February 27 2002 RussCon Report

News

Meta Party Game

**The Flava Text**
The bad news is, there are contracts out on your head.
The good news is, you have two heads. (And they might grow back.)
More bad news: you don't know who has the contracts on your heads.
More good news: the assassin code stipulates there are only certain situations when an assassin may assassinate an associate assassin. (Or use too much assonance.)

**The Rules**
*Game setup:
When you arrive, if you want to play the metagame, put your name on three cards and give them to me.
Sometime between 7:05 and 8, I will randomly give each player two cards.
If at this point you get a card with your name on it, trade it in.
These are your targets.
The remaining cards are the draw pile.

*You can assassinate your mark when:
a) You beat them in a game.
b) They finish last in a game, and they haven't started a new game.
c) It's after 9 and neither you nor they are in a game.
or
d) They assassinate someone using option c, and are still not in a game.
(If someone violates the "assassin code", then they are no longer protected by it.)

*How to assassinate your victim:
a) Show them their card.
b) Get a point
c) Place the card you used to assassinate them in the discard pile.
and
d) Take one of their cards, of their choice. (If they have none draw one from the pile.)

*Trading in cards:
When a card is turned in, it is placed in the discard pile.
If your prey leaves, you may trade in their card. (In this case, don't put it in the discard pile.)
If you get a card with your name on it, trade it in for a new card *and* a point. (You can assassinate yourself for free.)

*Leaving early:
If you have to leave:
a) Record your points.
and
b) If you still have cards, you may:
b1) Shuffle them into the draw pile.
or
b2) Give them away to people in the meta-game, so long as this doesn't bring anyone above 2 cards.

*Starting late:
If someone wants to start playing after the game has started:
a) They only get one card from the draw pile.
and
b) They must shuffle 5 cards with their name on them into the draw pile.

*Empty draw pile:
If someone needs to draw a card from the draw pile, and there are none left, shuffle the discard pile into a new draw pile.

*Winning:
If only one person has cards left, they are the winner.
If multiple people have cards left when they all want to leave, then the person with the most points wins. (Note that someone with no cards could win in this case.)

We had 7 participants: MarkY, JP, RussW, Jeffles, Dan, Daniel, and Zak.

At one point, MarkY used method c to assassinate Jeffles, leaving himself open to assassination by method d. (Which Jeffles loudly proclaimed.) At this time Daniel and I were playing a 2 player game, and we both happened to have MarkY as a target. We both assassinated him, and he proceeded to give me Daniel's name, and Daniel my name. Suddenly, there was a lot riding on the result of our game. Fortunately I won, so I was able to assassinate Daniel.

Finally, it came down to a showdown between Jeffles and myself where we were the only players left, and we had each other's name. I was already involved in a final showdown in a bluff game, and I had to finish it with Jeffles impatiently looming over me. (That must be why I lost the bluff game. Yeah, that's the tickit...) My game ended, and there was then a flurry of simultanious assassinations, drawing of new tagets, slaughter of innocent bystanders, and actions of uncertain legality (on both sides), proving that I should have thought through the rules on simultaneous asssassinations more thoroughly.

Jeffles ended up killing me first, making him next week's meta-devil. Let's hope he remembers to make a meta-game, since he plans to "get lost" sometime before next RussCon.

Afterwards, I discovered that there were at most 2 Jeffles cards in the draw pile, when there should have been 3. But, I'm not complaining. This was just one amid a vast array of irregularities in the endgame, and I don't really want to be meta-devil 2 weeks in a row, anyway.

We'll miss you Jeffles, but don't worry, our aim will get better.

Rank ratings:
 0.5556 Steve (7 games played)  
 0.5000 JP (6)
 0.4286 RussD (4)
 0.4286 William (3)
 0.3846 MarkY (3)
 0.3333 Daniel (3)
 0.3077 Jeffles (3)
 0.2000 Brady (2)
-0.0714 MarkH (3)
-0.3333 Dan (5)
-0.3636 BradSmith (4)
-0.4286 Marty (3)
-0.4286 Zack (3)
-0.5000 RussW (7)
-0.7143 Clayton (2)
-0.7143 Ben (3)

New Win ratings:
 0.4444 Steve (7)
 0.2778 JP (6)
 0.2308 MarkY (3)
 0.2308 Jeffles (3)
 0.2222 Daniel (3)
 0.0000 RussD (4)
 0.0000 BradSmith (4)
-0.0714 Marty (3)
-0.0714 Zack (3)
-0.1429 William (3)
-0.2000 Brady (2)
-0.2143 MarkH (3)
-0.2500 Dan (5)
-0.2857 Clayton (2)
-0.3125 RussW (7)
-0.4286 Ben (3)