January 12 19100 RussCon Report
The RussCon Management regrets any confusion caused by last week's erroneous date (January 5 1999). Those responsible have been sacked.
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Clearing out Stuff:
I've got a box full of back issues of Asimov's, Analog, F&SF etc magazines if anyone wants to grab some for free sf reading. Those black plastic & metal folding TV tables are also up for grabs if anyone wants 'em.
Also, if you have been storing games in my living room which are unpopular games that never get played at RussCon, please return them to their rightful home. My living room is getting awfully crowded lately. Thanks!
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Top Ten Survey:
In the tradition of all those real publications, the RussCon Report solicits your opinions on the Top Ten RussCon Games of the Millennium.
Email a list of your favorite RussCon games to russw at austin.rr.com, in sorted order from favorite to 10th favorite. (Fewer than 10 is fine too if you can't think of 10 favorites. Lists longer than 10 will be ruthlessly truncated after the tenth entry.) Trained RussCon technicians will compile the data in Austin Chronicle style: each 1st place mention earns a game 10 points, 2nd place is 9 points, etc. and publish the results. (Yes, there are better and more complex methods of doing this sort of thing. I'm keeping it simple, stupid.)
The games should be RussCon style games (whether or not they literally get played at RussCon). I.e. games like Go (which is the greatest game anyway, and Dave should play it more) or Advanced Squad Leader or Scrabble or Trivial Pursuit don't really fall into the realm of RussCon. What is a RussCon game? Difficult to define, but we all know one when we see one... sort of. Use the Force. Trust your feelings.
And to help the RussCon Report feel more like a real publication, send your Top Ten Movies of 1999 also if you like, and we'll see the results of that too.
And just to be meta, the truly perverse with too much time on their hands should send a list of their Top Ten Categories of Things You Wish There'd Be a RussCon Survey About.
Just as a reminder of established RussCon games, here are the frequency of play data for all games recorded in RussCon History as of now:
1 2038 1 666 1 AddamsFamily 1 Alibi 1 ArkhamHorror 1 AusbrecherAG 1 BenHurt 1 BlackMornManor 1 Borderlands 1 Britannia 1 BritishRails 1 BuddelBande 1 Calamity 1 Candidate 1 Chinatown 1 ChineseCheckers 1 Cribbage 1 Dilbert 1 Doolittle&Waite 1 Dungeon 1 DungeonDice 1 DungeonQuest 1 Egomania 1 Elfengold 1 EnGarde 1 EnemyInSight 1 ExecutiveDecision 1 FamilyBusiness 1 ForSale 1 Frank'sZoo 1 FreshFish 1 Gangsters 1 GetOut 1 Giganten 1 GreatDalmuti 1 Guerilla 1 Gunfight 1 HeroesOfAsfar 1 Hexagony 1 HonorOfTheSamurai 1 Huzzah 1 Ido 1 IronDragon 1 Landlord 1 LostPueblo 1 LunchMoney 1 MaterialWorld 1 Monopoly 1 OrcsAtTheGates 1 Overthrone 1 PartsUnknown 1 Pit 1 Pits 1 Putsch 1 Rollout 1 SamuraiSwords 1 SettlersAlexander 1 Shanghai 1 ShanghaiTrader 1 Snit'sRevenge 1 Sokrates 1 SpaceBeans 1 Stephenson'sRocket 1 Superstition 1 Syzygy 1 TVWars 1 Torres 1 TrainsportSwitzerland 1 Tripoley 1 TurboHearts 1 Twins 1 UmReifenbreite 1 VeryCleverPipeGame 1 Vinci 1 WhichWitch 1 Wizards 2 AgeOfRenaissance 2 AtlanticStorm 2 Auction 2 AustralianRails 2 BitinOffHedz 2 BleedingSherwood 2 ButtonMen 2 Canyon 2 CultsAcrossAmerica 2 David&Goliath 2 Deadwood 2 DragonMaster 2 Edison 2 Europa 2 FilthyRich 2 FootballStrategy 2 GiveMeTheBrain 2 GrandNationalDerby 2 Hoax 2 Illuminati 2 JumboGrandPrix 2 Konzern 2 Kremlin 2 MinionHunter 2 MonstersRavageAmerica 2 MysticWar 2 Nile 2 SecretLabyrinth 2 SettlersCardGame 2 Spammers 2 StarbaseJeff 2 Transsib 2 Trumpet 2 Twilight 2 Vegas 2 VeldSpoorweg 2 Wizard 3 1830 3 AmFuss 3 Automania 3 ColoradoRails 3 Condottiere 3 ElCaballero 3 FlinkePinke 3 Goldrausch 3 Hearts 3 Instinct 3 IronHorse 3 KatzenjammerBlues 3 RottenFish 3 ThroneWorld 3 Tikal 3 Titan 3 Victory 4 Airlines 4 Ferkelei 4 FerroPampas 4 ForThePeople 4 Hare&Tortoise 4 Ico 4 It'sMine 4 MasterLabyrinth 4 MembersOnly 4 MrBond 4 Mu 4 Outpost 4 PlagueAndPestilence 4 Priceless 4 TakeItEasy 4 Tutanchamun 4 UncleHappy'sTrainGame 5 AirBaron 5 Elfenwizards 5 Halunken&Spelunken 5 HongKong 5 LordOfTheFries 5 McMulti 5 Metropolis 5 Siesta 6 Dorada 6 Downtown 6 FreightTrain 6 Groo 6 Palmyra 6 RicochetRobot 6 SafariJack 6 Streetcar 6 Successors 6 Ursuppe 6 Wettstreit 6 WizWar 7 BigCheese 7 Cosmic 7 DevilBunny 7 Fossil 7 KillDrLucky 7 Manhattan 7 Samarkand 7 SantaFe 8 Cheops 8 Earthquake 8 MedievalMerchant 8 Pirat 9 Money 9 ResPublica 9 Rheinlaender 10 AufHellerUndPfennig 10 Dampfross 10 Exxtra 10 HookOrCrook 10 LetzteParadies 10 Survive 11 Montgolfiere 12 Fluxx 12 HighSociety 12 LastChance 12 ModernArt 12 Rainbows 13 GhostParty 13 Kahuna 14 Bohnanza 15 TrainsportAustria 16 MississippiQueen 17 ElGrande 17 HoneyBears 17 LostCities 17 Ra 18 UnionPacific 20 QuoVadis 23 Elfenland 24 Acquire 24 Loewenherz 24 MoleHill 25 DurchDieWueste 25 Samurai 26 Fight 28 TitanArena 32 Entdecker 32 RoboRally 32 ZirkusFlohcati 34 Raj 35 Can'tStop 37 Tayu 40 Brawl 44 Guillotine 47 Medici 52 Euphrates 79 Bluff 90 Settlers
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Game Results:
Frank'sZoo 6 Clayton 5 Jonobie 3 Steve 1 Marty -1 DaveB -3 JeffF -5 Ferkelei 5 Tim 4 Bob 2 RussW 0 William -2 JP -4 RottenFish 6 Tim 4 RussW 4 Bob 1 William -1 JP -3 JonathanC -5 SpaceBeans 5 RussW 4 JeffF 2 Jay 0 Clayton -2 Jonobie -4 Rheinlaender 4 DaveB 3 Bob 1 Tim -2 JP -2 ZirkusFlohcati 3 Clayton 2 RussW 0 Jay -2 HighSociety 3 RussW 2 Clayton 0 Jay -2 SafariJack 2 Allen 1 Matt -1 Dorada 4 Jay 3 Matt 1 Allen -1 RussW -3 Bluff 4 RussW 3 Matt 1 Jay -1 Allen -3 Torres 4 Bob 3 DaveB 1 JeffF -1 JP -3 Stephenson'sRocket 4 Marty 2 Steve 2 William -1 JonathanC -3 TitanArena 5 Allen 3 JonathanC 3 RussW 0 Steve -3 William -3 Euphrates 3 Bob 2 JP 0 Matt -2 Exxtra 4 William 3 Steve 1 RussW -1 Allen -3 HongKong 2 JP 1 Matt -1
(I have no idea if you want high or low scores in Frank's Zoo, and no winner or devil points were recorded. I assumed high since that's far more common. Someone should correct me if I'm wrong.)
Ferkelei (aka The Naked Pig Game) is a fun elegant game, vaguely analogous to Flinke Pinke or Honey Bears.
My second game of Rotten Fish. It's a very nice quick game with secret simultaneous actions. Check it out.
Space Beans was a fun little game in the Bohnanza family, though rather different from Bohnanza. E.g. there is a single hand shared by all players and passed to the left after you do your turn.
Stephenson's Rocket is a new Knizia game with trains, stock, hex map, track tiles, etc. in 1830s England! Woohoo! I want to play it!
Lots of tied games tonight (Rotten Fish, Titan the Arena, Stephenson's Rocket).
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Evening's Soundtrack:
Alpha Team, Speed
...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead
The Flirtations Live, Out on the Road
Railroad Jerk, Raise the Plow
U-Turn, Music from the Motion Picture
On the road again....
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Rank ratings: 0.5294 Bob (5 games played) 0.5000 Tim (3) 0.3846 Clayton (4) 0.3000 RussW (9) 0.1250 Marty (2) 0.0909 DaveB (3) 0.0667 Steve (4) -0.1111 Jonobie (2) -0.1429 Jay (5) -0.2000 Matt (5) -0.2105 William (5) -0.2143 Allen (5) -0.3333 JeffF (3) -0.4167 JonathanC (3) -0.6111 JP (6) New Win ratings: 0.5833 Tim (3) 0.3846 Clayton (4) 0.2333 RussW (9) 0.1250 Marty (2) 0.0909 DaveB (3) 0.0714 Allen (5) 0.0588 Bob (5) -0.0714 Jay (5) -0.0833 JonathanC (3) -0.1333 Steve (4) -0.2105 William (5) -0.2222 Jonobie (2) -0.2500 JeffF (3) -0.2778 JP (6) -0.5000 Matt (5)
Bob and Tim are Co-Devils! Clayton is the Vice Devil. I am Vice-Vice-Devil. I also win the Dedicated Award.
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News:
Some of y'all know Jeremy aka Jerm from SimTex & Kinesoft. He has a modern
rock band called Left Out that will be headlining at Babe's on Monday Jan
17. He says they go on at 11:30pm, and there's no cover. Their website:
http://www.austinmp3.com/artists/left_out.php3
Some of y'all have seen JeffS perform various cool magic tricks, including
the Pokemon mentalism trick of his own devising which he's been marketing
as "Pokemental Power". A magic store has started distributing it:
http://www.magicsmith.com
WendyWhe just got a note and contracts in the mail telling her that Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling selected her story "Skin So Green..." for their latest _Year's Best Fantasy and Horror_ anthology.
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Here he comes,
Here comes Speed Racer!
Russ