October 1 2003 RussCon Report

Game Results

Manhattan	4	MarkH 3 Whendy 1 RussW -1 Marty -3
Carcassonne	3	RussW 2 Whendy 0 MarkH -2
Exxtra	4	JP 3 MarkY 1 Ben -1 MarkG -3
Blokus	3	JimG 2 Fina 0 Clayton -2
Guillotine	3	Fina 2 Clayton 0 JimG -2
Vampire	4	Katy 3 RussW 1 MarkH -1 Robby -3
BalloonCup	2	William 1 JP -1
Can'tStop	3	William 2 RussD -1 JP -1
Acquire	3	RussW 2 Katy 0 Robby -2
Tichu	2	( MarkY MarkG ) 1 ( Ben Deborah ) -1
PuertoRico	3	JimG 2 Fina 0 Clayton -2
Bluff	5	Clayton 4 MarkY 2 MarkG 0 JP -2 RussW -4

Overheard during Manhattan:
RussW: I think when you're 10 points behind the leader, you're not likely to win.
Whendy: Yes you are! ... Oh, not in this game.
(And indeed I did not win; I felt lucky to get third place!)

On the first challenge of the Bluff game, I lost 4 of my dice. Ouch.

Ratings

Rank Ratings:        
 1.7918 William
 1.7918 MarkY
 1.3863 Katy
 1.0986 JimG
 1.0986 Fina
 0.5878 RussW
 0.4055 Whendy
-0.1178 MarkH
-0.4055 JP
-0.4055 RussD
-0.5878 Clayton
-0.6931 MarkG
-0.6931 Deborah
-1.0986 Ben
-1.3863 Marty
-2.4849 Robby

Win Ratings:
 1.7918 William won 2 of 2
 1.7918 JimG won 2 of 3
 1.3987 RussW won 2 of 5
 0.9808 Katy won 1 of 2
 0.6931 MarkH won 1 of 3
 0.3930 Clayton won 1 of 4
 0.2877 Fina won 1 of 3
 0.1823 MarkY won 1 of 3
 0.1823 MarkG won 1 of 3
 0.0645 JP won 1 of 4
-0.2877 Marty won 0 of 1
-0.4055 RussD won 0 of 1
-0.6931 Whendy won 0 of 2
-0.6931 Deborah won 0 of 1
-0.6931 Robby won 0 of 2
-0.9808 Ben won 0 of 2

William is the Devil! JimG, Katy, and MarkY are Co-Vice-Devils. Fina and I are Co-Vice-Vice-Devils.

If you are confused how the ratings work, you could peruse the FAQ.

Meta Game

MarkG was the Meta Devil. Here is the Meta Game he mailed out:

Well we all know that the humuhumunukunukuapua'a is the official state fish of Hawaii. (OK, maybe not ALL of us knew that.) It's seems that states have just about official everythings: mottos, nicknames, birds, trees, flowers, insects, etc. so why shouldn't RussCon?!

Everyone is encouraged to submit an official RussCon game, motto, bird, tree and flower. Those who attend this week get to vote on their favorite entries in each category, and each category entry which gets 5 or more votes gets a metapoint. The winners in each category get 2 metapoints. Ties are broken in favor of the most overall votes.

Send your entries to either Russ or myself early enough so I can write out a list and people can vote when they arrive.

6 people provided nominations (Dudley, MarkY, MarkG, Whendy, RussW, Clay)... Here are the nominees, votes received, and nominators of the winners in each category:

Game:

Bluff 1
Carcassonne 4
Meta Game 5 (Dudley & MarkY)

Motto:

The die is cast 0
Does anybody want to play _____? 1
Go, Red Bear! 1
Veni Vidi Lusi (I came, I saw, I played) 2
You will pay for your insulin 2
You can't stop now 3 (MarkG)

Bird:

Gamecock 0
Phoenix (in honor of Tichu) 0
Six footed red headed big breasted bed thrasher 0
Tern 2
Cuckoo 2
Hemp sparrow 3 (Whendy)

Tree:

Elm (because it's the same as a decent mailreader) 0
Ent 0
Gametree 0
Larch 2
Sophis-tree 3
Binary 4 (Dudley)

Flower:

Graham flour 0
Peony 1
Indigo (in honor of Puerto Rico) 2
Nightshade 2
Pansy Division 2
None. Russ doesn't have any flowers 3 (MarkY)

Also by popular acclaim:
Mammal:

Red Bear (unanimous)

So MarkG reckoned that Dudley and MarkY both earned 5 points; MarkG and Whendy each earned 2. By tiebreaker, Dudley is the Meta Devil and will design next week's Meta Game!

Links

The Willow Band sprouts from the popular Celtic band Clandestine

"The Free State Project is a plan in which 20,000 or more liberty-oriented people will move to a single state of the U.S., where they may work within the political system to reduce the size and scope of government." It seems New Hampshire has been chosen.

The ORIGINAL Illustrated Catalog Of ACME Products

Flame Warriors

Extreme Pumpkins

Russian prison tattoos

Bad Astronomy

Those who didn't see Whendy's photo book of our recent trip to San Francisco visiting Sea Biscuit can view the online gallery.

October 1 2003 RussCon Report

News

Game Results

Ratings

Meta Game

Evening's Soundtrack

Links