Halloween is next week, so of course you are encouraged to dress spookily and play spooky games on the Wednesday October 30 Halloween Eve RussCon! Old timers know that costumes are encouraged for the Halloween RussCon, so go for it!
And speaking of participation, JP suggested that the Meta Devil get to stake out the kitchen table if they like (leaving the good dining table for the main Devil), as a fun way to possibly encourage more meta participation, so let's go with it. As always the lower ranking Devils get to snag the table if the Primary Table Snagger isn't there or doesn't want the table.
The Ring is a scary cool movie. If you're not averse to scary movies, check it out.
A reminder that there is 1 more Dovzhenko film series at the Alamo for free at 7pm next Tuesday night. This week's was Zvenigora (1927), about a Ukrainian legend that spanned centuries. It was cool and actually had an unexpected scary scene that startled me. It also showed the Moulin Rouge briefly, which surprised me. The last one is Shchors (1939)(which was delayed in its showing here, and apparently is not a silent film).
Also watch for The Beast which is a weird horror/sex retelling of Beauty and the Beast! I might see it Tuesday night after Shchors. Who can resist a "deliciously absurd fable that tweaks the boundaries between art and porn"?
| PuertoRico | 5 | RussW 4 Matt 2 JP 0 Daniel -2 Clayton -4 |
| Tichu | 2 | ( Ben Dan ) 1 ( Jonobie JeffF ) -1 |
| Tichu | 2 | ( Marty Fred ) 1 ( Zack Steve ) -1 |
| Cloud9 | 4 | JeffF 3 Dan 1 Jonobie -1 Ben -3 |
| Transamerica | 4 | Marty 3 RussD 1 Steve -1 William -3 |
| Exxtra | 4 | Steve 3 Ben 1 RussD -1 William -3 |
| Africa | 5 | JP 4 Matt 2 Clayton 0 RussW -3 Daniel -3 |
| Transamerica | 5 | Matt 4 Daniel 2 RussD 0 Clayton -2 William -4 |
| Oware | 2 | JP 1 RussW -1 |
| PuertoRico | 5 | MarkY 4 JeffF 2 JimG 0 Fred -2 Zack -4 |
| Bluff | 6 | William 5 RussD 3 Daniel 1 Matt -1 Clayton -3 Brady -5 |
| Transamerica | 6 | JeffF 5 MarkY 3 JimG 1 JP -1 Zack -3 RussW -5 |
Yay, glorious victory in Puerto Rico! Can't get enough of this spiffy game. Truly it is the new Carcassonne.
I'd heard mediocre reviews of Africa, but given the meta game, we naturally were curious to give it a shot. It has somewhat convoluted rules for what seems to be an awfully luck-based and not-too-exciting game, alas. Maybe it's worth another shot, I don't know. I was more interested in playing with Matt's nice Oware set. It's got nice wood and interesting little hard berry stone thingies. JP kicked my butt since he always seems to have a better knack for these sorts of pure skill games. The strategy and tactics are not obvious, but it's of course a classic game, so I'll probably play it some more.
Transamerica is a simple elegant track-laying train game. Players lay track until they've connected all 5 of their mystery cities into a contiguous track network (all track is usable by everyone). This was my first time, and I like it. I'll play it again.
The English Patient, original soundtrack recording
David Byrne, The Forest
Various artists, Passion Sources
Youssou N'Dour, The Lion
Youssou N'Dour, Set
Another meta theme.
Dragoon Chess is a chess variant designed by a go-playing reader of Ko Fight Club, who emailed me soliciting feedback -- if you try it out, let me and him know!
Climb the Plantation is a weird Flash toy/game
The Locraker is a computer-controlled device that can crack a three digit rotary combination lock in about half an hour.
ElectriClerk is a fully-functional retrofitted prop computer
The 100 Greatest Comics Of The 20th Century is not the list I'd have made, but still interesting
keep on running
the ghost is coming
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