From: hutch@hutch (Stephen Hutchison)
Subject: [DQ] Aftermath The First-and-a-halfth.
Reply-To: hutch@ibeam.intel.com
Organization: Intel Corp., Hillsboro, Oregon
Date: Sun, 23 Aug 92 23:55:13 GMT

Time: that night
Place: dragons' inn
Situation: waiting for the batch run to complete

As the night continues and 'Raelf's MageFamiliar Model 500 grinds away at
the recorded image of the PyraCubicDiamond, 'Raelf and the others are
attempting to relax with a game or two.  Still too wrought up to sleep.

'Raelf takes the remainder of a glass of ale, an undistinguished but
average brew, and ponders its color.  He pours a bit onto the tabletop.

" I learned this game in Fiorenza in the late middle ages, from a smith
name of Cyrus, who was on a business trip for his master."

Laying out a chessboard on the tabletop, in spilt beer, 'Raelf touches it
and mutters <<<water to .01, fire to .5, flash>>  and with a POUF of blue
light, the wooden tabletop has a chessboard pattern inlaid in darker,
singed, wood.  He calls Serene over, asks her for two pair of dice from
the bar, seven shot glasses, and tumbler of Catamount Gold for Valgar
and one of Catamount Porter for 'Raelf.

She complies, and he asks her, as ranking lady hostess present, pardon
to the other ladies who might hold rank, to do the honor of rolling the
Queens' Number.  She rolls a five.  Then she watches avidly, as he sets
the dice in the left-corner square on Valgar side of the table.

"I've selected the darker pair of dice to indicate the queens' number,
and I'm setting it in that corner so we don't forget what it is."

"This is played in a seven-by-seven board rather than an eight-by-eight,
so we'll set up the board first."

He places the seven shot glasses in a row on the middle row of the
seven-by-seven board, and hands one die to Valgar.

"We roll now - highest number wins first roll."

'Raelf rolls a four, Valgar, a five."

"OK, now we fill three glasses, and since I lost the roll, I have
to fill the extra glass.  The idea is to make your opponent run
out of beverage.  It doesn't matter who poured which - you can end
up drinking either as the game goes on."

They proceed to fill shot glasses, 'Raelf pouring the thick black
Porter, Valgar, the amber Golden Ale.  'Raelf fills the seventh glass.
Both tumblers have gone down by about 1/3.

"Hunh.  Looks like about twelve or thirteen glasses per tumbler."
'Raelf carefully measures the relative height of their drinks.

"Now, you get to start.  We begin with the glasses on your baseline,
that's the row nearest to you.  You roll both dice, and move a glass up
or down the columns.  You can move any glass, one direction, forward
or backward, by the amount given on one die.  This means you can move
two different glasses, if the rolls are right."

"OK," Valgar replies, and rolls the dice.  4,4.		    Valgar
He pushes the two right end glasses forward.		. x x x . . .
"Still my turn?"  He rolls again.  6, 4.  The		. . . . . . .
third glass from the right, forward, and the		. . . . . . .
far end, pushed forward six.  He grins and		. . . . x x x
rolls again.  5, 4.  He looks questioningly		. . . . . . .
at 'Raelf.  "OK, so you can move your middle		. . . . . . .
glass forward, and you'll have a row of four.		x . . . . . .
It's considered cowardly to drink under six,		    'Raelf
but since this is a beginners' game, we'll make
it without shame this time, if you like."  Valgar nods in agreement.

	Valgar			'Raelf grins, "Well, you get to drink
    . x x . . . .		each of them off, and put the glass on
    . . . . . . .		my baseline.  Then I have to fill it."
    . . . . . . .		Valgar enthusiastically drains one, but
    . . . x x x x		a raised hand stops him going on.
    . . . . . . .		"Now, it's considered polite to offer
    . . . . . . .		a drink to any spectator who admires
    x . . . . . .		a good move, when you score a line."
	'Raelf			Immediately, three or four of the
				ample supply of onlookers begin to
brown-nose without shame, "Gosh, what a brilliant move, amazing, I
could never hope to do so well."
Valgar dutifully hands a drink to each of the three	. x x . . . .
sycophants.  'Raelf gives a dour look towards his	. . . . . . .
counterpart, seated nearby.  "You've been playing	. . . . . . .
this game in here while we were out getting beat	. . . . . . .
up on, weren't you."  His older self grins widely	. . . . . . .
and nods his head rapidly.  'Raelf growls under		. . . . . . .
his breath and pours the four shots full.		x . . x x x x
Valgar takes the dice, and huffs a breath on them
then rolls ... 4,3.  'Raelf stops him before he can reach for a shot
			glass.  "Seven and Eleven are both special.  You
    x . . . . . .	pass the dice to the other player, same as if you
    . x . . . . .	had no possible moves.  My turn." 2,3.  "Queen's
    . . x . . . .	number.  I get to choose one for you to fill."
    . . . x . . .	He quaffs off the left glass, then moves it to the
    . . . . . . .	far end.  Valgar fills it.  "Now, I get to move
    . . . . . . .	two of the others into position and roll."  1,5
    . . . . x x x	"Not as nice as I'd like to get here.  Notice,
			you can line up on the diagonal, but you have to
get all seven."  He moves the second-left glass forward one, then ponders...
moves the rightmost glass forward 5.  Roll again, 3,3,
and he stares at the board.  "This is where the real	x . . . . . .
strategy comes in."  He glances over at the flat	. x . . . . x
case - the runes still glowing green, no change.	. . x . . . .
"OK, so maybe not."  He shoves the two glasses on	. . . x x x .
his baseline forward to the middle line.  "Note,	. . . . . . .
I didn't move one forward then back.  You can only	. . . . . . .
move them one way."  He rolls again.  6,5, the dice	. . . . . . .
go to Valgar.  The black-clad man rolls, 5,1,
he looks carefully at the board.  "OH!"  he shoves the third glass
			forward and his leftmost glass forward as
    x . . . . . .	well.  He grins and rolls again.  6,1.
    . x . . . . .	He shoves the remaining glass into line.
    . . x . . . .	"Cheer!  Spectacular!  Impressive!  I have never
    . . . x . . .	seen such an act of pure genius!  Astounding!
    . . . . x x .	A perfect Diagonal!  Capital!  Huzzah for Valgar!!
    . . . . . . .	'Raelf sighs.  The glasses are handed out and
    . . . . . . x	all return very quickly emptied.  He has just
			enough left in his tumbler to fill four of the
empty tumblers.  "You win, dude," he says, "Now, you get to toast all
your friends with what you have left in your tumbler, and I pay for the
first round of drinks."  More cheers, huzzahs, and applause.

-------

			Toblero di Gucci

This is a variation of an old gambling game once played in 
the middle ages.  The original game played for money, while
the variation plays for drinks.

The equipment consists of the following:

	7 shot glasses
	1 pair of dice
	1 "chess board" (preferrably made of wood, as it may get wet :-)
	2 bottles of beer/ale for each player

The object here is to cause your opponent to run out of beer, and
thus, be unable to fill the glasses on the board. 

Note: the "chess board" needs to be 7x7 rather than 8x8

Play is started by placing each glass on the board in a row in the
middle of the board.  Players each roll one die, high number plays
first.  Each player opens one beer and fills three glasses, with the
player who lost the opening roll filling the odd glass.  Now whoever
plays first, owns the dice.  You place all seven glasses on the row
nearest you, and play begins.  (This row is called your "baseline").
Now - choose the "ranking female present" to roll the "queen's number".
This is done only at the start of a game. 

Now the Player whose turn it is rolls the dice.  The Player picks
a shot glass to move, and moves it backward or forward by the number
on one of the dice, then repeats the process with another glass
and the other die.  No glass is moved more than once on one roll of
the dice.  If during the roll, you roll a 7 or an 11, you pass the
dice to the other player, and he continues from where the glasses are
currently.

If during the movement, the glasses line up, the player may choose to
drink the glasses, place them on his opponents' baseline to fill, and
pass the dice.  The minimum number of glasses required is 4, but it is
considered cowardly to drink less than 6!  You may also line these up
on a diagonal, but, you must line up all 7!  Oh, and the glasses that
line up must be side by side, if one glass in the middle is out of place
then the line stops there!

If the queens number is rolled during play, you may choose any one
glass to drain, place it on your opponents baseline, have him fill it,
and move the roll (unless the queen's number is a 7 or 11, in which
case, after the glass is filled, you pass the dice!).  If at any time
you cannot move a roll, you must pass the dice! The movement of a glass
is only one way each time you move it!

Oh, and one other thing - Toblero is a bit of a spectator sport, as
a player sets up a line of glasses - it is considered polite for the
player to pass glasses to anyone who "flatters" him upon making that
move.  ie. "That was the most brilliant move I've ever seen! Pure 
Genius!"  "Thank you, have a shot of beer"
Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn