Mollo Moments at Ralph's Bridge Club
Aug. 20th, 2008 03:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jackMonday
Ralph's for bridge, including several moments that didn't quite happen this way but should have done.
* Playing a contract in an artificial cue bid of 4S, and it being the right contract. (The truth: No Trumps is better.)
* Bidding a grand slam on a 12 card fit missing the trump king. (The truth: The 12 card fit is real, as is the marvellous moment of having a partner bid showing many points and 6+ hearts, and that's what you were going to do. But the slam isn't solid enough even if you assume you have all the top controls, and anyway, they ended up asking for Ace-and-trump-king with Blackwood instead of cue bidding to find aces only.)
* Psyching a completely normal takeout double ("She never does that...")
Tuesday 1
I went to the Carlton to eat, and then on to Alex's games evening. I felt all organised by leaving work with enough time for dinner, rather than having something in late afternoon, staying spodding/working until time for evening activity, and then eating last thing at night :)
When I go to the Carlton I almost always just had the mushroom ravioli, as that's very, very nice. I hear the other dishes weren't that inspiring, but I was always happy with the ravioli, so I was always pleased to eat there. The last few weeks, however, the specials have also been really nice! So, um, consider paying attention and giving the food another chance if you didn't like it before :)
Tuesday 2
We played Vitenka's death princesses game. I was a bit nervous it was going to be complicated or unbalanced or too improvisational, but despite a few rough edges getting going, it was really fun. I'm curious to see how it's tweaked, but if you have a chance, volunteer to playtest :)
And we played Roboralley. I think it's just about the first time in my life I've played it on a relatively restrained board, with relatively restrained players, rather than insane assassins devoted to laying machiavellianly evil combinations of laser-covered boards with all the conveyors going the wrong way, and trying to dash dancingly through the most dangerous bits. (Which isn't always effective, but is always dramatic and intimidating.) I was evil, and pushed two people into a pit with a single move.
Tuesday 3
Unfortunately, I accidentally stayed up way too late playing Fantastic Contraption. It really is impressive: the interface is polished, as is the physics engine! You can make trebuchets[1], walking machines, even caterpillar tracks!
[1] Why do I feel the plural ought to be "trebuchet"? Is it spill-over from "canon"?
Ralph's for bridge, including several moments that didn't quite happen this way but should have done.
* Playing a contract in an artificial cue bid of 4S, and it being the right contract. (The truth: No Trumps is better.)
* Bidding a grand slam on a 12 card fit missing the trump king. (The truth: The 12 card fit is real, as is the marvellous moment of having a partner bid showing many points and 6+ hearts, and that's what you were going to do. But the slam isn't solid enough even if you assume you have all the top controls, and anyway, they ended up asking for Ace-and-trump-king with Blackwood instead of cue bidding to find aces only.)
* Psyching a completely normal takeout double ("She never does that...")
Tuesday 1
I went to the Carlton to eat, and then on to Alex's games evening. I felt all organised by leaving work with enough time for dinner, rather than having something in late afternoon, staying spodding/working until time for evening activity, and then eating last thing at night :)
When I go to the Carlton I almost always just had the mushroom ravioli, as that's very, very nice. I hear the other dishes weren't that inspiring, but I was always happy with the ravioli, so I was always pleased to eat there. The last few weeks, however, the specials have also been really nice! So, um, consider paying attention and giving the food another chance if you didn't like it before :)
Tuesday 2
We played Vitenka's death princesses game. I was a bit nervous it was going to be complicated or unbalanced or too improvisational, but despite a few rough edges getting going, it was really fun. I'm curious to see how it's tweaked, but if you have a chance, volunteer to playtest :)
And we played Roboralley. I think it's just about the first time in my life I've played it on a relatively restrained board, with relatively restrained players, rather than insane assassins devoted to laying machiavellianly evil combinations of laser-covered boards with all the conveyors going the wrong way, and trying to dash dancingly through the most dangerous bits. (Which isn't always effective, but is always dramatic and intimidating.) I was evil, and pushed two people into a pit with a single move.
Tuesday 3
Unfortunately, I accidentally stayed up way too late playing Fantastic Contraption. It really is impressive: the interface is polished, as is the physics engine! You can make trebuchets[1], walking machines, even caterpillar tracks!
[1] Why do I feel the plural ought to be "trebuchet"? Is it spill-over from "canon"?
no subject
Date: 2008-08-21 02:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-21 12:36 pm (UTC)The advice about setting up a race in the manual makes me think that Richard Garfield thinks so too.
That's the impression I got. I think something a little more interactive than what we had might be optimal, but that I think most people I know way overdo "more is better" and end up with a painfully large and deadly board. Which is fun sometimes, but a big investment.
no subject
Date: 2008-08-21 11:21 am (UTC)Because the t is silent? I suspect the plural is written trebuchets but pronounced as the singular. I'm now trying to remember Easter Monday at Castell Caerffili where they were demonstrating said items.
no subject
Date: 2008-08-21 12:31 pm (UTC)(Presumably it was originally with silent "ts", and that may shift over time. Although, when I wrote it I imagined it pronounced "trebushays", which makes sense as language, but would end up written "trebuchets" with a silent t, which must be odd :) )