Touch

Got wi fi working at my apt complex in Budapest, but no telling if I'll get it working again at Balaton.

On Friday we walked around the central areas of Pest and Buda, met lots of friendly people, took hundreds of pictures, and did a lot of walking.

Prices are about the same as in Israel, or even a bit cheaper. The city reminds me of London, and Rachel says it reminds her even more of Vienna. I suspect that a lot of European cities are a parliament, statues, some galleries, some paved streets in the old sections, some different gargoyles, but in the end a) tourist attractions, b) modern businesses, c) dying cultural differences, d) some beautiful panoramas, and e) a river running through them.

And I will expand on that A LOT more when I have a chance, as well as on the Jewish areas, money, and so on of Budapest.

Love for now,
Yehuda

Roundup: Three Years of Thirty Sixth Week Posts

Thoughts on quality 1, 2, and 3 (the last is definitely worth the read).

Fraternizing With the Enemy, wherein I and some other Israeli bloggers meet some Palestinian bloggers face to face.

50 punchlines; use them for your next joke.

Off to Hungary

I may not blog again until Sept 14 (but I probably will). Toodles.

Yehuda

Calvin and Hobbes Minus the Last Panel

You may already be familiar with Garfield Minus Garfield by a guy named Travors. It reproduces many of the Garfield strips without Garfield or his speech bubbles. The result is Jon Arbuckle talking to himself and appearing to be even more of a desperate lunatic than he normally appears.

It's quite clever, and kudos to Garfield's creator, Jim Davis, for not bothering travors and allowing him to continue.

I think what Travors has tapped into is not unique. Comics, perhaps humor in general, is a light way of looking at what would otherwise be desperate, quirky, sad, or frustrating situations. Take away the punchline, and you're left with an unredeemed situation.

Take out one of your Calvin and Hobbes collections (Google some images, if you don't have one) and read each strip without the last panel.

It's often just as desperate, odd, and quirky as Jon Arbukle without a punchline. Read a whole book of Calvin and Hobbes strips this way and you'll begin to wonder why Bill Watterson added the punchline.

It's the bizarre without the humor that makes up so much modern literature, art, and film. It's the humor added to the bizarre that tries to make us feel good about the situation, rather than simply jarred. With humor we can laugh at the situation, rather than feel that what we are witnessing is a world spinning out of control.

It may be what separates art from less meaningful entertainment. Or it may be that there is a lot more art in our humor than we tend to notice.

Session Report, in which we play Industria again

The latest Jerusalem Strategy Gaming Club session report is up. Games played: Industria, Tichu, Race for the Galaxy.

I express some of my disquiet about Race for the Galaxy.

Next week's game session is at Gili's, as I will be in Hungary.

August Board and Card Game Patents

System and method for playing a game of skill - We start with an electronic based network game. This patent was very difficult to figure out, and even now I'm not entirely sure that I get it.

In an effort to provide a legal, for money, online "Bingo"-like experience, you must implement a game of skill rather than pure luck, so this game presents each player with an empty board and then displays a dealer board with some patterns. You win based on how quickly you can construct your board to match the dealer's. I think.

Method and apparatus for providing insurance policies for gambling losses - Some kind of insurance policy you can buy at a slot machine or other area of a gambling establishment which covers you for more than just that area.

I'm not sure how an insurance policy is supposed to cover you for harm you deliberately do to yourself. I mean, once you're insured, what's to prevent you from betting more and more money once you're already losing?

Methods and system for facilitating a secondary card game - Another gaming device (gambling related), but I don't see why it couldn't be played at a table. The patent is very long and incomprehensible. There are two hands displayed. The first hand is some kind of high hand. You toss cards out of the second hand, and any replacement cards you pick that match the cards in the first hand are removed from the first hand. Then you score the first hand or second hand, or something.

System and method for playing community hand poker games utilizing dealer qualifying criteria - This patent has a problem with Texas Hold'em. So it allows the dealer to join the betting. The dealer must fold if his hand doesn't meet a certain minimum requirement, in which case the winning player(s) win his ante. I'm not sure how the dealer responds to bets if he doesn't fold. Does he automatically call every bet? That sounds dumb.

Hide and seek board game - Simple enough. It's a roll and move game based on Hide and Seek →. One player plays the traitor seeker.

Chess-like game involving hidden information - Nearly identical to the "Fog of War" chess variant on chessvariants.org, which the patent cites as a source. Requires a computer or moderator to play.

Method of playing a poker-type keno game - This patent has a problem with Texas Hold'em:

As is clear, many wagering choices need to be made by each player during the course of the game. For the player that is unsure of herself, this can be a cause of anxiety and intimidation, especially when playing along side people who are experienced in the game.

To solve this, five two-card hands are simply played face up to the board, and each player can place bets on whichever hand he or she wants as the hole cards are revealed.

Head to head challenge card game - This patent has a problem with Texas Hold'em:

Cards games are well known and myriad in implementation. However, the pace of some card games, such as Texas hold 'em, can be somewhat slow compared to other games. Since the take of the gambling establishment on such games can be fairly small, the relatively slow pace can further reduce the profitability of the game to the establishment as a result of the small take spread over a relatively long period of each game. Thus, despite the relative popularity of the Texas hold 'em game, the game is less profitable to gaming establishments than other games.

To solve this, the game allows one player to multiply the bets, which the other player can accept or forfeit.


Game having an electronic instruction unit - A Yahtzee like game where an electronic nudge tells you to start and you have a few seconds in which to roll a match for one of your cards. Gives annoying verbal instructions and quips, too.

Poker game played against multiple dealer hands. - Dealer gets two hands, and you can bet against either or both.

Card game - A Blackjack-like game, where cards are dealt, and sometimes discarded, and you can also bet against the dealer going bust.

Kugelach (aka Five Stones)

My first trip to Israel was in 1976 when I was 7 years old. That's when I learned one of the national games of Israel: Kugelach.

Kugelach, otherwise known as Five Stones, and by various other names in other cultures, has been played for over 4,000 years or so. Many other games, such as Jacks, and probably most forms of dice and sticks, derive from some early form of this game.

Kugelach is the name of the game and the name of the pieces to the game: five gold colored heavy metal cubes, each about a centimeter on each side. You can find the stones in any Israeli toy store, without the rules (everyone simply knows how to play). Or you could just pick up any five similarly sized stones and play.

First Player

Each player in turn takes all five stones in one hand, tosses them up in the air, and tries to catch them on the back of that hand. Then the player tosses them up from the back of that hand and catches them in the palm of the same hand. The player who catches the most stones starts. In case of a tie, continue doing this until the starting player is determined.

How to Play

Players take turns playing through four series' of steps. One player continues to play until he or she makes a mistake, and then then next player plays. And so on until someone has finished all the steps (or all players have finished).

In most steps, you throw the stones onto the floor or table, and then perform a series of tosses until all of the stones are back in your hand. Then you go on to the next step, which is slightly harder. And so on, until you've completed all the steps.

If you forget a step, you go back to the beginning of that step on your next turn. Every action: tossing, picking up, pushing, and so on must be done using a single hand. If you use your other hand in any way, your turn is over and you start again at the beginning of the step on your next turn. If you touch any stone that you're not supposed to, or do something in the wrong order, or drop any stones onto the table when you're not supposed to, or push one stone into another stone, your turn is over.

Tossing: holding all the stones in your hand, you toss the required number of stones up into the air, perform some action, and then catch the stones that you tossed. Some additional stones may be in your hand before you toss, and these must stay there (unless the step indicates otherwise).

The Steps

There are four series of steps: onesies, twosies, threesies, and foursies. Each series contains the following steps (explanations are for the first series, "onesies"):

Onesies (step "onesies" in the series "onesies": Toss all five stones onto the floor. Select one and pick it up. Toss it into the air and pick up one of the other stones with the same hand and catch the tossed stone. Repeat until you have picked up all stones.

Twosies: Toss all five stones onto the floor. Select one and pick it up. Toss it in the air and pick up two other stones. Repeat.

Threesies: Toss all five stones onto the floor. Select one and pick it up. Toss it in the air and pick up either one or three stones. Then pick up all the rest of the stones.

Foursies: Toss one stone in the air and place all four stones on the floor, catching the tossed stone. Now toss the stone in the air and pick up all four stones, and catch.

Onesies: As above.

Fivesies: Toss all the stones and catch on the back of the hand. You must catch at least two stones. If you caught all five stones on the back of your hand, toss them again and catch them in your palm. If you caught only four stones, pick up the fifth stone with your other hand and place on the back of your hand with the other four, and then toss and catch in your palm.

If you caught only two or three, you have to let all but one of them drop near one of the missed stones, toss the one on the back of your hand and pick up both (or all three) and catch. Toss again and place the ones in your hand near another stone and catch, toss and pick up all of those stones and catch. Repeat for the last stone, if necessary.

Onesies: As above.

Slapsies: As onesies, except you toss all the stones in your hand up into the air after each pickup. When all five stones are in your hand, toss all stones in the air, slap the floor, and catch.

Onesies: As above.

Switchsies: Toss all five stones onto the floor. Select one and pick it up. Toss it in the air and pick up a stone and catch. Toss one stone in the air, and pick up another stone while dropping the one that was in your hand and catch. Repeat until you have switched all stones. Then toss, pick up all stones, and catch.

Onesies: As above.

Putsies: Toss one stone in the air, drop one, and catch. Repeat until four stones are on the floor. Then toss, pick up all stones and catch.

Onesies: As above.

Bridgesies: Place the thumb and forefinger of one hand to form a bridge on the table. Holding your other hand with the five stones under the bridge, pull it away, letting the bridge knock all the stones off your hand, so that all five stones fall on one side of the bridge (the direction in which you were pulling your hand away). Select a stone and pick it up.

Toss the stone in the air and knock another stone so that it passes under and through the bridge, and catch. Repeat until all stones are through. Then remove the bridge, toss, pick up all stones, and catch.

That's onesies. Now you do the twosies series in the same way, with the following changes:

- Start from twosies

- Twosies between each step, instead of onesies.

- Must catch at least three on the back of your hand during fivesies.

- Two at a time in switchsies, putsies, and bridgesies.

Then threesies and foursies, making similar substitutions.

As with any other game from antiquity, there are many variations on the basic rules found in different areas.