The Games Andy Looney Is Playing

Q: Why haven't you made a video in like forever?

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 22:44:58 GMT

I had a lot of fun making videos early last year, posting a couple of dozen little films on YouTube, but for months I've done nothing new. The reasons for this (besides being super-busy inventing cool new games) have been technological. I suffered a massive setback last summer when my hard drive crashed (just as I was about to back it up, of course), and then, after I'd finally gotten back onto the video-making horse again, my camera started malfunctioning.

The camera in question is a Sony Digital Handycam which uses 8mm videotapes. The problem is minor -- audio dropouts during playback -- and I think a good head cleaning is all it requires. I've even had problems like this in the past and been able to fix them with the use of a cleaning cassette. But I've tried a couple of those now and they haven't done the trick. So I think at this point I need to find an electronics repair shop that can give my trusty old camera a good professional cleaning.

The problem with that is, I don't know of such a place in my city (College Park MD). Anyone got any recommendations for me?

Who I'm Supporting for President

Sat, 26 Jan 2008 18:06:56 GMT

Topher wrote to me, asking: "I'm curious. Who are you supporting for this year's election?"

I'm supporting Obama. He's not my favorite, but neither Dennis Kucinich nor Ron Paul have a chance of winning, and having spent my whole life supporting candidates who didn't win, I'm weary of championing another no-chancer this time around.

I really don't care much for Hillary; I love the idea of a female president, but there's just so much unpleasant baggage associated with this particular female, and I REALLY want someone in the White House with an unfamiliar name for a change. Plus I also love the idea of a black president (and I think it's awesome we're being faced with such a choice). Of course neither of them have particularly good positions on the Drug War, but both are way better than any of the Republican candidates (except Ron Paul).

As regards my favorite issue, I actually like the fact that Obama has admitted to "youthful indiscretions" since it means 1) he's honest and forthright about his past 2) he knows first-hand the many falsehoods of the anti-drug propaganda machine and 3) electing him would send the message that yes, it's possible to have used illegal drugs and still achieve great things, including becoming President. Such a man might well be able to support the end of drug prohibition once in office, even though it's probably better for him not to voice such opinions in the meantime. So at the moment, I'm in favor of Barrack Obama.

That said, if by some miracle Ron Paul wins the Republican nomination, I'd totally vote for him over Obama (unless Obama chooses Kucinich as his running mate).

These Past 2 Months

Sat, 26 Jan 2008 17:45:28 GMT

Wow, it's been two months since I posted here. Well, obviously it was too hard to keep up with posting about every single game I played, so I guess I need to add "Some Of" to the title of this page ("The Games Andy Looney Is Playing"). Another reason I stopped posting here was that I'd begun playtesting a couple of new games but I wasn't ready to talk about them yet. Thus it was easier to go silent than to think up code names.

But this week I'm finally revealing details (at Wunderland.com) about one of these new games: Martian Fluxx. (The other now has an official code name: Secret Project EMR-35.)

So here are a few highlights of the games I've played since November 18th (besides lots of test games of Martian Fluxx and Secret Project EMR-35):

Nanofictionary: I've started playtesting a new set of rules for Nano. The first printing has now finally sold through (last I heard there were less than 2 dozen decks left in stock) and it's going to be a while before we reprint it. Part of this delay is because of my desire to improve the design. After 5 years of playing it as first published, I've becoming totally disenchanted with certain elements of how it plays, in particular the long and often tedious Writing phase. The fun part is the telling of stories and it takes way too long to get there in the current version. Especially problematic in this regard are the Action cards, which have proven to be much more trouble than they are worth. In the Second Edition of Nanofictionary I plan to dump those cards entirely (replacing them with zero point Honorable Mention cards, so that you don't have to re-use regular cards for the Empty Envelopes during voting). Setting aside some resistance to change on the part of a couple of die-hard Nano-fans, I'm very pleased with the reactions to the revisions we've been playtesting.
Just Desserts: While most of my best game designs have come together very quickly, often in a matter of days (as just happened with EMR-35) it sometimes takes years of iterative revisions to successfully invent a good game. After many massive revisions and another recent round of tweaks, I'm feeling like the design is really good. But the massive art job required for the final production of this game is keeping it lingering on the back burner. Anyway, we played this several times recently with my latest tweaks, and I think they're really good (but I still need to update the online rules with my latest changes.)
Binary Homeworlds:
- Shel and I played 9 more games of Homeworlds, all of which I won (though many were uncomfortably close)
- On Christmas Day my nephew James and I played Homeworlds for the first time. He did quite well!
- Rob Bryan (known as TwoShort on SuperDuperGames) was in town for the holidays and we played Homeworlds; he's long been the top-rated player at SDG and I've lost to him every time we've played online, but I've also beaten him every time we've played in person, so a lot was riding on this game. Plus he hit me with a crazy Gemini star opening! But I prevailed.
Simultaneous Random Word Game: On New Year's Eve Cooperjon taught me a clever little game (what's that called, John?) in which two people say a random word simultaneously, with each person trying to anticipate what the other will say, and the goal being for both people to say the same thing when they get to the third word (in which case, they win that round). Try it, it's fun!
Videogames: On the PS-2 I've been playing Tomb Raider (my usual) plus something new (to us): Sly Cooper. Mostly I've been helping Kristin get through the really hard challenges as she plays (when called in this way I'm known as the Andytron-3000).
Over The Edge: Keith Baker was in town and he joined us for a very memorable session of OTE. This is the same scenario that started last summer when he ran a session for me, Kristin, Alison, and Robin at GenCon; I took over as GM where he left off and we've had quite an adventure without him. In joining us for a session now, Keith became a guest player in what has become my own version of what he started.
A Small Problem: Alison ran two sessions (of a planned trio) of a Role-Playing Game by a group called NASCRAG which she'd played in at GenCon. Our party became miniaturized and sent on a series of adventures we have yet to recover from. (The other players were Kristin, Petra, Shel, Liam, and Dave.) I played a character named Finnegan Mulcahy.
Poker: I played 15 games of Martian Hold'em since my last update. Most were cash games in which I lost a couple of bucks. 2 were tournaments which I won. I lost a total of $4.64 over the course of these 15 games.

That's still not all of the game I played in the last couple of months, but it's most of them.

Thursday and Friday nights

Mon, 19 Nov 2007 05:03:38 GMT

On Thursday night all I played was Poker, not counting a few rounds of Twilight Zone pinball (the machine having mysteriously fixed itself after 3 months of semi-functionality). I lost $2.22 at Poker.

On Friday night Shel came over and we played 3 games of Homeworlds. I won all 3, but Shel gave me quite a challenge on the third match, causing me to furrow my brow and whine a fair amount. Good game, Shel!

Game Report: Over the Edge

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 04:46:30 GMT

Last night we had another OTE role-playing session, with me as the GM and Kristin, Alison, and Robin as a trio of interesting women still trapped in the Rose Hotel. But this time, they figured out how to escape! So now they're at large again on Al Amarja, ready for something new...

Game Report: Shut-The-Box after a feast at Green Field

Mon, 12 Nov 2007 08:50:02 GMT

Last night my Dad took our family out for a big dinner to celebrate my birthday, and we went to the Green Field restaurant in Rockville. I'd never been there before, but I've heard it was a great place, and wow, it's my new favorite. It's a Brazilian steak house (aka "that skewers of meat place") where the waitrons walk around with these huge skewers of freshly-grilled meats, and if you have the indicator on your table set to GO, they'll stop and carve you off a chunk of whatever they've got. So instead of having to choose between a sirloin steak or a rib-eye or a prime rib or whatever, you get as much as you want of any of those plus chicken and sausage and lamb and turkey wrapped in bacon. Even after we were feeling stuffed they kept bringing out new cuts and types of meat for us to sample. And then came the dessert cart! It was an awesome meal. Thanks Dad!

As soon as we got home we tried out the new game Dad & Mom had gotten me, one which I'm surprised I've never run into before, since it's actually an old classic (from olde English pubs) called Shut-the-Box. It's a very quick and simple dice game with a clever scoring mechanic I've never encountered. I like it a lot, it's fun. We played 13 rounds, with Kristin and I winning every other time or so and Alison suffering a horrible streak of bad luck, winning only once. Even so she had a great time and kept wanting to continue playing (always a strong indicator of good gameplay). And that was all without even trying the gambling rules! (I also got a really nice travel chess set from Howard-Leslie-Eric but I haven't tried using it yet.)

Anyway, it was a great night. Thanks so much to all!!!

Game Report: WTS night

Fri, 09 Nov 2007 23:39:32 GMT

Last night we did a 9 player Martian Hold'em Tournament, and I won! I got off to a great start with a couple of big early wins (AQ and AA on the first and third hands), then played it tight so that my big stack kept getting bigger until I came out on top. It was a $3 buy-in, and first place paid $12, so I made $9.

I also played a round of a complex real-time sci-fi board game called Space Dealer, which I'd never tried before. I liked a lot of things about it, including the fact that it comes with a CD of music that you're supposed to play during the 30 minute timed game, providing a cool space-music soundtrack (with embedded warnings about how much time is left on the clock).

Game Report: The Past Week

Wed, 07 Nov 2007 15:00:59 GMT

Shel's been over several times this week to challenge me at Homeworlds. We played 5 games over the course of 3 visits. I won every time, but she's getting quite good even so. Often she'll destroy half of my Homeworld before I destroy hers, and our games are usually quite epic.

For one of these games, I set up my video camera and filmed the entire two hour game, which I'm editing down into a time-lapse view of a Homeworlds game. It was an 83 turn battle.

During WTS night, Shel and I played half a game of Homeworlds while simultaneously also playing Martian Hold'em. I love this setup, since it's great to be able to study the Homeworlds board when you're out of the hand in the Hold'em game. These being my 2 obsessively-favorite games at this time, I get a kick out of doing both at the same time. (I'm a multi-tasking junkie.) The losing streak I've been on at Poker continued, with another loss of $1.55.

On Monday night, since it was my birthday, Kristin & Alison took me out for a steak dinner. While waiting for a table we got drinks at the bar and played 3 games of Treehouse. Our bartender Mark was so intrigued by the game that we taught him to play and he joined us for two of our games, winning once! (I won the others.) It was fun watching Mark get increasingly interested in the game (particularly when other customers started getting impatient). During dinner we played EcoFluxx, and Kristin won.

Game Report: ZombieFest

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 06:56:21 GMT

As I discuss here, we just got back from ZombieFest. Here are my totals for games played during the weekend:
Zombie Fluxx: 1 win, 9 losses
Treehouse: 4 wins, 5 losses
Aquarius: 0 wins, 1 loss
Twin Win: 3 wins, 1 loss

Game Report: WTS Night

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 09:43:37 GMT

We're getting ready to go to ZombieFest so I didn't have time for much gaming this week. However, I did manage to lose $1.55 playing Poker. I also finished the game of Homeworlds Shel and I started on October 7th. (I won.)

Game Report: Over the Edge

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 08:41:07 GMT

On Monday night we had another OTE role-playing session, with me as the GM and Kristin, Alison, and Robin as a trio of interesting women trapped in a strange place called the Rose Hotel. They've done more exploring and learned a lot more, but they're still looking for the exit. Meanwhile, someone new has arrived: an exterminator named Clyde Throckmorton. A reception was held in his honor, but one of those dang kids has already stolen his briefcase. (I expect most of this makes little sense to you, but the adventure is going well, and my players are all having a good time.)

Game Report: Sharon's Day

Mon, 22 Oct 2007 21:57:20 GMT

On Saturday, we celebrated a family tradition we call Sharon's Day. The focus of this year's special day with Sharon was chocolate! As Sharon's Godfather, I'm very pleased that she's developed a taste for chocolate, since I have trouble relating to weirdoes like her father and her brother who are "indifferent to its charms." Anyway, when I heard their home town of Charlottesville was hosting a big Chocolate Festival during Sharon's Day season, I realized it was the perfect thing to plan a day around. And a fun day it was. We capped off the day with a fabulous meal at the Melting Pot -- featuring chocolate fondue of course! And at several points along the way, we played games!

First, during a light lunch at a place called Revolutionary Soup, we played six games of Treehouse. James won 3 of those games and Sharon won once. I lost every time.

Later, at the Melting Pot, we played good old original Fluxx (the version featuring Chocolate). Interestingly enough, this was their first time playing standard Fluxx. They've been playing Family Fluxx since they were 8, when they formed the prime focus group for playtesting with my final prototype (oddly enough on Sharon's Day the year we went to Williamsburg), and of course, just last weekend they got to try Zombie Fluxx, but somehow they'd never tried the original. I was delighted when Sharon squealed "Let's play again!" after winning the first game. "Those are my 3 favorite words in the English language," I replied as I shuffled the deck. We started playing several times but kept having to call the game off due to the arrival of food.

[Writing about this incident has given me an idea. It wouldn't have worked well at the Melting Pot, where everything is served family-style, but the idea is a new House Rule: if you're playing Fluxx at a restaurant, the game ends when the waitron arrives with the food, and the winner is the player who receives their main dish first.]

After dinner and just before bedtime, I finally indulged James in a game of Magic: The Gathering. (For Christmas last year I gave him a set of 5 single-color M:tG decks I'd built for him using my stash of old cards, and he'd been pestering me to play all day.) After he chose the Blue deck to battle with, I took the Green one, and I crushed him with it (but he was Mana starved so it wasn't much of a game).

PS: Having linked to an article about a study of the metabolic differences between people who crave chocolate and those who are indifferent to it, I can't resist quoting Chris Welsh's reaction to it: "So, as you see, you're all robots created by a race of long-extinct fungi. My favorite part was how the fungi were mutant descendents of a bioweopon that had killed the Martians 4 billion years ago, spores of which landed on Earth after a Martian volcano explosion and which are still preserved in Antarctic ice. And how global warming puts civilization at risk from that same weopon in the event of the collapse of the Antarctic Ice Cap. (Basically any day now.) And how the secret robot brains you people have may hold the data we normals need to survive. (Being robots, naturally you're immune.) And the black program to kidnap you and remove your brains for essential, civilization-saving research. (Not to mention improved bioweopons.) When the gov't nabs you and is reading out your secret robot brain, and you're experiencing the indescribable horror of realtime consciousness dismemberment maybe you'll be able, somehow, to generate me an email about it. That'd be some interesting reading I think."

I told him I'd see what I could do.

Game Report: WTS Night

Sun, 21 Oct 2007 23:00:44 GMT

First I played some Zombie Fluxx, then I tried a couple of rounds of Reiner Knizia's Poison. After this, we started a $3 Hold'em tournament in which I did poorly, being one of the first to wash out. I did similarly badly in the cash game later, eventually losing $1.55. So the best game of the night for me was the round of Binary Homeworlds I got to play with Rob Bryan.

Rob lives in Colorado but he was in town for a wedding, and was able to squeeze in a visit with us as well. Rob, aka TwoShort, has long been the Homeworlds player with the Highest Ranking at SuperDuperGames.org, so I was a bit nervous about this game. But I emerged victorious!

It's interesting to note that I have lost to Rob every single time I've played with him online, but that I've won every single time we've played in person. (This even includes a game I played with him during an Andy vs. Everybody session at GhengisCon.)

Game Report: Sarah & Shaun's Wedding

Mon, 15 Oct 2007 03:53:08 GMT

Yesterday my niece Sarah got married! Congrats Sarah and your new husband Shaun! We had a great time at your reception! We were at Table 11, with my brothers Rash and Jeff and his wife Judy and their kids James and Sharon. I gave away a few copies of the just-arrived Zombie Fluxx and I was delighted at how much the kids enjoyed it. The twins are 10 now and they had a great time playing it. I played at least six games with them (two of which I won) but they kept playing long after I'd dropped out of the game. I also played Treehouse with my cousin Olivia (whom I've barely ever met before) and I really enjoyed getting to know her better. Anyway, it was a splendid wedding! Best Wishes S&S!

Game Report: WTS Night

Sat, 13 Oct 2007 00:54:48 GMT

Last night we played some Zombie Fluxx and of course a bunch of Martian Hold'em. I won a game of Zombie Fluxx but I lost $1.90 at the Poker table.

"Is Drawing First Required?" continued

Wed, 10 Oct 2007 17:48:16 GMT

So I've been continuing to brood about this Fluxx question ("Is Drawing First Required?"). The answer I gave has only served to intensify the debate on the Fluxx list, and as people point out the worms we get by opening this can, I find myself doubting myself. It's certainly the case that I've always played it as though drawing first were mandatory, and I'm not at all sure I shouldn't just declare it so to be, and end this whole question.

Declaring it mandatory may ultimately prove to be the right answer. It would certainly be the simpler choice - it seems like the correct and obvious answer to most people, and justification for it is found easily enough in the Turn Sequence on the rulesheet. But I think it's more interesting to try on the surprising answer, and wear it around for awhile to see if it fits, rather than just stodgily saying "No, you can't do that."

I'm ashamed to admit this, but I haven't actually played a game yet in which I've allowed this sort of behavior. It may well be that as soon as I do I'll say OMG I Was Totally Wrong What Was I Thinking. My thought experiments are still telling me that it will rarely come up and will almost never make a difference... but I'm just not sure anymore.

The main thing is, this is an interesting question, and no matter what official ruling I may give, be it yesterday or in The Future, you can always establish your own House Rules. If my ruling doesn't sit right with your group, or if I change my mind but your group decides they like playing it this other way, then you folks should do as you-all agree. That's the great thing about House Rules -- you get to decide on them. House Rules rock!

Anyway, I'm interested in hearing comments from people who've tried playing Fluxx with this option and what effects they've noticed because of it. Is it more fun or less fun this way? Or is it basically the same?

Was I wrong before?

Ask Andy: Is Drawing First Required?

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 23:22:25 GMT

There's been a fascinating discussion on the Fluxx mailing list during the last few days, about this question:
Drawing before you Play is recommended -- but is it required?
One side of the argument contends that Drawing first is mandatory, since that's the stated sequence in the instructions. However, since it doesn't specifically say that Drawing first is required, this has become a point of contention. Some have said (loudly) that if I'd meant for the player to be able to Play before Drawing, I'd have said so explicitly, but others have argued that the rules really only require that you follow all of the Current Rules, and that the order you follow them in is technically optional.

And so it's up to me to make an official ruling on the subject. But this is actually a pretty tricky question. Those who've searched for a specific statement about Drawing first being mandatory can't find one because I've never officially said such a thing. But the fact that I've never said you CAN Play before you Draw doesn't mean I don't think you should be able to.

This question reminds me of our glorious Bill of Rights, specifically the Ninth Amendment: "The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people." Just because I haven't said you can do something doesn't mean you can't.

For myself, I always urge people to draw first. But that's just good advice, not a requirement. Why decide what to do before you've considered all your options?

The truth is, I've never been forced to answer this question before, so I've never tried to settle it even in my own mind. As Carol observed, it's never mattered -- until now. But the case of the Zombie Quartet does create a scenario in which the shrewd player might care.

So, what's the answer? Bear with me, I'm getting there.

It's a basic principle of good game design that rules should be as short and succinct as possible while also being complete. Therefore I resist adding special rules like "You Must Draw First," if we don't really need such a rule. And what's the harm of someone playing before they draw, except to themselves?

One of the things that makes Fluxx so successful is the simple structure of the basic engine. Everything about the way a card works is explained right there on the card, and yet anything on any card can be invalidated by text on other cards. The cards are building blocks for a self-modifying system, and it works because some things are left unsaid and incomplete. Sometimes spaces are intentionally left blank.

Here's an interesting way to think about this. Suppose we wanted to create a New Rule card for this situation. (Not that I would, this is just a Thought Experiment.) Would it make more sense to create a New Rule that grants you the power ("Playing Before Drawing is OK") or one which takes it away ("Drawing First is Mandatory")? Which case should be the default?

Like I said, "always draw first" is a motto of mine. But when I think of how the Fluxx engine works, I have a hard time arguing with the logic which says you can follow the rules in whatever order you want just as long as you draw and play the total number of cards required during your turn.

But as they have done in so many other ways, the arrival of Zombies have changed everything. With regular Fluxx, it's always good to Draw more cards, since they could never hurt you before. But now, each time you Draw a card you risk the arrival of one or more Creepers.

So at the end of the day I think I have to say it's OK to tweak the sequence if that's what you really want. Just as you might change the rules from Play All to Play 2 to avoid playing a card you don't want to use, I think it makes sense for the shrewd player with a Rules Reset to be allowed to get rid of the Draw 5 before observing the Draw rule, and thus only Draw 1.

So I think the answer is no: drawing first is not required.

Game Report: WTS Night

Sun, 07 Oct 2007 19:42:55 GMT

Zombie Fluxx: Since the finished decks are here, the first order of business was a ceremonial first game in honor of the arrival of Zombie Fluxx, played using the first real copy of the product. The 4 full-timers at Looney Labs played several games, with looneykristin winning the first and Robin winning the second. The games continued at the big table for awhile as our friends started arriving for game night.
Homeworlds: Shel and I got halfway through a game but we'll have to finish it later (I saved the game with a photo) because we stopped to play poker.
Hold'em:This was just a night of bad beats for me, which was typified by my final hand of the night: I finally got Pocket Aces and I went all-in, but they didn't hold up. I lost a total of $4.

Game Report: Over the Edge

Sun, 07 Oct 2007 19:33:01 GMT

At Gencon, I was a player (along with looneykristin, Alison, and Robin) in an evening-long session of a Role Playing Game (RPG) called Over the Edge (OTE). The Gamemaster (GM) for that session was my old friend gloomforge, but since he lives in Colorado, it's been up to me to take over as the GM. However, I've been slow to make it happen because we've all been super busy with the release of Zombie Fluxx, plus I haven't actually been a GM in many years (and never with this RPG system) so I was just a wee bit nervous about how it would go. But we finally held our first session and I think it went great!

I started them off (as Keith recommends) by recounting the dreams each of their characters had just woken up from. Then they set about continuing to explore the mysterious Rose Hotel. Veda, Veronica, and Sylvia are gradually unraveling the place's secrets while also getting to know its strange occupants, however they haven't figured out yet any way of leaving. Meanwhile, my own character (you know, Frank) has been drawn into a poker game, where he's really quite content. (We'll see if he even wants to leave when the ladies eventually locate an exit.)

[BTW, for any of you OTE experts in the audience, the module I'm using here is part of "At Your Service" published by Atlas Games in October 2001.]

Incidentally, one of the featured characters in this story is an insane person clearly based on a real woman, whom Keith and I often encountered when we worked together at Magnet Interactive Studios back in 1995. She lived on the street outside our company's office in Georgetown, and every day she'd write mysterious messages in huge letters with red and black magic markers on big pieces of cardboard. (They'd say things like "Government Lawyers Sold Part of My Brain to Africa to Control The Weather.") She displayed these signs at the Wisconsin / M St corner, and I'm sure other Washingtonians know who I'm talking about. Her name was Beth, but everyone called her the Crazy Sign Lady.

Game Report: Gaming at the Conversatory

Sun, 30 Sep 2007 04:53:05 GMT

On Friday night we-3 went over to the Conversatory (where tiguh_tiguh and artistic_alex live) for a little gaming party being held as a send off for speedlime, who's leaving town tonight for a month of travel in Europe. Games we played:

Slapticus (officially known as Perpetual Commotion): This is popular with many in the group but I hadn't played it much... after a couple of rounds, I was with John in deciding that it's not my kind of game.

Taboo: This is another one I haven't played much myself but which my friends have played a lot, so much so that in this session we were using a bunch of homebrew cards which Alison, anigma_i, and Alex had been creating earlier in the evening. I enjoyed this game and did pretty well as the clue-giver, but kept forgetting and trying to help the other team guess when it was our turn to sit out. (I hate sitting out.)

Hold'em: Since 4 people in the group are Poker-holics, we couldn't resist playing a little $1 tournament. I was slowly dying for want of a decent hand when I finally got pocket aces on the big blind and re-raised all-in before the flop. TV Tom called me with pocket twos and of course he caught another two, knocking me out.

Foosball: By this time it was too late to start another major game, but everyone else was playing Guillotine so the poker players (me, John, Alex, and TV Tom) played a game of Foosball. It turned out to be a very exciting match, as TV Tom and I turned a near crushing defeat into a turnaround victory. Alex and John were at 9 points (game is 10) while Tom and I had just 3, then we hit goal after goal until we too had 9 points -- and a captivated audience! And then we won! Yay!

Game Report: WTS Night

Sun, 30 Sep 2007 04:46:23 GMT

Covert Action: I played this twice, and lost both games. I had a great moment of victory in one round when I was the Sniper and Jake was the Mole on the other team, and he signaled to me that heptadecagram was the their Sniper and I shot him!

Hold'em: We started with a $3 tournament which just a sob story for me: we'd just barely started (it was the second hand) when I hit a sweet full house on the flop with pocket eights! I thought I had it made and went all in, but Dave had pocket aces, and he caught an another ace on the turn! But I did better in the ring game later, with a profit of almost $2 in that session, most of which was in the last hand of the night. TV Tom (who'd just washed out and bought back in) went all-in against me when I had my favorite hand (pocket queens) and my ladies kicked his butt.

Game Report: WTS Night

Sat, 22 Sep 2007 02:28:24 GMT

Last night, all I played was Poker, in 2 sessions. First we did a one dollar tournament with 5 players (me, Jacob, Dave, TV Tom, and John) and I was the winner! Later when others like Greg and Alex arrived, we played a ring game; I was doing great for awhile but ultimately lost and rebought twice. Overall my profit for the night was 40 cents.

Game Report: IGDC-5 Report Card

Sat, 22 Sep 2007 01:02:38 GMT

So I've been putting off talking about my review of the rest of the games in the Ice Games Design Contest because I was waiting for the voting to close and I've been too busy anyway. But now that it's over here's how I voted and why:

1) Pylon: I really liked this game, as did my playtesters. (So too did the community itself, since it seems to be the winner!) It's got an easy, clean ruleset, and plays to a nice crisp ending. And it looks great (particularly when played on a Mega-Volcano Board plus a set of ELBS). I even like the name: like the game itself, it's very abstract, yet it reminds me of the pylons in the Land of the Lost (scenes from which were among my original inspirations for the pyramids). Most important of all, it has very compelling gameplay!

2) Penguin Soccer: Even though I'm no fan of sports, I really like the theme of this game and the way all the elements work so nicely together. We found the rules a little confusing at first, but I imagine this problem could be solved by making wonderful cartoon illustrations. I only tried it with 2 players, but I'll bet it's great with 4.

3) Zamboni Wars: I love the way this game uses the components and the light RAMbots feeling of the action. I love the way your armor is peeled away layer by layer as you get hit. My biggest complaint really is with the name. Why do our Zambonis have lasers? Why are we shooting each other with them? The rules describe it as being a tank battle game, but the name makes you think it's going to have something to do with hockey or figure skating. It seems to me this should be about alien battletanks on a frozen moon somewhere...

4) Martian Coasters Chaturanga: I really like the freewheeling chaos of this game and the way it uses the elements. I even decided I liked the name after it I looked up Chaturanga on Wikipedia. The big problem is the end condition. This game seems promising to me, but it needs more playtesting, a faster and cleaner end point, and probably some other simplifications. We didn't actually finish a game.

5) Moon Shot: I really *wanted* to like this game. I totally love the theme, and the idea of a tree being a 2-stage booster rocket with a space capsule on top, and the use of the tube as a game component, and the real-time option. Unfortunately, while it all looks great on paper, it just didn't play very well, at least not for us. We tried it twice and in both cases the initial reaction was very positive but the group quickly became frustrated and lost interest before actually finishing a game.

6) Trip Away: This is another one I really wanted to like but which just didn't work for my group. Again, we didn't finish the game. I like the idea of trying to get rid of your pieces by pointing them at others then moving them in that direction but the action didn't seem to go anywhere. The idea of needing to count until 20 rounds had gone by and then remove a bunch of pieces from play just shines a light on the problem it's attempting to fix.

7) Subdivision and 8) Geomancy: I rated these two at the bottom because I never got around to actually trying them. You might say I was unfair in my judgment thereby, and you'd have a valid point, but I'm including as factors in my judging issues like my opinions based on reading the rules, how much interest I was able to get in the game when describing the options to my playtesters, and yes, whether or not I'd even gotten around to trying it by the time the deadline arrived. I'm sorry I couldn't give these games more attention...

Game Report: Liam & Tara's Wedding

Sun, 16 Sep 2007 19:42:26 GMT

Yesterday, Liam and Tara got married! This didn't leave much time for games, but I did squeeze in a couple of rounds of Treehouse and Twin Win during the reception. After the wedding, we hung out a bit with Adam Kopczenski, who taught us a new Treehouse game he's come up with, inspired by Volcano. It's great -- we played several times -- although it doesn't have a good name yet.

Game Report for Yesterday

Sat, 15 Sep 2007 18:04:30 GMT

I played several more games yesterday while hanging out with Laura... we tried another one from the current Ice Games Design Contest, called Penguin Soccer, plus we played Pylon again, along with a few more rounds of Drip.