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Hansel and Gretel to Nazi, Cthulhu

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Buzz Lightyear to Aragorn

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octopus, cigar to mosquito

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Tournament Apologies

Those with sharp eyes or good timing might have noticed that we originally had this upcoming tournament scheduled last Thursday but quickly moved it to this week. And, unfortunately, we're needing to do the same thing this week. The new date for this next tournament will be Thursday, May 22.

We had a critical bug rear its nasty head and we've spent quite a lot of time tracking it down. This extra time will give us plenty of opportunity to make sure it is permanently squashed as well as test some new features we've been cooking up.

Our sincere apologies for shifting schedule. We're really looking forward to this next tournament, though, and the debut of the first Iron Bead

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Tournament Aftermath, part deux

Sorry for the lack of updates here. As you've likely noticed, shortly after the last tournament we had a couple of pieces of publicity which ended up with a lot of my time being spent meeting a deluge of new players. Thanks to all of you who are just joining, and welcome.

Thanks doubly to those of you who arrived, got the hang of things, and turned around and started helping new players learn, too. We appreciate it sincerely.

The tournament on Monday night went well. We had some impressive game play that made me once again jealous that I was on the other side of the table.

Plan on there being two ways to get to the finals, play ratings and wins, for the foreseeable future. We're pleased with the overall effect on gameplay -- it really keeps things at a high level of creativity, it seems. I suppose that could just be the quality of players we have involved, too, but let's split the credit down the middle and make us all happy, shall we?

If you weren't able to make it, one of the things that we generally start the tournaments off with is a quick introduction of those involved with the project, Dan, Scott, and myself. In case you weren't already aware, this is a spare time project for all of us. We all have regular day jobs that pay the bills. We've been working actively on the game in its current incarnation for about four years, with a few years of conceptual work before that.

We're excited to see all of the new activity on the site. Thanks for coming and we look forward to playing against you in the near future.

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Tournament Aftermath

I had a blast Saturday at the tournament. My only regret was that I didn't get to jump into a game and mix it up with what appeared to be some really competitive players. Thanks to all who participated.

Those who did spend the evening with us probably noticed the large slug of points we doled out to everybody involved. We did this based on how many rounds you lasted in the tournament, but everybody involved got at least enough to make their next rank.

We were very pleased with the way the two-front final went. I'm glad that we found a way to reward people both for their ability to win a game as well as the quality of their plays.

What won't be returning is likely pre-seeded brackets. We're looking for a way to create more competitive games, so plan on the next tournament having just a list of games and the people involved in them.

We are currently in the final stages of finding a date that will work for the next tournament and are shooting for a time in the next few weeks. Keep an eye on the homepage for details. It would be very helpful to know what nights and times work best for people, so please visit the forum topic about tournament times and give us your input.

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Two Fronts: A Tournament Sneak Preview

As you've probably noticed, this game competes on two different fronts. The way a player chooses to balance those two fronts is a nice opportunity to express some personality, as well as being a bit of strategy unique to the Glass Bead Network among online games.

The first front is the score. The first person to run out of beads in their hand is the winner. That brings with it some additional points toward your rank as well as the honor of naming the game. I'm finding lately that my first impulse is to focus on this part of the game, trying to find big plays like this one about movies or this one about animals which swing the tide of the game. I know that when I'm on the receiving end of that kind of play, it feels like a bit of a blow.

That kind of blow can, sometimes, make me more focused on the second front: play quality. Most of the points available in a game come from this front, since highly rated plays get bonus points down the road. It's entirely possible that you can lose a game but still end up with more points toward your rank. For that reason, I'm always on the lookout for a place to get a creative linkage or two in.

It seems like I'm most likely to shift focus to the second front in situations where I'm getting stomped on, though, and don't have much of a prayer of winning. One of the things I really enjoy about playing is that I know that even if I'm getting beaten up really badly, I don't have to run out the clock in a perfunctory manner and be a good sport about it. I can still do something creative that, while it may not get me the win, may actually help me more down the road. That keeps every game fun for me, no matter the score.

We wanted the upcoming tournament, the details of which you can expect to see very shortly, to reflect these two fronts. To that end, we're planning to have a final round which will include not only the people who have won the most games, but also some people who have consistently had highly rated plays.

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