February 26 2003 RussCon Report

Game Results

Don	5	MarkG 4 Matt 2 Ben 0 JeffF -2 Carly -4
Blokus	4	RussW 3 JP 1 Dan -1 MarkH -3
Tichu	2	( Ben MarkH ) 1 ( William Dan ) -1
Euphrates	4	JeffF 3 Matt 1 Carly -1 Marty -3
CarcassonneHunters	5	JP 4 RussW 2 MarkG 0 Clayton -2 BradS -4
PuertoRico	4	Carly 3 Marty 1 JeffF -1 Matt -3
Exxtra	4	MarkH 3 Ben 0 Clayton 0 Dan -3
Blokus	4	Matt 3 RussW 1 MarkG -2 BradS -2
Fight	3	MarkG 2 Matt 0 RussW -2
PuertoRico	2	JeffF 1 JP -1
Acquire	5	JP 4 Matt 2 JeffF 0 MarkG -2 RussW -4

Don is a new Mafia-related game which seemed to be well-received, though I don't know much more about it.

I think this was the first Carcassonne Hunters and Gatherers game I played in which did not have a very large water network with lots of huts in it.

JeffF found some 2-player rules for Puerto Rico on the net and printed them out.

Ratings

New Multiplicative Rank Ratings:   
 2.9312 18.7500 JP (4)
 1.7918 6.0000 Matt (6)
 1.3218 3.7500 MarkG (5)
 0.9808 2.6667 JeffF (5)
 0.6931 2.0000 MarkH (3)
 0.6931 2.0000 Ben (3)
-0.2231 0.8000 RussW (5)
-0.6286 0.5333 Carly (3)
-0.6931 0.5000 Clayton (2)
-0.6931 0.5000 William (1)
-0.9808 0.3750 Marty (2)
-2.3026 0.1000 BradS (2)
-2.4849 0.0833 Dan (3)

New Multiplicative Win Ratings:
 2.2380 9.3750 JP won 2 of 4
 1.9741 7.2000 MarkG won 2 of 5
 1.7918 6.0000 MarkH won 2 of 3
 1.3455 3.8400 JeffF won 2 of 5
 0.8755 2.4000 Carly won 1 of 3
 0.2469 1.2800 RussW won 1 of 5
 0.1823 1.2000 Ben won 1 of 3
-0.0408 0.9600 Matt won 1 of 6
-0.5108 0.6000 Clayton won 0 of 2
-0.5108 0.6000 BradS won 0 of 2
-0.5754 0.5625 Marty won 0 of 2
-0.6931 0.5000 William won 0 of 1
-1.2685 0.2813 Dan won 0 of 3

JP is the Devil! Matt & MarkG are Co-Vice-Devils. JeffF & MarkH are Co-Vice-Vice-Devils. Then Clayton. Dan is the Generous Angel.

Meta Game

I was the Meta Devil. Here is the Meta Game I mailed out:

Meta Game: find a booze that Ben doesn't hate!

At the recent Carly/Ben/Stephanie Aquarian Birthday Party, I was talking with Ben about how he doesn't drink any booze, since he's tried a few beers in the past and disliked them; since many folks said that beer was a taste you have to acquire, he reasonably figured "Why should I bother to spend the effort acquiring that taste?" I know where he's coming from, since I don't grok the appeal of beer either, and wine usually disappoints me too. But there are a whole lot of other boozes out there with all sorts of tastes.

Ben said he was open to the idea of tasting other alcoholic beverages, so I think you can see where this Meta Game is going...

Supply booze for Ben to taste. Whoever supplies the one he likes the best (or hates the least) is the winner. If there is a tie among the boozes (e.g. he hates them all equally), one of the tying boozes will be chosen randomly. If more than one person happened to bring the same winning booze, one supplier will be chosen randomly.

Ben is of course free not to try any given booze, and just like a fancy wine tasting, he can spit out the booze after tasting. RussCon is nothing if not classy. Garcon, bring me the bucket!

hall of shame So as it turns out only Dan & I supplied booze, although several others said they meant to. (They were probably drunk and forgot.) (However, William supplied some very nasty looking microwave pork rinds. Yep. Fortunately none were heated or eaten!)

Anyway, Dan brought Bad Apfel apple schnapps (and after examining the label imagery, we couldn't help but imagine a Union Pacific drinking game), and I supplied amaretto and plum wine (my 2 favorite boozes). That was the order Ben tried the 3 boozes in, and his three successive reactions were:

Bad Apfel: "That is so awful!"
Amaretto: Thumbs down, "Oh my god", sad clown face
Plum wine: "That's slightly better."

I got my hopes up from his plum wine reaction, but as it turned out, the plum wine's "slightly better" referred only to the amaretto; Ben decided the Bad Apfel was the least offensive (yet still awful) booze, then plum wine, and amaretto was the worst. He also said he was glad to have tried this experiment since it confirmed his belief he had no interest in alcohol.

Since Dan brought the Bad Apfel, Dan is the Meta Devil and will design next week's Meta Game! One idea already kicked around was to pump Ben full of heroin, opium, LSD, etc and find out which he likes best.

Reminder of the new incentive to compete in the Meta Game: The Meta Devil gets full table rights, just like a regular Devil from now on, so they could stake out the dining table or the kitchen table. Of course Vice-Devils continue to get secondary dibs on the tables if no higher-ranking Devil or Meta Devil takes a table.

Dan's Meta Meta Game

The 2nd installment of Dan's Meta Meta Game!

This week: Ben, BradS, MarkG, MarkH, Marty, Matt, RussW, William each win a Lady Galadriel 80c stamp!

Last week: Fina, JimG, JP, MarkG, Marty, Matt, RussW, and Steve each won a Gandalf & Saruman 40c stamp! (Not all have been claimed yet.)

Links

Consider taking Wednesday March 5 off to protest the war against Iraq.

Ari Gets Laughed Out of the White House Briefing Room

International impressions of war and the economy

Cute 404 page

War Against Terror Flash game

Whistleblower Lawsuit: Insider Sues Voting Machine Company

Artificial Stupidity: The saga of Hugh Loebner and his search for an intelligent bot

Jitterbug Fantasia has various interesting Star Wars and other things, including extensive articles about the origins of Star Wars.

Squirrel fishing

The Lords of the Rhymes have made their first video. Naturally it rules.

Grisly Mexico Factory Breeds Man-Eating Flies

Dude gets an ingrown hair, doesn't treat it, and it gets worse. Much worse. The linked article is interesting and weird (and probably bogus), and only the especially squeamish need fear reading it. The article then gives two URLs to photos which I warn you are the most gross and disgusting photos I have ever linked to in the RussCon Report. Only the most intrepid viewers and connoisseurs of the bizarre, like me or Dan, should view them. Weaker minds may be blasted into insanity. You are warned. The RussCon Management can assume no responsibility for psychological damage or vomit stains that result from viewing the two photos in question! Consider carefully whether you may be of too delicate a temperament before you decide to view the shocking horrific images, lest they sear themselves upon your memory forever!