Category Archive

I’ve been thinking that before leaving this region of the country I need to take six months off my life and hike the Appalachian Trail, which I could reasonably do ~2-3 years from now, after graduation. Talking with Ryan last week got me interested in a southbound hike:

Southbound thru-hikers start in June or July at Katahdin and finish in Georgia in November or December. A southbound hike will allow you much more solitude, but you will be “breaking in” on the most rugged part of the Trail. A Maine-to-Georgia hike also requires that you traverse long distances between resupply points in the early part of your trek. In many ways it’s a tougher hike than a northbound thru-hike. Fewer than 500 people have reported completion of the A.T. southbound.

Ryan mentioned that a friend who traveled southbound was treated differently by northbound hikers, from shouts of “You’re going the wrong way!” to near animosity at times. I’ll enjoy the near-solitude of southbound travel, but I’m still looking for a traveling companion…

2.5 oz Smirnoff Vanilla vodka
0.5 oz Ice 101 peppermint schnapps

Shake well and strain into a cocktail glass. (And yes, Cool as Ice was involved in the creation of this beverage.)

Once again, the traditional KarpAcrossAmerica gift exchange was a success. This year’s revisions didn’t seem to alter strategy too much, aside from a reduction in overall round times.

OVERVIEW

Each participant brings 5-6 gifts, totaling $15-$20.
Gifts should be properly wrapped (no plastic bags!).
At least one gift should be a “highly desirable” one you think people will fight over.

PROGRESSION

The gift exchange consists of several rounds (described below).
All gifts are placed in a central communal area.
The starting player is chosen randomly or by agreement.
Each turn, a player rolls a pair of 6-sided dice. If they roll doubles, they take an action.
After a player rolls the dice, they pass the dice to the left.
The round continues until the time expires.
When the time has expired, each player gets one additional roll of the dice.
Play continues for all rounds.

ROUNDS

Round 1: Gift distribution–upon rolling doubles, a player selects a gift from the communal area. [no time limit; play continues until all gifts have been distributed]

Round 2: Stealing round–upon rolling doubles, a player steals a gift from another player. [10 minutes]

Open gifts–unwrap all gifts and show them to all players.

Round 3: Stealing round–same as Round 2. [10 minutes]

Round 4: Trading round–upon rolling doubles, a player exchanges a single gift with another player. [10 minutes]

Cache one gift–each player may choose one gift in their possession and place it out of play; cached gifts cannot change ownership during the game.

Round 5: Trading round–same as Round 4 [10 minutes]

Round 6: Force Trade round–upon rolling doubles, a player dictates a trade between two other players. [15 minutes]

Cache one gift–same as the previous cache.

Blitz round setup: each player selects the person 17 places to their left and chooses one gift to remain in front of them.

Round 7: Blitz Force Trade round–same as Round 6, but with only the one selected gift for each player. [10 minutes]

ADDITIONAL RULES

Minimum Gift Requirement: Players must be in possession of at least four gifts after distribution. A player with three gifts may not be the subject of a steal. At the end of Round 1, the player with the most gifts gives away gifts (if necessary) so that every player has at least three gifts.

MULLIGAN: One time during the game, each person is allowed to make a Magical Unique LateraL Instantaneous Gift AgreemeNt (MULLIGAN). A MULLIGAN allows a player to substitute any one of their gifts when they are the subject of a steal/trade. Each player may only make one MULLIGAN during the entire game.

Gift of Burden: After opening gifts (between Rounds 2 and 3), select one gift to be the “Gift of Burden” (GoB). This gift should be the most undesirable gift out of all the gifts. To select the GoB, each person submits one of their gifts as a GoB candidate. All participants then vote to determine the GoB. In the event of indecision, the GoB is selected from the candidates using a stochastic device. The GoB enters play in the 3rd round and has the following function: whenever a player ends a round in possession of the GoB, they are permitted to exchange it for any gift from any player. In a round where a gift is cached at the end, the GoB exchange occurs before the cache. The GoB only has this function in round 7 if it is selected to remain in play.

Multi-Wrapping: Each player may choose to bring one gift wrapped multiple times. At the end of each round after the initial unwrapping (between Rounds 2 and 3), another layer is removed. There is no limit to how many layers of wrapping can be on the gift; it is possible that a gift may remain wrapped at the end of the game.

Polyhedra: A second set of dice is passed around, in addition to the 6-sided dice. These dice are 20-sided. A player who rolls doubles with the 20-sided dice takes two actions.

Conspiracy: Once per game each player may declare or participate in a conspiracy. A player may only declare a conspiracy immediately after receiving an action (i.e., rolling doubles). The conspiring player does not take their action immediately but instead saves it for a future turn. After a conspiracy has been declared other players may choose to join in (only by invitation of the original conspirer), assuming they also receive an action. A player participating in a conspiracy forgoes any future dice rolls (with that particular tray) until the conspiracy has been revealed. After one round has passed and play returns to the initial conspirer, said player may choose to either reveal the conspiracy or continue play. By continuing play, the conspirer forgoes their turn (only one action may be saved at a time, except in the case of polyhedra), continuing play for another full round (which provides opportunity for more players to join the conspiracy). When the conspiracy is revealed, each player (starting with the conspirer and proceeding in the direction of play) takes their saved action. A conspiracy must be revealed during the round in which it was initiated.