From: owner-acka-games-digest@muppetlabs.com (acka-games-digest) To: acka-games-digest@muppetlabs.com Subject: acka-games-digest V3 #99 Reply-To: acka-games@muppetlabs.com Sender: owner-acka-games-digest@muppetlabs.com Errors-To: owner-acka-games-digest@muppetlabs.com Precedence: bulk acka-games-digest Tuesday, May 12 1998 Volume 03 : Number 099 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 00:05:40 -0400 (EDT) From: Eric Plumb Subject: Re: Acka: Spades Continues On Mon, 11 May 1998, Joseph W. DeVincentis wrote: > For the 7th trick of the 5th hand of spades, Goldenmean failed to play in the > allotted 3 days. Thus he plays randomly, playing the 6 of spades. > > Note: Alfvaen played the 2 of clubs and Slakko played the 5 of clubs on this > trick already. Thanking Goldenmean (or, at least, /dev/joe's random card generator) I play the Six of Clubs. Thought you had me, didn't you? - -Hubert When I want your opinion, I'll read your entrails. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 00:06:10 -0400 (EDT) From: Eric Plumb Subject: Re: Acka: Eleusis Game 1 - Round 1 - /dev/joe's play On Mon, 11 May 1998, Joseph W. DeVincentis wrote: > > A H (else...if[*]) | > > 2 C (/dev/joe) | 7 D (TGW) 10 C (else...if) > > I play the 2 of hearts. Incorrect, I'm afraid. Did that Hints proposal pass? - -Hubert Time is the best teacher. Unfortunately, it kills all its students. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 00:13:27 -0400 (EDT) From: Eric Plumb Subject: Acka: Fictionary round 5 results My most wholehearted and heartfelt apologies for getting this off late. If you beings wish to Impeach me as Brainiac, I would quite support it. And thanks to Vynd for a much-needed prod. AAAAAAnyway, in round 5 of Fictionary: JT, to no one's surprise, submitted a correct definition for "spital," which was "A hospital." and gains 4 points. Other definition authorships were as follows: Slakko: Of or pertaining to farming; as in Spitalfields. (no votes) else...if: A Doric pedestal. (TGW) Vynd: feeling worse than usual, indisposed (/dev/joe) TGW: A small stake. (else...if, AtP) /dev/joe: A set of small skewers projecting out from a main spit. (Vynd) AtP: a small container into which mushrooms may be placed. (no votes) rufus: "" (no votes) Slakko gained 2 points for voting for the correct definition. /dev/joe voted for Vynd's, and Vynd returned the favor: they each gain 1 point. TGW voted for else...if's, who gained 1 point. Attila the Pun and a thankful else...if both voted for TGW's definition. TGW gains 2 points, eir first. And second, for that matter. rufus did not vote, and nobody voted for eir definition. E loses a point. Hubert shifted tenses at least three times in the above five lines that e noticed. Slakko and Vynd both submitted adjectives and may be ridiculed. I would do so myself, but am in somewhat of a hurry. Scores are, I believe: Slakko 3 rufus 2 JT 16 TGW 2 Hubert 12 Vynd 6 else...if 1 AtP -1 /dev/joe 5 if they are to include scoring from JT's aborted round. If not, I'll leave it to our overworked Web-Harfer to determine what they should be. (Note to Slakko for the web page: /dev/joe should have gained 3 points during TGW's turn.) With a wink, a nod, and a smile, I turn over the Brainiac duties to Vynd. - -Hubert The Lottery: a tax for people who can't do the math. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 00:14:56 -0400 (EDT) From: JT Subject: Re: Acka: Eleusis Game 1 - Round 1 - /dev/joe's play >Incorrect, I'm afraid. Did that Hints proposal pass? Proposal 2970 was in fact accepted, so.. yes. - --JT [-------------------------------------------------------------------------] [ Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty. ] [ It's hard to sieze the day when you must first grapple with the morning ] [-------------------------------------------------------------------------] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 00:18:30 -0400 (EDT) From: JT Traub Subject: Acka: Eleusis game 1 - Round 1 - TGW's play Players and Scores: Hubert : 0 gamepoints ( 0 cards) (Deus) /dev/joe : 0 gamepoints (12 cards) * TGW : 0 gamepoints (15 cards) else...if : 0 gamepoints (15 cards) (* denotes who's turn it is to play -- play will be entered only after Deus and prophet respond to the play) Card ranks: The cards in each suit are ranked A-2 with Ace high. Wild cards are ranked below 2's. Correct Plays | Incorrect plays - -----------------------+------------------------------------------------------ K S (starter) | Q S (/dev/joe) | 6 S (TGW) | 3 S (else...if) | 4 C (/dev/joe) | 4 D (TGW) | 5 D (else...if) | 6 D (/dev/joe) | 5 H (TGW) Q D (else...if acting)| Q H (/dev/joe [*]) | K S (TGW) 8 H (else...if acting) K H (/dev/joe) | A H (TGW) | J H (else...if) A C (/dev/joe) 2 S (TGW) | 7 S (else...if) | A S (/dev/joe) 9 S (TGW [*]) J S (else...if) | 5 S (/dev/joe) 6 C (TGW) 10 C (else...if) 10 H (/dev/joe) | K H (TGW) | A C (else...if) 3 H (/dev/joe) A S (TGW) A H (else...if[*]) | 2 C (/dev/joe) | 7 D (TGW) 10 C (else...if) 2 H (/dev/joe) [*] every 10th card after the starter is marked while there is no prophet ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 07:31:09 -0400 (EDT) From: kenningd@which.co.uk (L'homme a tete de choux) Subject: Acka: Game of Pure Skill 1, an apology Apologies to Koxvolio, JM Bear and Ayla for holding up the progress of the game - -- it is not my fault, I'm receiving messages about three days after they're posted thanks to the frequency with which the email server here breaks down. We're having a new email system installed very soon, apparently, so things will improve (I hope). Pandora ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 07:32:13 -0400 (EDT) From: kenningd@which.co.uk (L'homme a tete de choux) Subject: Ghost >If it is indeed my turn, I play r. Assuming it was Slakko's turn, I play ro. Pandora ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 07:33:48 -0400 (EDT) From: kenningd@which.co.uk (L'homme a tete de choux) Subject: Re: Acka: *ping* >>IF AND ONLY IF today has a date whose base seven representation is prime >>in base ten, THEN the Machine that goes *ping* shall go *ping*. > >Congratulations, most worthy student. You have indeed guessed the Truth >of the Machine. May your Boon be fruitful, and may the Machine bring you >joy. Great. I got 'representation' by a torturous process of elimination, but I don't think I would have had a cat in hell's chance of guessing such a blatantly mathematical truth. Would it be bad form if I made a polite request to The Machine That Goes *Ping* to be a bit kinder on us arty-types next time it reveals a truth? Pandora ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 08:02:33 -0400 (EDT) From: "Joseph W. DeVincentis" Subject: Acka: *ping* Today is Tuesday, the 12th day of May, and the Machine That Goes *ping* Has Gone *ping* today. Since I have been scholar, the Machine has gone *ping* 2 times. /dev/joe Scholar of *ping* ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 10:08:39 -0400 (EDT) From: JT Subject: Re: Ghost On Tue, 12 May 1998, L'homme a tete de choux wrote: >>If it is indeed my turn, I play r. > >Assuming it was Slakko's turn, I play ro. And following in like form, if it is indeed my turn (I believe it is :) I play 'pro'. - --JT [-------------------------------------------------------------------------] [ Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty. ] [ It's hard to sieze the day when you must first grapple with the morning ] [-------------------------------------------------------------------------] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 10:27:21 -0400 (EDT) From: John Frederic Mc Coy Subject: Re: Acka: *ping* On Tue, 12 May 1998, L'homme a tete de choux wrote: > >>IF AND ONLY IF today has a date whose base seven representation is prime > >>in base ten, THEN the Machine that goes *ping* shall go *ping*. > > > >Congratulations, most worthy student. You have indeed guessed the Truth > >of the Machine. May your Boon be fruitful, and may the Machine bring you > >joy. > > Great. I got 'representation' by a torturous process of elimination, but I > don't think I would have had a cat in hell's chance of guessing such a > blatantly mathematical truth. > > Would it be bad form if I made a polite request to The Machine That Goes *Ping* > to be a bit kinder on us arty-types next time it reveals a truth? > > Pandora > > You can ask, but don't expect it to be honored. That seemed like a pretty typical truth to me, which is why I rate my chances of ever discovering the truth as poor to none. - Vynd jmccoy@umich.edu ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 10:43:14 -0400 (EDT) From: kenningd@which.co.uk (L'homme a tete de choux) Subject: Re: Acka: *ping* Vynd: >You can ask, but don't expect it to be honored. That seemed like a pretty >typical truth to me, which is why I rate my chances of ever discovering >the truth as poor to none. I realise of course that it is *very* bad form for a new player to come in and start trying to tell everyone else how to play the game, but I think it is a valid point that the Truth shouldn't rely too much on the guessers having to possess arcane/specialist knowledge of *any* kind, except perhaps that which can be gained by experience of playing Ackanomic. Pandora ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 10:50:49 -0400 (EDT) From: Matt Miller Subject: Re: Acka: *ping* On Tue, 12 May 1998, L'homme a tete de choux wrote: > Vynd: > >You can ask, but don't expect it to be honored. That seemed like a pretty > >typical truth to me, which is why I rate my chances of ever discovering > >the truth as poor to none. > > I realise of course that it is *very* bad form for a new player to come in and > start trying to tell everyone else how to play the game, but I think it is a > valid point that the Truth shouldn't rely too much on the guessers having to > possess arcane/specialist knowledge of *any* kind, except perhaps that which > can be gained by experience of playing Ackanomic. > > Pandora > Arcane? Specialist? Who's frame of reference we gonna deal with? IB ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 10:53:59 -0400 (EDT) From: K2 Subject: Re: Acka: *ping* Matt Miller wrote: > On Tue, 12 May 1998, L'homme a tete de choux wrote: > > > Vynd: > > >You can ask, but don't expect it to be honored. That seemed like a pretty > > >typical truth to me, which is why I rate my chances of ever discovering > > >the truth as poor to none. > > > > I realise of course that it is *very* bad form for a new player to come in and > > start trying to tell everyone else how to play the game, but I think it is a > > valid point that the Truth shouldn't rely too much on the guessers having to > > possess arcane/specialist knowledge of *any* kind, except perhaps that which > > can be gained by experience of playing Ackanomic. > > > > Pandora > > > > Arcane? Specialist? Who's frame of reference we gonna deal with? The Scholar's ;) > > > IB ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 10:54:47 -0400 (EDT) From: "Joseph W. DeVincentis" Subject: Re: Acka: *ping* > >>IF AND ONLY IF today has a date whose base seven representation is prime > >>in base ten, THEN the Machine that goes *ping* shall go *ping*. > > > >Congratulations, most worthy student. You have indeed guessed the Truth > >of the Machine. May your Boon be fruitful, and may the Machine bring you > >joy. > > Great. I got 'representation' by a torturous process of elimination, but I > don't think I would have had a cat in hell's chance of guessing such a > blatantly mathematical truth. Yes, I also figured "representation", as well as "has a date" since that is a common way for Truths to start, and that day I was looking at the last announced version of the Truth and the idea of plugging in a "base N representation" hit me, so I wrote out all the dates the machine had *ping*ed in bases 3, 7, and 8, and looked for what those numbers had in common. > Would it be bad form if I made a polite request to The Machine That Goes > *Ping* to be a bit kinder on us arty-types next time it reveals a truth? Unfortunately most of the good simple truths have already been used, so pretty much all the ones we have now are obscure in some way. They don't have to be mathematical but many of them will be. There was a very different, non-mathematical idea I wanted to use as a truth this time, but, for reasons I will leave unannounced, I chose to use something else, which may or may not be mathematical. :-) Despite this, recent Truths have been good in that they were guessable with only a couple letters filled in, but not immediately obvious. I commend those scholars for their ability to pick good Truths. (Whose Truth was it that was guessed with no letters and 1 or 2 *ping*s?) /dev/joe ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 12:01:02 -0400 (EDT) From: "Raquel Peres da Silva" Subject: Acka: Game of Pure Skill 1 Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 Prize | 3S | 10S | 6S | JS Pandora's bid | 2H * | AH | 10H | Koxvolio's bid | 2D | QD | 10D * | JM's bid | 4C | KC | AC | Winner | JM | JM | - | Bids can be sent until May 14 at 5:17 PM * Indicates a randomic card picked by the referee, because the player failed to send eir bid on time. So far, the score is: Pandora .......... 0 Koxvolio .......... 0 JM Bear .......... 13 Yours, Ayla ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 12:16:17 -0400 (EDT) From: Frank Schmidt Subject: Acka: Game of Pure Skill 2 - where are your bids? I'm giving you an extension on this round, since you were so fast on all the previous ones. But you should mail me your *valid* bids (not cards you already played). J. M. Bear The current card is 9 of Spades. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 13:00:12 -0400 (EDT) From: "Tom Walmsley" Subject: Re: Acka: *ping* > Despite this, recent Truths have been good in that they were guessable > with only a couple letters filled in, but not immediately obvious. I > commend those scholars for their ability to pick good Truths. (Whose > Truth was it that was guessed with no letters and 1 or 2 *ping*s?) IIRC it was Crackfoo. TGW. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 13:00:13 -0400 (EDT) From: "Tom Walmsley" Subject: Acka: Ghost Pandora's play was unfortunately too late and so he surrenders by default. This causes the ghost word to be reset. It is now JT's go. TGW, referee. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 13:07:05 -0400 (EDT) From: JT Subject: Re: Acka: Ghost On Tue, 12 May 1998, Tom Walmsley wrote: >Pandora's play was unfortunately too late and so he surrenders by default. >This causes the ghost word to be reset. It is now JT's go. > >TGW, referee. Then I will play 'r'. [-------------------------------------------------------------------------] [ Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty. ] [ It's hard to sieze the day when you must first grapple with the morning ] [-------------------------------------------------------------------------] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 13:46:51 -0400 (EDT) From: John Frederic Mc Coy Subject: Re: Acka: *ping* On Tue, 12 May 1998, L'homme a tete de choux wrote: > Vynd: > >You can ask, but don't expect it to be honored. That seemed like a pretty > >typical truth to me, which is why I rate my chances of ever discovering > >the truth as poor to none. > > I realise of course that it is *very* bad form for a new player to come in and > start trying to tell everyone else how to play the game, but I think it is a > valid point that the Truth shouldn't rely too much on the guessers having to > possess arcane/specialist knowledge of *any* kind, except perhaps that which > can be gained by experience of playing Ackanomic. > > Pandora > > I wasn't disagreeing with you Pandora. I was just saying that there have always been things like this going on in Acka. Machine Truths and Treasure Maps in particular seem to be a popular place for mathematical quirks and whatnot. I, like you, am not into that sort of thing, but it seems to be a piece of Acka that is here to stay. I commented mainly so you wouldn't think people were being deliberately mean when they keep doing stuff like this. They're engineers and mathmeticians, they can't help it. I do wish that they'd wise up, and realize that /dev/joe will innevitably be the one to decipher their riddles, however. Sometimes I think they may as well give him their prizes from the get-go. :) - Vynd jmccoy@umich.edu ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 15:07:18 -0400 (EDT) From: "Tom Walmsley" Subject: Re: Acka: Ghost > Then I will play 'r'. It is now Alfvaen's turn. TGW. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 15:57:10 -0400 (EDT) From: Frank Schmidt Subject: Acka: Game of Pure Skill 2 - Rd 10 results The game is decided. Alfvaen played eir Queen of Hearts, so e wins this round and cannot win any of the following - eir highest card is lower than TGW's lowest one. Due to Alfvaen winning the round, e also wins the game, since noone else can reach this ultimate score of 42. Congratulations, Alfvaen! Round| 1| 2| 3 | 4| 5| 6| 7| 8 | 9| 10| Card |5S|KS| 7S|4S|3S|JS|8S|10S|6S| 9S| Alfvn|9H|AH|10H|8H|5H|KH|6H| 4H|JH| QH| 42 pts JT |3D|9D| 5D|2D|4D|8D|7D|10D|AD| JD| 23 pts TGW |3C|2C| 5C|4C|6C|QC|9C| AC|7C|10C| 11 pts Next card: Queen of Spades (It ain't over until it's over) J. M. Bear ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 16:25:59 -0400 (EDT) From: "Raquel Peres da Silva" Subject: Acka: Game of Pure Skill 1 - Round 4 (results) So, it seems that everyone decided to work hard (and quick) this time!... :-) Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 Prize | 3S | 10S | 6S | JS | 2S Pandora's bid | 2H * | AH | 10H | 9H | Koxvolio's bid | 2D | QD | 10D * | KD | JM's bid | 4C | KC | AC | QD | Winner | JM | JM | - | Koxvolio | * Indicates a randomic card picked by the referee, because the player failed to send eir bid on time. Bids for Round 5 can be sent until May 15, at 17:20. So far, the score is: Pandora .......... 0 Koxvolio .......... 11 JM Bear .......... 13 Yours, Ayla Priestess of the Order of the Razor Boomerangs Priestess of the Church of the Evil Ballot Stuffer Law of Cat Magnetism: All blue blazers and black sweaters attract cat hair in direct proportion to the darkness of the fabric. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 22:16:38 -0400 (EDT) From: Eric Plumb Subject: Acka: WUA round 9 results Round 9 of Word Un-Association Game 2 required Confused to link from "dog" to "llano." Koxvolio, Slakko, TGW, and else...if all linked, predictably, with "prairie." Each gains 1 point. Neither rufus nor AtP submitted a link word that I noticed. Scores are: Koxvolio: 10 JT: 8 Slakko: 8 TGW: 5 Attila the Pun: 2 else...if: 2 rufus: 1 To Attila the Pun falls the unenviable task of linking from "llano" in Round 10. That'll teach me to mention publically that the uh? words are becoming mundaner. :-) - -Hubert When you do a good deed, get a receipt, in case heaven is like the IRS ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 22:42:41 -0400 (EDT) From: alfvaen@telusplanet.net (Aaron V. Humphrey) Subject: Re: Acka: Ghost > Then I will play 'r'. I play 'sr'. - -- - --Alfvaen(Web page: http://www.telusplanet.net/public/alfvaen/ ) Current Album--Stevie Nicks:Rock A Little Current Book--Elizabeth Ann Scarborough:The Healer's War Left to my own lurch ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 22:42:57 -0400 (EDT) From: alfvaen@telusplanet.net (Aaron V. Humphrey) Subject: Re: Acka: Game of Pure Skill 2 > The game is decided. Alfvaen played eir Queen of > Hearts, so e wins this round and cannot win any of > the following - eir highest card is lower than TGW's > lowest one. Due to Alfvaen winning the round, e > also wins the game, since noone else can reach this > ultimate score of 42. Whoo-hoo! My gamble paid off! I was hoping that you guys would save your Kings for the Queen, but JT could still have screwed me up by playing eir Queen. Thanks for not. :-) - -- - --Alfvaen(Web page: http://www.telusplanet.net/public/alfvaen/ ) Current Album--Stevie Nicks:Rock A Little Current Book--Elizabeth Ann Scarborough:The Healer's War I had my brain digitized. The digit was 0. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 23:00:54 -0400 (EDT) From: JT Subject: Re: Acka: Game of Pure Skill 2 On Tue, 12 May 1998, Aaron V. Humphrey wrote: >Whoo-hoo! My gamble paid off! I was hoping that you guys would save >your Kings for the Queen, but JT could still have screwed me up by >playing eir Queen. Thanks for not. :-) Yer welcome although it was unintentional. I had misjudged that I needed that card and should in fact have played my king on it.. feh :) - --JT [-------------------------------------------------------------------------] [ Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty. ] [ It's hard to sieze the day when you must first grapple with the morning ] [-------------------------------------------------------------------------] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 23:08:16 -0400 (EDT) From: alfvaen@telusplanet.net (Aaron V. Humphrey) Subject: Acka: Eleusis G2R1 (Fortunato) K 2 played the King of Spades. Prophet Ayla has correct identified this as an incorrect play. K 2 receives two penalty cards. It is now Fortunato's turn. Players and Scores: Alfvaen : 0 ( 0 cards) (Deus) Attila the Pun : 0 (18 cards) K 2 : 0 (17 cards) * Fortunato : 0 (17 cards) Ayla : 0 (12 cards) (Prophet) Robert Sevin : 0 (14 cards) JT : 0 (12 cards) (* denotes whose turn it is to play -- play will be entered only after Deus and prophet respond to the play) Card ranks: The cards in each suit are ranked A-K with Ace low(values 1-13). There are no Wild cards. Correct Plays | Incorrect plays - -------------------------+------------------------------------------------------ 8 D (starter) | 8 H (Attila the Pun) | 9 S (K 2) 6 H (Fortunato[+]) | 6 S (Ayla) 6 H (Robert Sevin) | 7 H (JT) | 5 H (Attila the Pun), 9 D (K 2) * 6 C (Fortunato) | 2 C (Ayla) | 6 C (Robert Sevin), 2 S (JT) 2 H (Attila the Pun[+])| 2 D (K 2) J C (Fortunato) | A H (Ayla) | 9 S (Robert Sevin) K H (JT) |*2 H (Attila the Pun) 4 C (K 2) | Q D (Fortunato) ! Q S (Ayla) | 3 C (Robert Sevin) | 3 H (JT) | K C (Attila the Pun) | K S (K 2) [+] - Invalid "No Play", card selected by Deus * - marks every tenth card ! - prophet - -- - --Alfvaen(Web page: http://www.telusplanet.net/public/alfvaen/ ) Current Album--Stevie Nicks:Rock A Little Current Book--Elizabeth Ann Scarborough:The Healer's War I'm afraid of poetic chick embryos. What are you afraid of? ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 23:28:25 -0400 (EDT) From: alfvaen@telusplanet.net (Aaron V. Humphrey) Subject: Acka: YORL Duel Being prompter this time...(by request...) The Gingham Wearer is now asleep, and receives a card. It is now Koxvolio's turn. Koxvolio: 8 cards The Gingham Wearer: 5 cards Loose Ends: temple - -- - --Alfvaen(Web page: http://www.telusplanet.net/public/alfvaen/ ) Current Album--Alannah Myles:Arival Current Book--Elizabeth Ann Scarborough:The Healer's War If not for C, we'd be using Pasal, obol, and BASI... ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 12 May 1998 23:33:10 -0400 (EDT) From: alfvaen@telusplanet.net (Aaron V. Humphrey) Subject: Re: Acka: YORL Duel > The Gingham Wearer is now asleep, and receives a card. It is now > Koxvolio's turn. > Koxvolio: 8 cards > The Gingham Wearer: 5 cards I meant, of course, 6 cards, including eir penalty. > Loose Ends: temple - -- - --Alfvaen(Web page: http://www.telusplanet.net/public/alfvaen/ ) Current Album--Alannah Myles:Arival Current Book--Elizabeth Ann Scarborough:The Healer's War It's an ill wind that spoils the broth. ------------------------------ End of acka-games-digest V3 #99 *******************************