November 3 1999 RussCon Report

Unusually low turnout, given that there were even 2 new folks (Steven & Zeb from Retro); just 12 of us. Perhaps it's the self-regulating population level over-reacting from last week's large turnout of 19!

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Upcoming Reserved Seating Events:

Some of us will go to the following; let me know if you want in on either of them.

The live production of Rocky Horror Show at Zach Scott Theater. We're planning to go Saturday November 13 ($31) or Sunday November 14 ($26). Do you have a day preference? There are also group discounts for 10 or more.

The German silent film Cabinet of Dr. Caligari with live music by Friends of Dean Martinez is Friday November 19 at Alamo Drafthouse. $12.

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Game Results:

HoneyBears 4 JP 3 William 1 Steve -1 Steven -3
Exxtra 6 Jayson 5 JP 3 William 1 Steven -1 Steve -4 Zeb -4
Acquire 5 Bob 4 RussW 2 Marty 0 WendyWhe -2 Clayton -4
ZirkusFlohcati 3 RussW 2 Steve 0 Harry -2
ZirkusFlohcati 3 RussW 2 Steve 0 Harry -2
Siesta 4 Bob 3 Marty 1 WendyWhe -1 William -3
Guillotine 3 RussW 2 Steve 0 Harry -2
MississippiQueen 4 Jayson 3 Zeb 1 Steven -1 JP -3
KatzenjammerBlues 4 WendyWhe 3 Steve 1 William -1 Harry -3
Pirat 5 Harry 4 William 2 JP 0 Steve -3 Jayson -3
Siesta 3 Bob 2 RussW 0 Marty -2
Tayu 2 RussW 1 Marty -1
HookOrCrook 5 William 4 Harry 2 Jayson 0 Steve -2 JP -4
Hearts 4 William 3 Harry 1 JP -1 RussW -3

We played Acquire with Wendy's vintage 1968 set. A fun time was had by Bob & Russ, while the others suffered late or no merger payouts...

Siesta is Marty's latest acquisition, a rather interesting clever game of placing pieces with no chance, no hidden information, and no movement of pieces. You're trying to score "siestas" (a chain of sun, roof, and shadow) for points. Beware Bob, who seems to have a knack for it!

I've heard disturbing rumors of an irregularity on Harry's part in the Pirat game, but I'll leave that up to the consciences of those concerned. :-)

Playing Hearts with more experienced players reaffirms my feeble understanding of tricktaking card games. It's a gap in my gaming skills I must rectify. William recommended the www.msn.com Hearts site; I checked it out and found over 1000 players there last night. Wow.

After winning 3 of 3 games, Bob could not be convinced to stay for another game. He made a cowardly retreat to avoid risking a loss...!

It's been a while, so I'll explain for the newer folks that your "devil points" from a game are the number of people you beat minus the number of people who beat you. E.g. in the last game (Hearts), William won, beating 3 of us. Harry was second, beating 2 of us and being beaten by 1. Etc.

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Evening's Soundtrack:

A deadly mix tonight...

...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, Madonna
Dead Can Dance, Aion
Dead Man Walking, Music from and inspired by the motion picture
Deathmeister, A death metal compilation
The Tiger Lillies, Births Marriages and Deaths

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Rank ratings:
 1.0000 Bob (3 games played)
 0.3750 RussW (7)
 0.3125 Jayson (4)
 0.2800 William (7)
 0.0000 WendyWhe (3)
-0.0909 JP (6)
-0.1000 Harry (7)
-0.2000 Marty (4)
-0.3600 Steve (8)
-0.3750 Zeb (2)
-0.4545 Steven (3)
-1.0000 Clayton (1)

New Win ratings:
 1.0000 Bob (3)
 0.3750 Jayson (4)
 0.2500 RussW (7)
 0.1000 WendyWhe (3)
 0.0800 William (7)
-0.0909 JP (6)
-0.1000 Harry (7)
-0.2500 Zeb (2)
-0.2500 Clayton (1)
-0.2727 Steven (3)
-0.3200 Steve (8)
-0.4000 Marty (4)

Bob is the Devil! Jayson & Russ are Co-Vice-Devils. In an unexpected upset, Steve beats out William for the Dedicated Award. Oh no! Clayton pulled off the rare and dangerous Reverse Brady Maneuver.

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Yet More Links:

Galaxy, the latest version of Grand National Derby/Titan the Arena, may see print from GMT Games. If they get 500 preorders, they will publish it. Order in advance for $17; it will be $25 after published.
http://www.gmtgames.com/p500/gal_p500.html

David Brin's site has a followup article based on the thousands of replies he got about his Salon article comparing the Star Trek and Star Wars universes:
http://www.kithrup.com/brin/
Here are the original Brin essays.
http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/feature/1999/06/15/brin_main/index.html
http://www.salon.com/ent/movies/feature/1999/06/15/brin_side/index.html

This site for the new movie Being John Malkovich has some nifty video footage of master puppetry!
http://www.beingjohnmalkovich.com/indexno.html

People living in homes made from retired airplanes:
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,32184,00.html

A cute parody site:
http://www.ibrator.com

A reminder about the daily-turn-based online fantasy war game several of us are playing. We're about to start another game, so let me know if you want to join us:
http://www.station.sony.com/fantasywar

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Hey Marty, have you played McMulti yet?

Russ