blood amongst the kisses
A sweet aspect of John Jacoby's Circus Maximus event is
that he rewards the first driver into each turn with a Hershey's
Kiss. The candies replace the dolphins which were upturned in
the Roman Colosseum to record the number of laps run.
So what's with the Thump's Up?
I thought this was the circus - not the arena!
Best Quote of the Tournament: "I have heard of Schrodinger's
Cat, but Schrodinger's Lion?".
This was said, when
in the first heat, the lion drawn chariot, out of endurance,
was four squares away from the finish line, with all of the other
chariots one lap behind. In the resulting attack, a lion was
killed. The next chariot attacked the wheels of the immobile
chariot, removing the last of the spokes, and flipping the cart.
The flipped chariot remained in the same space (on top of the
dragged driver). The rules do not cover any damage to the driver
from such an event since when the lion faction's turn comes,
the driver will be dragged over the wreck and killed instantly.
The problem was, the horses (lions) were immobile with a dead
horse (lion). If the driver cut the dead horse loose, he dies
by being dragged over the wreck. Being out of endurance, every
turn that he did not cut loose, the driver became more alive
since it became harder to cut loose. Paradoxically, the longer
and more alive he was, the less chance he had of winning. The
race ended with David Weinstein (the driver) lying on top of
the chariot with two movement left.
The finish in the Final was equally bizarre. John Tighe's
White Elephant team crossed the line first. When his chit was
drawn, Josh Githen's Tiger drawn team was lashed for an increase
of only two speed, leaving him tied for distance over the finish
line with the Elephants. In the case of a tie, the winner is
the chariot which crossed the finish line first, so John squeaked
into the championship by the good luck of the draw and the bad
luck of Josh's lash roll. Herds of unfortunate sheep were sacrificed
in the dice god's temple by the White Elephant's driver following
the race.
Colosseum master Jacoby was pleased with his new digs and
proclaimed Lancaster a fine upgrade for his equine butchery races.
With each heat averaging 50 players, five boards to a heat generated
faster races and the proper number of winners for his Sunday
grand finale. Expect the three-heat format to continue in 2006.
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