For those who may care:

1. I am abandoning my policy of no non-boardgaming content. Following the example of the great Raymond Chen, I’ll maintain a ratio of at least 50% ontopic and probably better.
2. Rule 0 may see some PG-13 material. It will remain safe for work.

I get about 15-20 hits a day from Google. Usually about half of them are for two-handed Euchre and the rest are for riddles; the most popular of these are the pirate riddle, the burning rope riddle, and general riddles.

Recently I was surprised to see a Google referral from a search on “henry kissinger newsweek 11/8/04″. This was pretty surprising because, well, Henry Kissinger isn’t usually the kind of thing I write about. Turns out the search lands here. You’ll have to look deeply in the comments–even WordPress’s built-in search doesn’t find this.

Upon consideration of the rating scheme I proposed in my last article, it seems that using decimals to express an intermediate opinion suggests a lot more granularity than I actually feel. What is the difference between a 2.6 and a 2.7, anyway?

I had previously considered using plus/minus scoring (possibly using letters instead of numbers, a la letter grades for class) but dismissed this as excessively loaded with connotations I don’t want. What does “average” or “good” mean, anyway? I want for these new ratings to mean something quite specific about how much a game makes me want to play it.

I think zero-to-three pluses gives enough lets me express the distinctions I want to make clear, without forcing me to think really hard about whether a certain game really deserves a .7 or a .8. In addition, it makes the important thresholds more clear (Will I willingly play the game? Will I suggest the game myself) instead of mimicking a 50-point scale.

In response to DrObviousSo’s question about Winner’s Circle: Aside from games that can be played with 2 or more-than-2 players, this game is the one I was thinking of when I mentioned that a rating is specific to a certain number of players. For six players, I give it a 1+. For four, I give it a 3. In the larger game, it feels like I have frustratingly little control over what’s happening. In the four-player game, there is much more control over the horses (you get to make at least one meaningful decision every round!) and because of this, more interesting decisions to make in the betting as well.

I’ve posted the first game I designed, Satori, in complete print-and-playable format; it has a special place of honor in the sidebar. If you’re not in the habit of scanning the sidebar every day for changes (go figure), here’s the announcement.

Tonight, I cancelled my World of Warcraft account. I look forward to having more time to read, work out, blog, design games, hang out with friends, play other computer games, swing dance, cook, go to concerts, watch the Daily Show, and more. The extra bonus is that I can probably get all of these activities and more into the newly-freed hours.

To inaugurate the new era, I present to you this riddle: An island is populated with chameleons in three colors: red, green, and blue. When two chameleons of different colors meet, they both became the third color. So if a green and a blue chameleon meet, they both become red.

At one time, there are 13 red chameleons, 15 green chameleons, and 17 blue. Is it possible for all the chameleons to ever be the same color? Why or why not?

I have removed the email contact link as it was being completely swamped with spam. In its place I have created a Contact/Suggestion Box page for your use and enjoyment.

Rule 0 will return on Tuesday.

It appears that the most provoking articles are the ones where I’m wrong or at least wildly off base in some regard.

In an experiment to see how strong this effect really is, I have only one thought for you today: Although Settlers of Catan is a great game for many reasons, the absolute best thing about it is the really slick ranged combat mechanic.

Discuss.

I have activated a plugin called Akismet which will hopefully not only eliminate the spam problem, but allow regular users to add links to comments without fear of going into moderation. If you have any trouble with your comments failing to appear, let me know.

R0 has recently been deluged by spam comments. I have just switched to the following moderation system:

• You must have a previously approved comment or your comment will be sent to moderation.
• Any comment with more than one link is sent to moderation.

Hopefully this will let people link to their personal websites without incident but keep us from getting spammed. And if your post doesn’t show up, don’t fear, I will get to it as soon as possible, and in the future you should have no worries as long as you keep the same handle.