Pinocle

I was recently invited to Bill K's bi-weekly Pinocle group, after he discovered our mutual interest in cards. It's been a privilege to attend twice now, and has been quite entertaining.

I am more comfortable with bridge, spades, hearts and their ilk in the trick-taking family. My pioneer partner and I played pinocle back in 1991 for a short while, after I discovered the game in a book by John Scarne. (Scarne invented a few games too, and was very famous back in the 40's and 50's for his card tricks and being an expert in how to detect a card cheat).

I came in 4th of 7 the first time I played, and was "set" twice. Last night I was only set once after I made a mistake in under-bidding a double-run (A-10-K-Q-J twice), but improved my defensive play, and managed to bid and make a 215 point contract with 55 of 144 pointers (minimum being 37, the highest taken last night being about 65).

Next time I play, I will certainly not get set back, or misdeal (which I also did both nights), which should allow me to compete for a win.

Here's how they play:

For every player over 2 they add an extra deck, and remove the 9's. This means 6 decks in a seven player game, A-10-K-Q-J. So there are 12 of each card in each suit, 240 cards in a deck. 33 cards are dealt to each player, and 9 are dealt to the middle as a "kitty".

Bidding starts at 50, increments of 1 till 100, then by 5. Players must bid or pass for the right to chose a trump suit, and also exchange 9 cards in their hand for 9 cards in the kitty which is turned face up, then exchanged face down. If aces are buried they must be called out (this has not happened yet).

Meld is worth the following:

A's = 10, double 100, triple 300
K's = 8, double 80, triple 240
Q's = 6, double 60, triple 180
J's = 4, doubled 40, triple 120

Runs (A,10,K,Q,J of trump) are worth 16 single, 32 double. Double runs are worth 150 IF AT LEAST 150 IS BID BY THE THIRD BID. If a player melds a double run but does not bid 150+ by the third bid, the double run counts only as 32. Note: This is a very important rule, and probably the only "gut-check" made during the bidding process, unless a player is taking a wild chance due to the scoring situation).

Pincole (Q spades, Jack diamonds) 4, double 40, triple 120
Marriages, 2 non trump, 4 trump

Must have at least a marriage in trump to take the bid.
Must have at least 20 meld to lay meld, and must take at least one trick for meld to count.
A hand dealt with a player having no aces is handled as a mis-deal. Dealer loses 50 on a misdeal and deal is passed.

Game is made @ 250 times the number of players minus one, so 1500 for a 7-player game.

Bidder lays first card, and must take 37 pointers out of 160. To this they add their melded points, and if this exceeds their bid they score their total points. Non-bidders play against the bidder, and it's a team effort to try to take him down.

Squares

Neat little Java game called Squares, check it out:

Supernova

This new game (yet unpublished) looks fascinating... Check out this description at the geek:

Supernova is a game of space expansion and exploration. 5 civilizations are abandoning their solar system to escape the upcoming supernova of their sun.

Conquer new solar systems by taking over planets, mining moons, and building the most powerful fleet of ships by upgrading your Weapons, Shields, Communications or Engines. Capture the most space by the time the star goes Supernova to be proclaimed the winner!

This game features some set collection, area enclosure and tile placement on a completely modular board. Play a short or a long version of the game without changing the board. Possibly the first space exploration game where 3D space not only matters, but could be the key to your victory!

This game is not yet published. The pictures are of a prototype and it is undergoing rigorous playtesting. It will be available to play at GenCon 2006 in November in Los Angeles."

It's going to be published by the same folks that produce Die Macher, looking forward to this one.

10-20-08: update, the rules are now available here.

Colorado Lightshow

This video below shows a Russian satellite part reentering the atmosphere over the Colorado sky... Wow.



Links to versions with some commentary...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWtqD_30-jU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rH-NTr4cc04

It's coming...

Asteroids!

History of Religon in a map

Discovered this fascinating "history" of the world's major religion on Digg. Watch as they spread across the map in the last 5000 years. Just click the image below to start the show, if you have dial-up be patient whilst it loads.



Why is this of interest to gamers? Well, obviously so many games are based on world maps, and many conquest games have similar expansion patterns to what you see in the video. I remember Kim from Northampton saying that she thought Risk was actually a game simulating the expansion of global preaching work, not a war-game (!).


Not sure if they got the dates exactly right for a few things (especially the conquest of Jerusalem on 607 B.C.E.), but nonetheless this video would make for some great talking points in a family study, bible study, or history lesson. Do you agree? Leave comments below!

Civlization II for free?

Civilization II for free?

This game was very very cool back in the day (1998? 1999?) and it's now FREE. Check out "www.bestoldgames.net" for free old PC games - and definately try Civ II if you haven't yet - it's a classic.

Their Strategy section has some other interesting titles from the late 1990's: Dune II, Colonization, Settlers II, Transport Tycoon, Xcom...

Most addicting Risk-clone ever?

Check out this super-addicting, FREE, Risk-clone, called "Dicewars". It's a Flash-game, meaning you can play it in a web-window.

Interesting spin on the classic game, it uses dice for units, and you roll and move stacks to conquer territories.

Have to play it to understand - it's amazingly addictive, plays in just a few minutes. Try it and "post comment" below if you agree!

More on Kramnik vs. Deep Fritz

Update: Kramnik loses to computer, score 4:2.

The current world champion of chess, Vladimir Kramnik, is now into game #4 against perhaps the most powerful chess computer program in the world: Deep Fritz.

Three of the four games have been draws, but in game two Kramnik made an unbelievable blunder and lost, overlooking an extremely simple move to put him in checkmate!

Check out all the articles on Chessbase here.