 5 Brady 3 Harry 1 ChrisB -1 Fred -3 James -5
Loewenherz 4 RussW 3 JeffF 1 Ken -1 JP -3
Bohnanza 5 William 3 JeffF 3 Alfred -1 Marty -1 Brady -4
Euphrates 4 Ken 3 Harry 1 RussW -1 JP -3

Hmm: EVERY game played was a German import! German games are on a roll!

El Caballero is a new game described as a cross between El Grande and Entdecker. I didn't play it, and have no further info on it.

I did play Quo Vadis again and enjoyed it, though that sneaky JP weaseled ahead of me near the end. Wendy wishes it to be reported that she got the first 2 slots in the senate even though her score was abysmal.

Bohnanza seems to be the current popular game of choice. Perhaps it's the irresistible art on the cards, with cartoon beans in various poses soiling themselves with their own body fluids!

Jeff raised an interesting point about Loewenherz: he claims that the random arrival of the King is Dead card has always determined the winner in his games, i.e. that if the card came up later or earlier, then arguably a different player would have won. So in that sense the game is flawed. On the other hand, there is still skill involved in getting yourself so close to the lead player that you could be pushed ahead by the timely arrival of the King is Dead. But I think he might be right that this a strong element of luck in the endgame. Is this a serious flaw? Who knows -- the games is certainly still interesting and fun!

Doug was also apparently kicking James's ass in For The People, but I booted them out before the game was finished, due to having to get up at an ungodly hour this week for a software engineering class -- courtesy of Kinesoft, proud sponsor of the 1998 Autumn RussCon Games.

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Evening's Soundtrack:

The Civil War (original soundtrack recording)
My So-Called Life (music from the television series)
Ren & Stimpy, Radio Daze
thirtysomething (soundtrack)
Twin Peaks (soundtrack)

The theme was of course television shows. It was further noted by astute RussCon participants that these were all television shows FROM THE PAST! (I'd not paid particular notice to that strengthened condition since, to me, ALL television shows are from the past...)

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Rank ratings:
 0.7000 JeffF (3 games played)
 0.3333 Ken (3)
 0.3333 RussW (4)
 0.2857 William (2)
 0.2500 Harry (2)
 0.0833 Marty (3)
 0.0000 WendyWhi (2)
 0.0000 Brady (3)
 0.0000 Jay (2)
-0.1111 Doug (3)
-0.2000 ChrisB (1)
-0.2500 James (2)
-0.3333 JP (4)
-0.5000 Fred (2)
-0.7000 Alfred (3)

Win ratings:
 0.6875 JeffF (3)
 0.6364 James (2)
 0.5000 WendyWhi (2)
 0.4118 William (2)
 0.2000 Ken (3)
 0.2000 Doug (3)
 0.1236 Marty (3)
 0.0000 RussW (4)
 0.0000 JP (4)
-1.0000 Harry (2)
-1.0000 Brady (3)
-1.0000 Jay (2)
-1.0000 ChrisB (1)
-1.0000 Fred (2)
-1.0000 Alfred (3)

Here's the total ordering as derived in the usual manner from the partial ordering (which is too complicated to draw this week):

JeffF, Ken, William, Wendy=Russ, Marty, James, Harry, Doug, JP, Brady=Jay, ChrisB, Fred, Alfred.

So JeffF is the Devil! Brady & Jay share the coveted Extra Average Award.

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More Distinguished Visitors from Afar:

Mr. Bryan P. of Seattle, Washington writes:

I'll be in Dallas for the week following Christmas. I'm pondering a little jaunt down to Austin to see some people. Will there be a RussCon for that week?

The RussCon management replies:

Yes, there will be RussCon that week! We hope Bryan can make a Dec 30 appearance. For those who don't know (which would be most of you), Bryan is a proto-RussCon gamer, from the primordial gaming soup before RussCon: a RussCon fetus, if you will, or perhaps merely a RussCon ovum or sperm.

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She's dead... wrapped in plastic!

Russ