13 of us, a slightly lighter turnout than average. No new folks, but new games as usual.

I've been a busy beaver the past week cranking out Bench comic strips. It's fun messing around with computer art. I did pry myself from the computer long enough to go to Scott's housewarming party which Dave posted about, where there was much alcohol and extremely loud music.

Shortly before I typed this report there was a freak hailstorm (that's right, it was hailing freaks), with some hailstones that looked to be almost an inch across. Pretty loud banging on the roof!

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Game Results:

TabulaRasa 4 Marty 2 JP 2 RussW -2 Bob -2
Acquire 5 BobR 4 JonathanC 2 Clayton 0 WendyWhe -2 Tim -4
Rheinlaender 3 JP 2 Bob 0 Marty -2
Euphrates 4 Bob 3 Marty 1 JP -1 Allen -3
Torres 3 Daniel 2 William 0 RussW -2
Digging 4 BobR 2 Jennifer 2 Tim -2 WendyWhe -2
Raj 4 Tim 3 BobR 1 WendyWhe -1 Jennifer -3
Bluff 5 Daniel 4 William 2 JonathanC 0 RussW -2 Clayton -4
ZirkusFlohcati 4 Tim 3 BobR 1 WendyWhe -1 Clayton -3
ZirkusFlohcati 5 JP 4 Allen 2 Bob 0 WendyWhe -2 BobR -4
MasterLabyrinth 4 RussW 3 William 1 JonathanC -1 Daniel -3
Frank'sZoo 5 BobR 4 Marty 2 Bob 0 JP -2 Allen -4

Marty got 2 new Knizia games, one of which Tabula Rasa. It was quick and pretty interesting. It's a team game, though, so the ratings are a little problematic, but that's not the game's problem. I think we all enjoyed it.

I finally played Torres and got soundly thrashed. First-timer Daniel beat experienced William.

Master Labyrinth is good. You gotta love a game which teaches you factoids like:
"Crab apples were used to combat fever. Their juice mixed with brandy was believed to be a love potion."
"Pine cones were placed under children's pillows to help them fall asleep."
And many more nuggets of ancient lore!

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Evening's Soundtrack:

Dan Bern, Dog Boy Van
Jane Jensen, Comic Book Whore
The Smashing Pumpkins, Tonight, Tonight
Tenors, Greatest Hits
Trout Fishing in America, Truth is Stranger than Fishin'

All these CDs have comic-style art on their covers.

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Rank ratings:
 0.3810 BobR (6 games played)
 0.3333 Daniel (3)
 0.3333 William (3)
 0.3125 JP (5)
 0.2500 Marty (4)
 0.0909 JonathanC (3)
 0.0625 Bob (5)
 0.0000 Tim (4)
-0.1667 Jennifer (2)
-0.2500 RussW (4)
-0.4545 Allen (3)
-0.4706 WendyWhe (5)
-0.6364 Clayton (3)

New Win ratings:
 0.5556 Daniel (3)
 0.3750 JP (5)
 0.3333 BobR (6)
 0.2308 Tim (4)
 0.1667 Jennifer (2)
-0.0833 Marty (4)
-0.0833 RussW (4)
-0.1250 Bob (5)
-0.2727 JonathanC (3)
-0.2727 Allen (3)
-0.2727 Clayton (3)
-0.3333 William (3)
-0.3529 WendyWhe (5)

BobR is the Devil! Daniel is Vice-Devil. JP is Vice-Vice-Devil.

BobR wins the Dedicated Award.

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Links:

Radiskull & Devil Doll! Wonderful fun Flash animations (and Devil Doll is so cuuute):
http://joesparks.shockwave.com/
This is what several folks went upstairs to watch during RussCon.
He also has lyrics and mp3s of the songs, and downloadable sound bites.
It's time to kick it!
Yeeeaaahhh!

A Flash animation spoof of anime:
http://www.hecklers.com/dragonballz/

Achieve immortality through your crappy stick figure art:
http://www.youdraw.com/
I drew a guy with a Pac-Man on his shirt.

A grisly visit to the Body Farm anthropology facility
http://www.msnbc.com/news/382073.asp?0m=N25B
http://www.msnbc.com/news/476812.asp?cp1=1 (Oct 22 2000: the old links appears to have died)

The Mushroom Interview: Jeff Tubman From Microprose:
http://www.themushroom.com/mush0214/interviewmicroprose0214.html

My own page continues to grow. Check out my Bench strips. I've done a couple dozen of 'em now:
http://russcon.org/thebench.html
If anyone else does Bench strips, let me know!

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I am the Radiskull,
and I will kill you all!

Russ