1. Doom
2. Doom II
3. Quake II
4. Half-Life

After all those years, I finally solved one.  It took me two years – but I solved one.  Last night at about midnight, I beat Doyle to finish the game Far Cry.  I actually restarted it two or three times – most recently in Fall ’07.

Now that I’m done, I’m off to play the Orange Box (Half-Life 2, Portal, Team Fortress 2).  I’ll let you know how it went in 2010..

It’s going to be an awfully long month until November 7th!

The final confirmed list:

1. Opening Licks
Motley Crue – Shout at the Devil
Danzig – Mother
Cheap Trick – Surrender
Wolfmother – Woman
Spinal Tap – Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight

2. Amp-Warmers
Kiss – Strutter
Nirvana – Heart-Shaped Box
Police – Message in a Bottle
Van Halen – You Really Got Me
Kansas – Carry on Wayward Son

3. String-Snappers
Foo Fighters – Monkey Wrench
Alice in Chains – Them Bones
Iggy Pop and the Stooges – Search and Destroy
Pretenders – Tattooed Love Boys
Black Sabbath – War Pigs

4. Thrash and Burn
Warrant – Cherry Pie
Butthole Surfers – Who Was in My Room Last Night
Mathew Sweet – Girlfriend
Rolling Stones – Can’t You Hear Me Knockin’
Guns N’ Roses – Sweet Child O’ Mine

5. Return of the Shred
Rage Against the Machine – Killing in the Name Of
Primus – John the Fisherman
Sword – Freya
Thin Lizzy – Bad Reputation
Aerosmtih – Last Child

6. Relentless Riffs
Heart – Crazy on You
Stone Temple Pilots – Tripping on a Hole in a Paper Heart
Stray Cats – Rock This Town
Allman Brothers – Jessica
Jane’s Addiction – Stop

7. Furious Fretwork
Anthrax – Madhouse
Living End – Carry Me Home
Lamb of God – Laid to Rest
Reverend Horton Heat – Psychobilly Freakout
Rush – YYZ

8. Face-Melters
Avenged Sevenfold – Beast and the Harlot
Suicidal Tendencies – Institutionalized
Dick Dale – Misirlou
Megadeth – Hangar 18
Lynyrd Skynyrd – Free Bird

• Megadeth; “Hanger 18″
• Aerosmith; “Last Child”
• Cheap Trick; “Surrender”
• Nirvana; “Heart-Shaped Box”
• Primus (original recording); “John the Fisherman”
• Stone Temple Pilots; “Trippin’ on a Hole in a Paper Heart”
• Anthrax; “Madhouse”
• Motley Crue; “Shout at the Devil”
• The Police; “Message in a Bottle”
• The Pretenders; “Tattooed Love Boys”
• Spinal Tap; “Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight”
• Heart; “Crazy on You”
• Allman Brothers Band; “Jessica”
• Lynyrd Skynrd; “Freebird”
• Avenged Sevenfold; “Beast and the Harlot”
• Dick Dale; “Misirlou”
• Lamb of God; “Laid to Rest”
• Alice in Chains; “Them Bones”
• Reverend Horton Heat; “Psychobilly Freakout”
• Black Sabbath; “War Pigs”
• KISS; “Strutter”
• Butthole Surfers; “Who Was in My Room Last Night?”
• Van Halen; “You Really Got Me”
• Guns N’ Roses; “Sweet Child O’Mine”
• The Rolling Stones; “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking?”
• Rush; “YYZ”

It’s even better than GH1′s lineup..

The twist this time was the inclusion of a ‘bad beat kitty’ – a little $2 side pot for the person that lost the biggest heartbreaker.

Again, I survived to make the “Final Table” but couldn’t bring it home. I overplayed a pair of fours against two pair and got left for dead with a single $25 chip afterwards. I was out the next turn in 4th place. Ultimately, the first graduate of the oft-maligned “Landers School of Poker” took home the big pot. Congrats to Karl K for taking down Sheardo with a 2-3.

Here’s a quick shot of the pregame action:

The pole position was held by Jonesy of Team BlueStreak, followed by the two cars from Team America (F’ck YEAH!), The first car for Team India (formerly known as Rothman’s Honda) driven by Sunshine, the second BlueStreak car. Bringing up the rear was the 2nd Team India car driven by Flash.

In the third corner, commanding positions were held by Jonesey, Lance Fontaine and Coleman. With blatant disregard for his expensive machine, Sunshine threw his car into a tight spot between Lance and Jonesey. Sunshine’s reactions were a little too slow and his car impacted Lance’s in the turn. Both cars were thrown into the wall by the force of the impact resulting in the destruction of both cars and their subsequent eliminations.

The remaining four cars held their positions until the famed ‘S’ de la Piscene corner. Team America (F’ck YEAH!)’s remaining driver, Coleman, plowed into the corner in 5th gear executing a perfect two stop turn. This vaulted him ahead of Flash and Dougie. A burst of speed by Dougie allowed him to overtake Coleman in the last few squares of the race, giving Team BlueStreak the top two spots on the winner’s podium.

Final standings standings – Race 2 – Monaco

Team Standings – After Round 2

The first race of the series took place on the famed Zandevoort course in the Netherlands. Pole position was taken by the number one car on the Rothman’s Honda team driven by Sunshine. Sunshine took off to an early lead, dogged around the first three turns by Coleman and Lance Fontaine from Team America (F’ck YEAH!). Bringing up the back half of the pack were both cars from team BlueStreak driven by Dougie and Jonesey. Last out of the gate was the number two Rothman’s car driven by Flash.

By turn three, Team America (F’ck YEAH!) managed to hold down the one and two spots followed closely by Sunshine. By this point, the leaders were a solid 30 squares ahead of the remainder of the pack.

On the last turn before the final straightaway, Sunshine executed a perfect turn in fifth gear and was able to finish the race with a 25 square lead. Dougie from Team BlueStreak was able to squeeze by both drivers from Team America (F’ck YEAH!) for second place as Coleman and Lance were stuck in 4th gear in the final straightaway.

Final standings standings – Race 1 – Zandevoort

Team Standings – After Round 1

FYI: Formula Dé is a Formula 1 racing simulation board game. For more information, see:
Funagain Games
BoardGameGeek

We randomly drew teams and I ended up at a table with JP, Meghan, and Erik. This had great potential due to the amount of trash talk between JP and Meghan during the day.

It was one of those games where everything worked out perfectly – I got all the tiles I needed to control key mergers so I could get a steady cashflow the entire game. I was also able to diversify enough that there were very few deals that I wasn’t part of.

The game had a very different ending, also. Normally, the game is done when one hotel has 41 chains and the person laying the 41st tile declares the game done. The other end condition is when all chains have 11 or more tiles. In this case, all chains had 10 or more, so I declared the game “DONE”. This prevented the largest hotel (the Imperial) from ever reaching 41 and thus paying out more bonus. This manuever earned me a “You sonofabitch” from ErikA – since he had controlling interest in the Imperial.

Even though I had no appreciable interest in the largest chain, I had either the controlling or secondary interest in all other chains – and was able to defend my championship.

Congrats to Alana “The Rookie Canuckie” for winning at the other table on her first attempt.

ErikA’s account of the night can be read at: Anderiv’s Acquire Commentary. Thanks to everyone for a fun night – next time, Citadels!