January 24 2001 RussCon Report

News

Thanks for the floor pillows that were brought this week! Goodness.

Other big news is that I am taking a job with United Devices, which looks to be a pretty nifty place to work, plus I may be playing a small role in curing cancer, so hey! How cool is that?

But you're probably saying "That's great, but what does this mean to me, the valued RussCon Customer?" (I can hear you saying it now.) Two things: we'll need to start ending RussCon sooner again (more like midnight than 1 or 2am), and the RussCon Reports will almost certainly stop appearing so promptly on Thursday, because I'll be, like, working and stuff... engineering software, curing cancer, and like that.

Ok, the favorite game ballots have stopped coming in, so here are the results! There was not a simple way to cut off at 10, so here are the top 17 games. I've sorted by votes, with ties broken by number of distinct people voting for a title: (Update later in the evening: one ballot was lost in my inbox; apologies to Clay and thanks for pointing out the error! Here are the correct results: essentially the change is that Roborally moved up several slots, and Vampire makes it onto the top 17 list...)

Game	Score	Voters
Euphrat & Tigris	15	3
Settlers of Catan	13	4
Carcassonne	13	4
RoboRally	12	4
Honeybears	10	1
Acquire	9	3
Guillotine	8	6
Durch Die Wueste	7	4
Age of Renaissance	4	1
Bluff	3	3
Frank's Zoo	3	3
Ghost Party	3	2
Medici	3	2
Zirkus Flohcati	3	2
Union Pacific	3	2
Vampire	3	2
Tayu	3	1

Here are all the games which received votes:

Game	Score	Voters
Acquire	9	3
Age of Renaissance	4	1
Attila	1	1
Battle Cry	1	1
Big City	1	1
Bluff	3	3
Candidate	1	1
Can't Stop	2	2
Cribbage	1	1
Carcassonne	13	4
Cosmic Encounter	2	2
Drunter & Drueber	2	2
Durch Die Wueste	7	4
Entdecker	2	1
Euphrat & Tigris	15	3
Formula De	1	1
Frank's Zoo	3	3
Ghost Party	3	2
Guillotine	8	6
Hare & Tortoise	1	1
Hat Trick	1	1
Hearts	1	1
High Society	1	1
Honeybears	10	1
By Hook Or Crook	2	2
Kremlin	1	1
Letras	1	1
Lost Cities	1	1
Medici	3	2
Mississippi Queen	2	1
Modern Art	1	1
Mu	1	1
Res Publica	1	1
Ricochet Robot	1	1
RoboRally	12	4
Samurai	1	1
Schotten Totten	1	1
Settlers of Catan	13	4
Stephensons Rocket	1	1
Survive	1	1
Tayu	3	1
Tightrope	1	1
Titan the Arena	1	1
Torres	2	2
Und Tschuess	2	1
Union Pacific	3	2
Ursuppe	1	1
Vampire	3	2
Vinci	1	1
Web of Power	2	2
Zero	2	2
Zirkus Flohcati	3	2

I also received a vote of weight 10 for Iron Dragon from Mike, but he's just trying to make me crazy. The most cheeky voting came from JeffF. If you want to see how people voted, look here.

Meta Party Game Results

Matt was the Meta Party Devil. Here is the meta party game he emailed out:

     This meta game is based on an idea from R. Wayne Schmittberger's _New Rules for Classic Games_. At least I think it is - I can't seem to find my copy, so I'm going on memory.

     This game is played with regular playing cards. The object is to trade cards with the other players to maximize your score. The catch is that most of the scoring rules are initially unknown to you, and you can trade knowledge as well as cards.

     There are ten scoring rules. The first is:

     Rule 1) Each number card (2-10) is worth its value in points.

     The other 9 rules are initially a mystery, but each rule will be known by at least one player.

     * When you arrive, you get six cards and knowledge of three scoring rules at random.

     * When you win a (non-meta) game, you may draw an additional card *or* rule. Really short games, like "Brawl" or "RoShamBo" don't count.

     * You may trade cards and rules with other players at any time, and I recommend a short trading session after each (non-meta) game is played.

     * When you propose a trade, you may choose to reveal the identity, suit, or rank of the cards you're proposing to trade, or the rule number of the rules you're proposing to trade, but any information you reveal must be true.

     * Any deals that involve future actions ("I'll give you a card later") are unenforceable and discouraged.

     Examples:

     "I'll trade you the King of Spades, a heart, and Rule 8 for a club and a rule I don't already have."
     "I'll trade two cards for an 8."

     * Cards may not be discarded, but they can be given away if someone agrees to accept them. You may not give away a rule for free.

     * When you trade a rule, you just trade knowledge of the rule. I'll provide a sheet to jot the rules on as you learn them.

     Some sample rules might be:

     A) Kings are worth 15 points, Jacks are worth 5.
     B) If you have any black cards, your red cards are worth negative points.
     C) A three card run (4-5-6, J-Q-K) gets a 10 point bonus per run.      D) If you have an ace, face cards of that suit are worth 2x points.

     Remember, all 10 scoring rules are used to score the game at the end, whether you know them all or not. The rules will not contradict each other, but might modify each other in certain conditions (see B and D above).

     * When you leave, write down your cards on your rule tally sheet and give the sheet to me (or Russ, if I have to leave for some reason).

     * Highest score wins. In the case of a tie score, the person with the most cards wins. If there's a tie there as well, the person with the lower Devil Point score wins.

     * I'm not eligible to win.

Basic rules (affect a single card)
* If you have an Ace, all your 9's, and 10's (of any suit) count as zeros.
* For each King, your odd numbered cards in that suit (3,5,7,9) are worth negative points.
* Kings are worth 5 points, Queens are worth negative 10 points.
* Aces are worth 5 points, Jacks are worth negative 10 points.
* For each 2, your other number cards (3-10) in that suit are worth 2x points.

Special rules (affect sets of cards)
* If you have more than three number cards (2-10) in any suit, only the lowest three count (the other number cards are worth 0x points).
* For each set of A-K-Q-J (suits are unimportant), you get a 35 point bonus - each card can only count towards a single set.
* For each red suit, if nobody has more cards than you in that suit, you get a 20 point bonus (40 points theoretically possible).
* For your longest run of three or more number cards (2-10) in the same black suit, you get a bonus equal to the number of cards times the value of the smallest card (for example, 4-5-6-7 of Spades is worth a bonus 4x4=16 points).

Daniel	74
JP	42
Dan	41
Jeffles	41
Carly	30
RussD	22
Sea Biscuit	16
RussW	8
Tim	5

So Daniel is the Meta Party Devil and will email out next week's Meta Party Game!