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Pop Quiz – Pepsi vs. Pepsi Throwback

Ninja Battle

Every Wednesday afternoon between 12pm-1pm, a group of game enthusiasts meet in the new kitchen to play all manner of board games, “especially those that go beyond the normal conventions of Milton Bradley” as they are fond of saying. Last week the game was “Ninja Battle!”; A game where one side starts by drawing a ninja, then the other side draws something opposing or threatening said ninja (a wall, perhaps), then the first side draws something to ameliorate this problem (ooh, a ladder). . . lather, rinse, repeat, laugh. From all the endless possibilities, the nerds last week came up with a game that involves snakes, Chuck Norris, rain, a timelord and… oh, well.. you’ll just have to see:

Tenant Appreciation Picnic

Earlier this week, The Nerdery’s leasing company Belgard Properties held it’s annual picnic for current tenants just across the railroad tracks from our office in Bloomington. The picnic was complete with ice cream, food, pop and, of course, a salty banjo player. Below is a video if you were unfortunate enough to miss the action.

Summer 2011 Pentathanerd: Apollo 13 Challenge

Using only a bag of stuff, teams must make a tool that can retrieve a ring of keys from a bowling pin ten feet away to escape the wrath of an unjust jailor.

Here’s what Mark Seemann from The Werd had to say:
“The rain could not stop an event like this from happening – all it did was delay it for a little while. After a late start, the Apollo 13 challenge revealed its plot:

“You are all accused of a crime that you did not commit. The sheriff will prosecute you in the morning. Luckily, a confederate has given you a kit of supplies, and lets you know that the sheriff will be asleep for half an hour while you construct something, and then he’ll do his rounds, which will give you two minutes to grab the keys off of a bowling pin ten feet away and escape.”

Teams selected kits in paper bags with standard items like:

6 feet of twine
a 2 foot dowel
a manilla folder
one sheet of paper
three paper clips
two chopsticks
a set of platic utensils
a pen with…
6 feet of duct tape wrapped around it

In addition, each kit had a special item, one of:

4 foot dowel instead of the 2 foot
10 feet of nylon string instead of 6 feet of twine
banker’s box in place of the paper bag
scissors
10 paperclips instead of 3
2 foot piece of 1×2 wood
a bar magnet (not chosen, as Nausea could not attend the event).

The event was pass-fail: success brought the team 500 points, and failure earned nothing.

The InterNerds used the manila folder, rolled up, to extend a kind of fishing rod. Unfortunately, it came apart, and cost them too much time to recover (pun intended). She! attempted a similar device, but fell onto the floor and “out of the cell”, prompting an instant DQ from the head judge, Kai. The Whom? had a clever plan: they constructed a kind of trawling dredger – the paper bag with chop sticks taped to the top edge, string on the bag. In the crunch, the plan just wasn’t coming together, and they ran out of time.

Teh Awsumbs used the banker’s box to make a crane-style extended fishing rod which, after a few tense moments, was able to hook on to the keyring and pull it to victory. Effortless were able to harness the power of a waterski-handle looking device with similar hooks on it to snag the key and a win. Revenge of the InterNerds had a tense length of time after their paperclip hooks fell to the floor and snagged on the carpet. With time running out, and the hooks snagging and unsnagging, a last second shake brought the hooks up and in contact with the keys. With only 10 seconds on the clock, a desperation pull brought the keyring up and back in reach for a dramatic success.

The overall standings after this event are:

4962 – Teh Awsumbs (event points: 500 – going on to Gyparody)
4105 – Revenge (500 -going on to Gyparody)
3604 – The Whom? (0 – going on to Gyparody)
3378 – InterNerds (0)
3294 – She! (0)
2860 – Effortless (500)
2708 – Nausea (0)”

Summer 2011 Pentathanerd: Pinewood Lego Monkeyball II – Aerial Boogaloo

Dozens of brave Lego men kissed their Lego wives and kids goodbye to go forth and be launched from the Pinewood Lego Monkeyball II ramp in earlier this afternoon. Points were awarded per the color they landed the closest to.

Mark Seemann from the word filed this report:
“A wild set of entries graced the ramp of the Pinewood Lego Monkeyball ][ : Aerial Boogaloo event. From flying drones to boom arms to simple unaccompanied lego people, teams vied to land on gold for maximum points.

Nausea and Effortless struggled to find purchase on the points field; the Whom? had a clever plan to sneak in a quick landing for the maximum point area just below the end of the ramp, but failed to stick the landing.

The (Revenge of the) InterNerds teamed up to try out a last minute entry, succeeding in the end where others failed by launching a lucky solo lego person straight and true down the center to earn 600 points. For lack of definition, the head judge Kai E awarded both Revenge and InterNerds teams 600 points for their combined effort.

Then came Teh Awsumbs foray into Newtonian physics; a boom arm, counterweighted by a mostly full water bottle, suspended a lego person by a line which, when released from the start gate, swung out over the points field. Kai waited until the swinging slowed enough to judge that the lego person was sufficiently over the gold area, awarding Teh Awsumbs the maximum point value.

Not to be outdone, She! launched their simple vehicle. When it came to rest, a murmer went through the crowd as Justin H asked, “Is that it?” Then came the unique sound of an AR drone firing up, which (eventually) swooped down and magnetically attached to the vehicle, guiding it across the point field and over the gold area, past it, and off the board. Further attempts to regain the field were futile.

In later rounds, She! changed strategies and went with maximum dispersion, casting out the separated pieces of a lego person (or four, rather, as was learned after the event) onto the field. As the rules stated, if the lego person is in more than one area, the maximum point value of the fields is used, which earned She! 1000 points in the last round.

The overall standings after this event are:

4462 – Teh Awsumbs (event place: 1; event points: 1200)
3605 – Revenge (T3; 600)
3604 – The Whom? (5; 500)
3378 – InterNerds (T3; 600)
3294 – She! (2; 1000)
2708 – Nausea (6; 400)
2360 – Effortless (7; 300)

No lego people were harmed in the making of this event. Except for the four that She! used, which are currently in intensive care.”

Summer 2011 Pentathanerd: Tile Tornado

On day 3, the Scrabble/Bananagrams nerds were up in a timed game of collective word making.

Mark Seemann from The Werd reports:
“Intense wordplay was at the center of the first attempt at the new game Tile Tornado. Two players per team in five minute rounds with three teams grabbed tiles to make three-letter or longer words. With each player having only one tile, teams needed to co-operate to make words. Longer words earned bonus points per tile – four-letter words earned one extra point per tile, and file-letter words earned three bonus points.

The first round had the InterNerds facing She! and Teh Awsumbs. After a painful wait while tiles were counted, Teh Awsumbs emerged with a one-point lead on She! with the Interns woefully behind. The second round had The Whom? up against Effortless and Nausea. With massive points in bigger words, Effortless walked away with a comfortable lead: 85 points. The Whom? struggled with game logistics, and chose to be part of the final round with Revenge of the InterNerds and Teh Awsumbs (who filled in pro-bono – earning no points). In the last round, The Whom? were able to better their score, averaged between the two rounds they played, and Revenge were able to put up a significant score, winning 13 points alone for a Q played on a five letter word.

Revenge fell only two points out from Effortless’ lead, placing second, with Teh Awsumbs holding on to a narrow third place with 76 points.

The overall standings after this event are:

3262 – Teh Awsumbs (event place: 3; event points: 1105)
3104 – The Whom? (6; 904)
3005 – Revenge (2; 1179)
2778 – InterNerds (7; 618)
2308 – Nausea (5; 914)
2294 – She! (4; 1094)
2060 – Effortless (1; 1200)”

Summer 2011 Pentathanerd: d20 Bocce Ball

Day 2 of the Summer Pentathanerd wrapped up yesterday with the game d20 Bocce Ball which is played exactly how you think it would be…

Again, Mark Seemann from The Werd summarized the results:
“A crowd of Nerds showed up to watch Tuesday’s event: D20 Bocce Ball, inspired by the winner of the user-submitted contest ideas in January, Rohit Patnaik (originally d20 Shot Put).

This event required contestants to roll or toss two jumbo-sized D20s – twenty-sided dice, for those unfamiliar with role-playing parlance – as close as possible to a D&D miniature. The team with the closest die, or dice, score the points showing on top of the die, or sum of two dice, if neither of the opponent’s two dice are closer.

Teams went head-to-head in two rounds of tosses, proceeding up a double-elimination chart. Although teams are knocked out in elimination format, the total points earned are what determine final point earnings.

Led by the lone Stuart A, The Whom? were able to handle the competition with grace, and no small amount of luck. She! struggled, and in the end were set as one of the first out of the event, along with Effortless and Nausea.

Teh Awsumbs made a run for the title, but were taken down by The Whom? and the InterNerds. Revenge of the InterNerds went into the finals with The Whom? without a loss; a natural-20 lead a massive 50 point pair of rounds for The Whom?, giving Revenge their first loss. In the instant rematch, Revenge scored 14 and 10, taking both rounds to win the overall title.

Although the winner of the event was Revenge of the InterNerds, the point distribution is dependent on total points earned in the competition. Thus, with 121 total points, The Whom? walks away with 1200 points to the Revenge’s 776.

The overall standings after this event are:

2200 – The Whom? (event place: 2; event points: 1200)
2160 – InterNerds (3; 910)
2157 – Teh Awsumbs (4; 657)
1826 – Revenge (1; 776)
1394 – Nausea (T5; 694)
1200 – She! (T5; 300)
860 – Effortless (7; 360)”