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        Arimaa >> General Discussion >> Are you a member of The Dice Tower guild?  
        
(Message started by: SpeedRazor on Oct 6^th, 2010, 5:22pm)

Title: Are you a member of The Dice Tower guild?
Post by SpeedRazor on Oct 6^th, 2010, 5:22pm

I'm very sorry about bothering everyone, and even more about wasting a topic space, but if you are a BGG (BoardGameGeek) member, and also a member of The Dice Tower podcast guild, then there is a new thread based on their last Top-Ten list: the Top-Ten Z-Man Games.

This ordinarily wouldn't be important, but a major member of The Dice Tower - Eric Summerer - put Arimaa as his number nine, and now all members of the guild have a chance to post their Top-Ten, too. Or three, four; however many Z-Man Games that you like. With Agricula, Pandemic, Neuroshima Hex, on & on, number nine is awesome.

The thread just started, but if Arimaa is also in your Top-Ten, let it be known! http://www.boardgamegeek.com/guild/24

Sorry again for bothering everybody, and if this post is inappropriate, let me know...

Oh yeah: Kudos to ChessandGo for putting his book online for free for three months - the table of contents is killer! - I simply don't yet have a budget which can purchase it, yet.

Title: Re: Are you a member of The Dice Tower guild?
Post by clojure on Oct 6^th, 2010, 5:30pm

It's exciting to hear Arimaa related news so keep 'em coming! :)

Though maybe Arimaa Buzz subsection (http://arimaa.com/arimaa/forum/cgi/YaBB.cgi?board=buzz) would be better place for this.

Title: Re: Are you a member of The Dice Tower guild?
Post by SpeedRazor on Oct 6^th, 2010, 8:27pm

Thanks, Clojure, I'll do that :)

I must mention that I actually (I guess) hit post when I wanted refresh, so I didn't get to write my next thought in my last post, which was to acknowledge Fritzlein's contribution to Arimaa; specifically his (selfless) book (one day I hope to buy it), and tireless avocation of Arimaa. Sure, my mentioning of that wouldn't have meant anything, but it would have made me feel better. I said something nice about ChessandGo, but not you. Sorry Karl.

.

Off topic: I didn't realize how strong Fritzlein was as a player until I perused (live) a game between him and Qswanger. Qswanger is, if I remember right, around 2100 USCF (chess), a little over 100 points higher then me, so I assumed Fritzlein had almost no chance ("he's toast", were approximately my thoughts...) I must apologize for my prejudice, but Fritzlein won convincingly.

I now realize that the Arimaa rating system must be pretty accurate...

Title: Re: Are you a member of The Dice Tower guild?
Post by clojure on Oct 6^th, 2010, 8:53pm

on 10/06/10 at 20:27:30, SpeedRazor wrote:

Off topic: I didn't realize how strong Fritzlein was as a player until I perused (live) a game between him and Qswanger. Qswanger is, if I remember right, around 2100 USCF (chess), a little over 100 points higher then me, so I assumed Fritzlein had almost no chance ("he's toast", were approximately my thoughts...) I must apologize for my prejudice, but Fritzlein won convincingly.

FWIW and IIRC, Fritzlein's book said that PMertens and chessandgo were both avid chess players, and Fritzlein has been fairing quite well against them for a long time (in Arimaa). It would be fun to know what kind of ratings esp. chessandgo has in chess and go but I understand if they want to keep it a private information.

Title: Re: Are you a member of The Dice Tower guild?
Post by omar on Oct 7^th, 2010, 1:14am

Jean's (chessandgo) chess record is something I would be proud of. Just google "jean daligult chess".

http://www.365chess.com/players/Jean_Daligault

Title: Re: Are you a member of The Dice Tower guild?
Post by qswanger on Oct 7^th, 2010, 8:33am

on 10/06/10 at 20:27:30, SpeedRazor wrote:

I didn't realize how strong Fritzlein was as a player until I perused (live) a game between him and Qswanger. Qswanger is, if I remember right, around 2100 USCF (chess), a little over 100 points higher then me, so I assumed Fritzlein had almost no chance ("he's toast", were approximately my thoughts...) I must apologize for my prejudice, but Fritzlein won convincingly.

Uh, this is news to me. I don't recall ever playing Fritzlein before (but would definitely like to at some point). I'm still relatively new to the game (including a several months layoff earlier this year) and have never felt worthy enough to challenge him, yet. Just to be sure, I checked my games history and sure enough, there was no history of a game against him, so you're obviously thinking of someone else. :-) And just to clarify/correct my chess rating, I've stopped playing chess casually and competitively *many* years ago. The highest USCF rating I ever achieved was right at the 2000/"expert" threshold ... that's it.

Title: Re: Are you a member of The Dice Tower guild?
Post by SpeedRazor on Oct 7^th, 2010, 9:26am

Sorry. I wonder who I got you mixed up with?

Title: Re: Are you a member of The Dice Tower guild?
Post by Fritzlein on Oct 7^th, 2010, 6:24pm

SpeedRazor: Thanks for the kind words, and no need to apologize.

I don't think there is much transfer from chess strategies to Arimaa strategies, or vice versa. Although I am now rated 2500+ at Arimaa, I expect I would still be ~1600 at chess if I were to go back to it. What does seem to transfer is good habits of study and analysis. Chess players take their game as a field of learning as much as an evening's entertainment. When chess study attitudes and methods are applied to Arimaa, they can help you shoot up the ladder, even though the content of what you learn is different.