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The Ultimate Gaming Table

Posted by timothy on from the this-is-not-at-ikea dept.

Johnzo writes: "Wow. Dude's built himself a super-deluxe custom gaming table, with built-in coasters, dice pits, a sound system, lamps for each player, glass inlays for handouts, books and paper storage, an elevated miniatures battlefield, privacy screens for each player, and (best of all) an under-table tube network using hollow gravity-fed balls to deliver secret messages to players. The only way this could possibly be cooler is if he used pneumatics to deliver the messages."

133 of 191 comments (clear)

  1. Wow. by Gldm · · Score: 1

    And to think I was making do with a $50 plastic table from Home Depot me and my roommates pitched in to buy.

    --

    Introducing the new Occam Fusion! Now with sqrt(-1) fewer blades!

    1. Re:Wow. by javajames27 · · Score: 1, Insightful

      You had a table? What about sleeping bags, pillows, an old tape deck playing cheezy soundtracks, and dice amuk due to the random monster attacks of your cat? Tables - Bah I say!

    2. Re:Wow. by UranusHertz · · Score: 1

      We didn't even have a sleeping bag. We just had to make do with and old cardboard box in the middle of the road. And we had to eat a handful of cold gravel for dinner!

    3. Re:Wow. by dorsey · · Score: 1

      And we liked it! We liked it alot!

      --
      hinderfreude ('hin-dur-"froi-d&), n. The feeling of joy derived from being in the way.
  2. Tea Balls for message spheres by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny
    Wow. I just want this for Risk!


    To player: "Sure, I won't attack you."


    (Under the table): "Attack on the next turn! Kamchacka won't know what hit them! BWahahahaha..."

  3. Slashdot effect / bad neighbor? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Okay, the slashdot effect has incinerated yet another poor innocent server.

    Slashdot might consider warning / hosting cached images of pages that arent designed to handle major traffic.

    If I built a cool backyard widget and told a few friends, I might be a tad disconcerted when CNN tells a half-million people to check out my house.

    1. Re:Slashdot effect / bad neighbor? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
      • Actually IIS is smart enough to throttle and reject connections above the set amount with a "Server too busy" message, rather than letting it suck up bandwidth to the beat of the band.

      "IIS" and "smart" in the same sentence. I sense a disturbance in the force.

    2. Re:Slashdot effect / bad neighbor? by spencerogden · · Score: 1

      I think it seems more likely that the content is just gone. All connections return a 404...

      --

      Spencer Ogden

    3. Re:Slashdot effect / bad neighbor? by Nurlman · · Score: 3, Interesting
      If I built a cool backyard widget and told a few friends, I might be a tad disconcerted when CNN tells a half-million people to check out my house.

      Uh... he did put this stuff up on the internet, presumably so people could see it.

      Your analogy might work if CNN broke down your fence or peeked in your windows to see your "widget," but you can hardly complain if you built it in your front yard so everyone walking down the street could see it.

      I suppose if the submitter got the link from this kid in an e-mail that was just sent around to a few of his friends, you might have a point. But if the submitter found it through a search engine, or through random surfing, well, webmaster emptor

    4. Re:Slashdot effect / bad neighbor? by halftrack · · Score: 1, Redundant

      Does IP, copyright, fair use bla, bla, bla ... ring any bells? Slashdot could not just cache any page used in a story. If so they would have to contact each copyright owner to ask for permission to cache their page, but the they'd have to change "News for Nerds. Stuff that matters" to "Olds for Nerds. Stuff that used to matter."

      It's entirely posible to cache pages for personal use, but not to republish through your own page. (Wonder how Google looks at this.)

      --
      Look a monkey!
    5. Re:Slashdot effect / bad neighbor? by Restil · · Score: 3, Interesting

      The only decent alternative I can see is something similar to what fark.com does. Have a subscriber base that's allowed to see the links a couple hours before they get posted to the main site. This will allow subscribers an advantage when viewing slashdotable sites, and may give them the opportunity to mirror those sites if they feel it might be needed. It will also give the webmaster a warning of what is soon to come and allow them to make whatever changes are needed to prepare for the onslaught. It will also make first-poster's jobs completely useless (unless they want to buy a lot of subscriptions).

      Of course, this means that articles might grow stale by a couple hours, but CNN and other sites that will have no problem with the traffic can still be posted normally. Oh well, just an idea.
      Happy moderating.

      -Restil

      --
      Play with my webcams and lights here
    6. Re:Slashdot effect / bad neighbor? by BigBong · · Score: 1

      Really? I get 500 internal server error. My experience tells me that the IIS process is toast and needs to be restarted or there is a problem with the code in the ASP page causing IIS to burp.

    7. Re:Slashdot effect / bad neighbor? by Vulcana · · Score: 1

      I was at this site a few days ago. The day after I was at it a friend tried to get to it. It was dead then. I suspect it recovered just long enough to get slashdotted.

      It is a VERY cool table though.

    8. Re:Slashdot effect / bad neighbor? by aardvarkjoe · · Score: 5, Funny
      Right. Like Slashdot's news is always on the bleeding edge. Waiting a few hours to make this post would have made it completely irrelevant.


      I'm convinced that the reason why Taco doesn't bother to cache these pages is that he enjoys the notoriety of the "Slashdot Effect." The excuses in the FAQ are really lame.

      --

      How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
    9. Re:Slashdot effect / bad neighbor? by plugger · · Score: 1

      It's only as smart as its administrator.

    10. Re:Slashdot effect / bad neighbor? by _xeno_ · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Finally! Someone who agrees with me!

      I am so sick and tired of Slashdot editors whining that "it's in the FAQ" - yeah, I know, but those seem like lazy excuses that boils down to "this'd be kinda difficult and we're way too lazy to attempt it."

      Besides, I think all they really need to do is just e-mail the webmaster of the site they're linking too. If it's a big web site, then yes, go ahead, link directly to it. If it's got ads, then link to it. If it's obviously some hobbyist's webpage, then contact them first!

      Although, this is the Internet, so apparently being polite is passe. *sigh*

      Oh, and it's nice to see that Slashcode now removes all HTML entities, so I can't put a nice accent in over the e. Thanks.

      --
      You are in a maze of twisty little relative jumps, all alike.
    11. Re:Slashdot effect / bad neighbor? by siskbc · · Score: 1

      What the hell do you call google? They cache every page they hit and they'll let me view it.

      --

      -Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat

    12. Re:Slashdot effect / bad neighbor? by siskbc · · Score: 1

      ANd if a webcrawler grabbed it? Put up a random page some time, don't publicize it, and it will eventually get hits.

      --

      -Looking for a job as a materials chemist or multivariat

    13. Re:Slashdot effect / bad neighbor? by MR.Gates · · Score: 1

      http://216.239.39.100/search?q=cache:Ul4aRoXNUOgJ: www.agyris.net/portal/game_table.asp+%22%2Bwww.agy ris.net/portal/game_table.asp%22&hl=en&ie=UTF- 8

      to bad the link got broke up but just copy-n-past it

      --

      A few hours grace before the madness begins again.
    14. Re:Slashdot effect / bad neighbor? by Wrexen · · Score: 2

      If I put a cool fountain up in my front yard, it's all well and good for people seeing it who happen to go down my street. It's in public view, and I like it that way. The analogous /. effect is that thousands of people flock to my house overnight and trample my grass and block the driveway so I can't get out of my house. It's a major inconvenience and not appropriate

    15. Re:Slashdot effect / bad neighbor? by daecabhir · · Score: 1

      Dammit!!!! And me without mod points....

      --

      -- daecabhir (this mind intentionally left blank)
    16. Re:Slashdot effect / bad neighbor? by Verizon+Guy · · Score: 2

      Oh, and it's nice to see that Slashcode now removes all HTML entities, so I can't put a nice accent in over the e. Thanks.

      That was in response to "all those French whipper-snappers that kept crapflooding with their damn accented letters..."

      --

      Aw, fuck it. Let's go bowling. - The Big Lebowski

    17. Re:Slashdot effect / bad neighbor? by cygnwolf · · Score: 1

      oh come on, get realistic. Some of the webhosts out there don't care about such shtic. All they see is that the website has 'overdrawn' it's allotment of traffic...

      --
      Free Pie! The Pie is Also Evil!
    18. Re:Slashdot effect / bad neighbor? by bryan1945 · · Score: 2

      Wrong- they may flock to your house, but since it is private property they can't trample your property (call the cops if they do), though they may block the street (you can still call the cops for this). Also think of this, anything that you display for the public, even if it is on private property but can be seen from public property, is fair game. Inconvience? Sure. Inappropriate? Maybe. It depends on whether you want to blame yourself for displaying whatever, or you want to blame people for showing up to look at it. If you didn't want people to see it, put it where others can't see it (back yard, maybe?). This attitude is becoming more prevalent from people who do something (web page, work of art, a fountain) and then bitch when it becomes popular and they are inconvienced. "It's not my fault, it's all the people who caused all the unexpectated consequences from what I did." What is the root cause? You built/showed/did something. Therefore, any result from that display that is not illegal is your fault. If you don't want your web page to be /.ed, don't put up something neat. Don't know about /.? Well, you put up something neat because you wanted people to see the neatness, and if you really didn't want lots and lots of people to see it, ie. only your friends, you would password protect the pages and email your friends the password. Newbie to the web? Again, too bad, don't jump in when you don't know how deep you are going in.

      The closest proper analogy that I can think of is putting up a billboard/public ad- you paid for it, and pay for it per month, it is posted in a public forum, and if it is so popular that it is swamped by people trying to see it, well too bad, you put it out there.

      --
      Vote monkeys into Congress. They are cheaper and more trustworthy.
    19. Re:Slashdot effect / bad neighbor? by jcoy42 · · Score: 1
      I'm convinced that the reason why Taco doesn't bother to cache these pages is that he enjoys the notoriety of the "Slashdot Effect." The excuses in the FAQ are really lame.

      I'm convinced that Taco does this because it makes him smile to link to an asp page off of slashdot, especially when using the word "cool" somewhere in the blurb.

      It always seems to be asp or occasionally php pages that go down in less than 90 seconds..
      --
      Never trust an atom. They make up everything.
    20. Re:Slashdot effect / bad neighbor? by wheany · · Score: 1

      to bad the link got broke up but just copy-n-past it

      Or you could have added the following text around the url: <a href="URL"> link text here </a>

      The effect would have been something like this:
      link text here

    21. Re:Slashdot effect / bad neighbor? by Saeger · · Score: 1
      Nah... never happen here...

      Instead we'll just have to wait for gnutella, or another p2p network, to implement distributed webcaching functionality (not HOST caching, but webcontent caching--there's a difference)...

      --

      --
      Power to the Peaceful
    22. Re:Slashdot effect / bad neighbor? by vanyel · · Score: 1, Flamebait
      http://www.agyris.net/portal/game_table.asp

      .asp? That's just asking to be slashdotted. As has been discussed elsewhere, it really doesn't take that much to handle slashdot if you don't burden the site with a bunch of stuff that shouldn't be there in the first place.

    23. Re:Slashdot effect / bad neighbor? by DiscoBiscuit · · Score: 1

      ASP/PHP/CGI pages will go down a lot quicker cos they're not 'dumb' html pages - every hit means somebody's box has to do a load of backend processing. Static HTML pages will stay up a lot longer, cos the box should have no problem serving them up to the max bandwidth of the line.

      I think it would be polite if they told small site owners they were gonna be slashdotted, cos for example, if I knew that, i'd quickly move my content offsite (from my cable modem hosted site), to another site I have on a major ISP that could handle a slashdotting.

    24. Re:Slashdot effect / bad neighbor? by reddywhipt · · Score: 1

      I think that this argument is ridiculous. People post things on personal websites expecting a very small amount of traffic, and then the 500lb gorilla of the /. community comes along and crushes their puny site under a huge load of "I wanna see the cool thing too!!!"

      I think that the only neighborly thing to do would be to execute a preemptive cache of the sites, especially small personal sites that are about to be trampled by us. The slashdot COMMUNITY should be just that. A community of members that care about each other and what effect our actions have on our fellows.

      Jim S.
      MCSE, Network Geek and all around decent Human Being

    25. Re:Slashdot effect / bad neighbor? by sjlutz · · Score: 1

      Wow.. if all you have to say is something bad about Microsoft, then please shut the fuck up.
      I am sick of comming to slashdot for news, and finding every other post is anti-microsoft. We all live with it, some of use work with it, some of us like it.

      You all know that if I posted something like "linux and smart.. I smell a disturbance in the force" this post would be a troll or moded to -1, but as soon as someone says "IIS and smart.. I smell a disturbance in the force" it gets moded up to 4 and funny.

    26. Re:Slashdot effect / bad neighbor? by andy@petdance.com · · Score: 2
      Slashdot might consider warning / hosting cached images of pages that arent designed to handle major traffic.

      "Might consider", as if this has never been discussed before.

      Worse, what's with the moderators scoring at a +5 Insightful?

    27. Re:Slashdot effect / bad neighbor? by tomhudson · · Score: 2
      Congrats for slashdotting google.

      Just tried it, and got a Server too busy message.

    28. Re:Slashdot effect / bad neighbor? by poot_rootbeer · · Score: 1

      Your analogy might work if CNN broke down your fence or peeked in your windows to see your
      "widget," but you can hardly complain if you built it in your front yard so everyone walking down
      the street could see it.

      Like hell you can't.

      If I put my widget in the front yard on a quiet side-street and only a handful of people check it out while walking by my house, that's fine, that's great.

      If my widget turns out to be far more popular than I could have predicted, and throngs of thousands of people are mobbing the entire street to take a look at it, damn right I'll complain. I'll complain because the police are going to give ME a ticket for causing the street to become impassable.

    29. Re:Slashdot effect / bad neighbor? by jcoy42 · · Score: 1
      ASP/PHP/CGI pages will go down a lot quicker cos they're not 'dumb' html pages - every hit means somebody's box has to do a load of backend processing.

      Note that slashdot is running .pl files for everything, which is effectively CGI (well, I suppose it might be mod_perl, I've never looked).

      If you dig around, you'll see that there are quite a few references to .php and .asp being disliked by the slash authors.
      --
      Never trust an atom. They make up everything.
  4. Beautiful furniture by hugesmile · · Score: 5, Funny

    I bet Verizon would like to get this guy to design the furniture for their offices to put the $22,000 workstations on!

  5. Slashdotted already... *grmbl* by CoolVibe · · Score: 1, Redundant
    So I haven't read the article or seen pictures yet.

    But I think this would be great for AD&D type games. Guessing from the posting text I think this table might be built just for these kind of games.

    1. Re:Slashdotted already... *grmbl* by Karma+Farmer · · Score: 1

      I think this would be great for AD&D type games.

      ME TOO!!!

  6. Another feature by gatekeep · · Score: 4, Funny

    There's another feature the blurb didn't mention which is sure to be of great benefit to people who would want something like this. It's sized such that it can easily fit in most parent's basements!

  7. Coming up next on Slashdot.. by Chicane-UK · · Score: 4, Funny

    'Dude' builds himself a new webserver, as the Slashdot crowd help him melt his after only a few minutes! :)

    --
    "Hey! Unless this is a nude love-in, get the hell off my property!!"
    1. Re:Coming up next on Slashdot.. by swordboy · · Score: 2

      'Dude' builds himself a new webserver, as the Slashdot crowd help him melt his after only a few minutes! :)

      If he knows what's good for him, he'll put some of them built-in cup holders on the new web server in order to prepare for future slashdottings.

      Sigh...

      --

      Life is the leading cause of death in America.
    2. Re:Coming up next on Slashdot.. by The_dev0 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Dude! You're getting a gaming table!!

      --
      Never fight naked, unless you're in prison...
  8. Oops! Forgot one thing. by Crusty+Oldman · · Score: 2, Funny

    No beer dispenser.

    1. Re:Oops! Forgot one thing. by Roadmaster · · Score: 4, Funny

      This table appears to be built for roleplaying games.. and trust me, you DON'T want to be dungeon master to a bunch of 15 drunk fellas whose level 20 characters have just been slaughtered by a couple of lucky kobold assassins.

    2. Re:Oops! Forgot one thing. by Kosi · · Score: 1

      Roadmaster: you DON'T want to be dungeon master to a bunch of 15 drunk fellas whose level 20 characters have just been slaughtered by a couple of lucky kobold assassins.

      If they really fell by kobolds at level 20 I'd wonder how they got this far ...

    3. Re:Oops! Forgot one thing. by macsox · · Score: 2

      it's official.

      this post is the dorkiest thing i have ever read.

      --
      go get it
    4. Re:Oops! Forgot one thing. by Kierthos · · Score: 1

      Well, for one thing, monsters in 3rd edition AD&D are scalable now. It is entirely possible to build that (as an example) 14th level orc chieftain without having to pull rules out of your ass. Likewise, you can make a 20th level Kobold Assassin (which actually would be fairly powerful). It's a much more flexible system, as it allows a lot of the different types of monsters to have different abilities and features, rather then just having your 20th level party run into dragon after dragon. (Yes, I play. Isn't it obvious?)

      We now return you to your regularly scheduled geek-fest.

      Kierthos

      --
      Mr. Hu is not a ninja.
    5. Re:Oops! Forgot one thing. by Kosi · · Score: 1

      Been playing 2nd Ed. for nearly 10 years now, maybe I should have a look at the 3rd. :)

  9. Additional Features by gleam_mn · · Score: 5, Funny

    Features not yet mentioned:

    1) Makes a perfect girlfriend repellent
    2) Eliminates that pesky urge to shower
    3) Acts as a cosmic magnet for Trekkies
    4) Absorbs excess light to help maintain that lovely shade of "pasty white" you've worked so hard to obtain

    The sad part is, ten years ago I would have killed for one :) Now my wife won't let me... :P

    --
    - The auditors said to secure the server... hand me that duct-tape -
    1. Re:Additional Features by JustAnotherReader · · Score: 1

      >4) Absorbs excess light to help maintain that lovely shade of "pasty white" you've worked so hard to obtain

      "pasty white" ? I've always thought of my programmer's tan as more of a "minty green".

    2. Re:Additional Features by unicron · · Score: 5, Funny

      "WHERE ARE THE CHEETOS?!"

      "Their over there, quit yelling!"

      "WHERE'S THE MOUNTAIN DEW?!"

      "In the fridge. DUH!"

      "I'M GETTING A MOUNTAIN DEW, ANYONE ELSE WANT ONE?"

      "NO!"

      "I cast Magic Missle!"

      "Why are you attacking, their's nothing to attack here."

      "I uh, I uh..I attack the darkness."

      "Their's an ogre standing in front of you"

      "How could there be an ogre in front of me, I had mordiky's magical watchdog cast"

      "Actually, you didn't. You never actually bought the components so now their's ogres, deal with it"

      "OGRES! I HAVE AN OGRE SLAYING KNIVE +3!"

      "Fool, you aren't even in the cave, you're back in town."

      "COOL! ROLL TO SEE IF I'M GETTING DRUNK!"

      "Yeah, you are."

      "ARE THEIR ANY GIRLS THERE?"

      "YES!"

      "IF THEIR'S ANY GIRLS THERE I WANNA DO EM!"

      There you have it. Satan's game. But hey, it's not their fault. It's their gym teachers, for making them feel like crap because they couldn't do one lousy pullup.

      --
      Finally, math books without any of that base 6 crap in them.
    3. Re:Additional Features by meowwmixx · · Score: 3, Funny

      What, your wife won't let you get one, or she just won't let you kill for one? :P

    4. Re:Additional Features by np59a · · Score: 1

      Man, I laughed so hard I started choking on my Haagen-Dazs bar! Anyway, I thought the "pasty-white" look was in. ;-)

    5. Re:Additional Features by chump+daddy · · Score: 1

      learn to spell.

      there's a big difference between their, there and they're. you only got it right once or twice.

    6. Re:Additional Features by Guppy06 · · Score: 2

      "The sad part is, ten years ago I would have killed for one :) Now my wife won't let me... :P"

      Won't let you have the table or won't let you kill? What about maiming and/or dismembering?

    7. Re:Additional Features by etherlad · · Score: 2, Informative

      If anyone's played Summoner for the PS2, you may have caught the video they added in, with characters from Summoner and Red Faction as the players. (:

      You can view it on ifilm.

      --
      Soylens viridis homines es
    8. Re:Additional Features by Catbeller · · Score: 3, Funny

      And don't forget capitalization, too.

    9. Re:Additional Features by thunderbee · · Score: 1

      You married the wrong wife. Mine would let me (have the table, I'm not too sure about the killing although it might be worth a go too ;)

      --
      In my opinion, Scientology is a cult you should avoid.
    10. Re:Additional Features by wind · · Score: 1

      That's funny... I don't think my *husband* would approve of slaughter in the name of excellent gaming furniture.

      Maybe it could be modded to double as an elegant dining table? You could send catty comments about your dinner guests to each other via the message system. Though they might get suspicious after you repeatedly drop your napkin and come up laughing.

    11. Re:Additional Features by phwiffo · · Score: 1

      Hehe, tag. You're it.

      --


      Trolls, it must be cool to be that bored.
    12. Re:Additional Features by ivrcti · · Score: 1

      Sucks doesn't it. My wife won't let me kill either!!

    13. Re:Additional Features by nege · · Score: 1

      Right now you're sitting in the belly of a platnum dragon, so you better ask yourself where your priorities lie.

    14. Re:Additional Features by Xanlexian · · Score: 1

      "No, no. My eyes are gray. I know it says they're blue, but I want gray eyes!"

      --
      "Congratulations, Boots. Your robot has become self-aware. You're a daddy now." -- Dr. Rho Bowman
  10. Link.. by gatekeep · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here's the google cache link

    1. Re:Link.. by spencerogden · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Interesting, so he just took the actual page down, the pictures are still there...

      --

      Spencer Ogden

    2. Re:Link.. by dacarr · · Score: 1
      Problem here is that the Google link doesn't link the entire page, you have to go through bit by bit via google's cache.

      Man, shouldn't we be doing people like this a service and mirroring these sites on machines that can tolerate slashdot effect?

      --
      This sig no verb.
  11. Re:Netcraft reports Slashdot is dying by Chagatai · · Score: 2
    Hmmm... could it be that the guy decided to cast Magic Missile at the darkness again?

    --
    --Chag
  12. Pnuematic by rbgaynor · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...and (best of all) an under-table tube network using hollow gravity-fed balls to deliver secret messages to players. The only way this could possibly be cooler is if he used pneumatics to deliver the messages.

    Sadly I can see where an under the table pneumatic device probably would have appeal to /.ers

    --
    "Good things don't end with eum, they end with mania or teria." - H. Simpson
    1. Re:Pnuematic by kin_korn_karn · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I'm thinking the gravity balls make noise, and that kind of cuts out the secrecy aspect of it, right?

    2. Re:Pnuematic by gatekeep · · Score: 2

      From what I can see of the cache link it looks like the messages might only run from DM->player and possibly the other way around.

      It's not of much value to know the DM is sending someone a message if you can't see the actualy message. Between players it might be, you could tell if two people are keeping secrets from the rest of the group of something...

      Why not just have laptop/palmtop PCs with IM running or something?

    3. Re:Pnuematic by jyoull · · Score: 3, Funny

      The gravity-fed secrets are vulnerable to traffic analysis, but not content analysis... so it depends on how and what you're playing.

      or just turn up the music at random times, and occasionally send a secret message during one of those noisy intervals.

    4. Re:Pnuematic by Patik · · Score: 1
      or just turn up the music at random times, and occasionally send a secret message during one of those noisy intervals.

      Or continually send bogus messages ("hey, what's up?") so people get used to you constantly sending messages, and they'll never know whether you're sending a game strategy or just fluff.

    5. Re:Pnuematic by Ooblek · · Score: 5, Funny

      What would happen if the pneumatics malfunction? How many MPH can it make a secret message ball eject out of the tube that is probably at about the same level as the family jewels? Talk about a d20 damage roll.....

    6. Re:Pnuematic by mitheral · · Score: 1

      Total cost of ball method $8X6 Plus some wood $100

      Total PC/IM cost: at least an order of maginutde greater.

    7. Re:Pnuematic by gatekeep · · Score: 2

      Well yah.. it was meant to be a 'gee wouldn't this be cool' thing, not so much a practical solution. Course, if all the players brought their own laptops during a game...

  13. Re:Netcraft reports Slashdot is dying by dev0n · · Score: 1

    i got logged out a few times when trying to read a story.. something strange is afoot.

  14. Obvious improvement (add on?) by Embedded+Geek · · Score: 1

    Beer cooler and/or snack bowl

    --

    "Prepare for the worst - hope for the best."

  15. Re:Netcraft reports Slashdot is dying by im@peacewithouta.gov · · Score: 3, Funny

    It's not Karma, it's mana. Specifically, a level 45 Reflective Shield around their server which bounced Slashdot's level 60 spell of Traffic Jam back at itself. Slashdot will be lagged for a few more rounds.

  16. Re:Netcraft reports Slashdot is dying by Verizon+Guy · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    I'm also getting "wierdness" - like changing my threshold inside the article and being dumped back to the front page.

    That's what happens when "rock-solid enterprise ready" MySQL (sense the sarcasm?) pukes on itself. It happens all the time around here. It's just that slashdot loads a cached version of the front page to mask all MySQL errors or when the DB shuts down.

    --

    Aw, fuck it. Let's go bowling. - The Big Lebowski

  17. Fantasy Gaming Table by Jharish · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I've always fantasized about a table that would have a small console with a keyboard and screen for each player where there could be messaging between players/GM. I've also wanted to be able to send images/maps and other important information over the consoles on this, my fantasy gaming table.

    Of course, cool holograms ala Star Wars Chess Table would rock for the battle map. The problem... I know the technology exists for all of the above, but the cost is far too prohibitive to make a gaming table this cool.

    -Steve

    1. Re:Fantasy Gaming Table by Lumpy · · Score: 2

      El-cheapo or near free terminals...

      get 5-7 386 B&W laptops, and 1 586 with a 8 port serial card.

      linux on all of them, BitchX only on the laptops, ircd on the server.

      Instant private/broadcast messaging system.

      If you gave me 5-6 weeks I can get all of the above for free or less than $300.00

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    2. Re:Fantasy Gaming Table by idontneedanickname · · Score: 1

      You can get me free laptops? Or even nearly free? Gimme a link! NOW! :)

    3. Re:Fantasy Gaming Table by bigfatlamer · · Score: 1

      I've always fantasized about a table that would have...

      Dude...you really need better fantasies.

      --
      There's one thing computing teaches you, and that's that there's no point to remembering everything.
      --Doug Copland
    4. Re:Fantasy Gaming Table by adolf · · Score: 2

      Serial, eh?

      With the 16450 (or, gasp, 8250) UARTs common on old laptops, you're going to have issues keeping speeds reasonable. (57600 baud being a minimum value for "reasonable".)

      Better to use ethernet. Standard hardware, and everything else already talks to it. Oh, and it's -really- fast, as far as these machines are concerned.

      (yes, I've done SLIP, PPP, and plain terminal sessions with my Linux-equipped 386SL-25 laptop. Yes, I also tried PLIP, using an old laplink cable. Yes, I turned up the priority of the port's IRQ. Yes, I still had dropped characters and random strangeness. And yes, the IBM-branded PCMCIA 10base-T ethernet adapter I picked up off Ebay for $3 (!) works great, including the modem. Yes, it's a lot easier to plug into a hub anywhere one happens to be and be able to talk to the world, than it is to cart around a *nix box to tie into with RS-232. Oh. And, yes, Cat-5 is cheaper than shielded multi-conductor serial cable, and vastly easier to terminate. Also, yes, one saves a bit of RAM by not keeping the SLIP/PPP/PLIP code in memory - ethernet is cheaper.)

      Too bad more 386 laptops don't have PCMCIA support.

      --
      Kid-proof tablet..
    5. Re:Fantasy Gaming Table by NeuroUk · · Score: 1

      I've always fantasized about a table that would have...

      Dude...you really need better fantasies.

      Well as it's a family forum he probly didn't want to mention the cute elf babes in bunny girl/ French Maid outfits as waitresses

      looks like a realy cool table though - wonder how much it cost

    6. Re:Fantasy Gaming Table by Newander · · Score: 1

      Can't remember where I read it, but even 2400bps is about as fast as *anyone* can read. 57600bps is much too fast if anything.

      --

      Jesus saves and takes half damage.

    7. Re:Fantasy Gaming Table by adolf · · Score: 2

      Yep.

      So spend more on multi-port RS-232 cards and bulky, expensive cables, since noone can type that fast, anyway.

      God forbid you might need to update the software, ever, on these trouble-prone 10-year-old laptops with NO CD-ROM DRIVES, armed with only a low-speed PPP connection. Things could be zipping along at a couple hundred kilobytes per second or so, for less cost and less hassle than serial's two-or-three kBps, with less of a dead-end system.

      And serial ports on PCs typically aren't able to be set to 28.8kbps - try, instead, the following more-or-less standard selections:

      115200, 57600, 38400, 19200, 9600, 4800, 2400, 1200, 300

      If you really want dumb terminals, buy dumb terminals. I picked up a pair of fine-looking VT-330s at a hamfest a few years back for $30, and both work great.

      I also chanced upon an 8-port Bocaboard, and an old-school multi-I/O card with four serial, three parallel, two IDE, and two floppy (!) controllers. Quite a beastly little 16-bit ISA card that is.

      It all sits in the closet these days, though. The free 386SL/25 laptop with its $3 ethernet card is better than that pile of rubbish, and consumes less power and desk space, and doesn't rely on any other particular machine to be alive for it to be useful.

      I can buy cable for it almost anywhere, whereas serial cables are beginning to get a bit scarce. I don't have to worry about ground loops because 10base-T is ungrounded - no chance of the interaction of a surge protector and a bolt of lightning using my laptop, on the other end of a long wire, as a ground (well. maybe I shouldn't go -that- far, but it is far less likely to happen with ethernet vs. RS-232).

      But, whatever. You wacky geeks go ahead and design a complicated, slow system of shims and widgets for passing Secret Messages when all you need is a tube, a glorified ping pong ball, and a bit of Newtonian physics...

      --
      Kid-proof tablet..
  18. One more feature I'd need... by NineNine · · Score: 3, Funny

    A built in hooka in the middle of the table, with pipes going out to all of the player seats. Not *that* would make for a good game table.

    1. Re:One more feature I'd need... by Kintanon · · Score: 2, Funny

      Sig question,
      I've used your .sig as my primary porn locating service for several months, but recently the site went down, is it coming back up? I've had to switch to Ultradonkey.com for my nekkid picture needs.

      Kintanon

      --
      Check out JoshJitsu.info for Brazilian Ji
    2. Re:One more feature I'd need... by falzer · · Score: 1, Funny

      > I've had to switch to Ultradonkey.com for my nekkid picture needs.

      That's nothing. I had to switch to goatse.cx.

    3. Re:One more feature I'd need... by dillon_rinker · · Score: 1, Offtopic

      ROTFLMAO

    4. Re:One more feature I'd need... by NineNine · · Score: 1

      Don't know what's wrong... I just noticed too. Unfortunately, I've been busy with another venture. Something got fucked on the server. Looking into it now.

  19. Re:Netcraft reports Slashdot is dying by csnydermvpsoft · · Score: 1

    Or maybe Slashdot got Slashdotted.

  20. Good god! by erroneus · · Score: 2

    Don't you people know any better than to post an article linking to a Microsoft server? The thing went down within seconds!!

    At least post a mirror link or a google reference or something...

  21. haiku by 3ryon · · Score: 5, Funny

    The web page you seek
    Has been destroyed by Slashdot
    God-damned geek bastards.

    --
    Kind thoughts do not change the world
  22. If you like Risk... by pmancini · · Score: 2

    You absolutely owe it to yourself to check out "Napoleon in Europe". (http://www.eaglegames.com). This game rocks. It has more advanced rules, an interesting innovation system and some great, great game pieces! It costs $7.50 per LBS.!!! Give it a look, my gang of players loves it.

    1. Re:If you like Risk... by DunbarTheInept · · Score: 2

      I'd also like to reccomend "War in the age of imperialism" by the same company. I just bought it at GenCon last week and I've only played it three times, but I definately can tell I'm going to like it for some time to come.

      I also saw at GenCon that the same people (eaglegames) are also working on a Civilization board game similar to the computer games. (yeah, I know there was a Civilization board game before the computer game, but this is sort of a "port" from the computer version back to a boardgame again, using different rules. It's supposed to be out ath the end of September.

      --

      Don't label something "offtopic" unless you know the topic well enough to tell what's on topic.

    2. Re:If you like Risk... by Anixamander · · Score: 2

      I can't say enough good things about the newer Risk 2210, published by Avalon Hill. It takes all that is good about the original and makes it better. Commanders rolling with 8 sided die, command cards that can have devastating effect, energy points to buy said commanders and cards, bidding for turn order, water and moon colonies and its limited to 5 turns. No more 6 hour marathons. It is one of the best variation on an old game I have seen.

      More info here

      --
      Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball(TM)
    3. Re:If you like Risk... by japhmi · · Score: 1
      Any discussion of games must include the best board game to come out in a long time: Settlers of Catan. Not only is it easy to learn, not only is it fun, but the board changes every time!


      Of course, I also enjoy the old classics Civilization and Diplomacy.

      --
      "Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys" P. J. O'Rourke
    4. Re:If you like Risk... by pmancini · · Score: 1

      Settlers is one of my favorites too. It has a lot of expansions (some good, some not). I think the basic 4 player game is one of the best balanced games ever created. Non-gamers/geeks like it too, usually.

      There is a card game version that is also great for 2 people. Highly recommended!

      --P

  23. Credit where credit is due by jimmcq · · Score: 5, Informative

    That is originally from an old Dead Alewives sketch.

    1. Re:Credit where credit is due by hekk · · Score: 1

      the dead alewives came from my hometown, milwaukee. my friends dad taught one at their high school.

  24. well... by Sebby · · Score: 1, Funny

    TOO BUSY TO COMMENT

    --

    AC comments get piped to /dev/null
  25. Google Cache by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    Cached Link

  26. Copy of website text in case of Slashdotting by ALoverOfPeace · · Score: 5, Funny

    HTTP/1.1 Server Too Busy

    1. Re:Copy of website text in case of Slashdotting by Azghoul · · Score: 1

      Oh god DAMN that's funny.

      Well done. :)

    2. Re:Copy of website text in case of Slashdotting by ellem · · Score: 1

      You can't hear me but I am clapping right now

      --
      This .sig is fake but accurate.
  27. Axis and Allies by AlaskanUnderachiever · · Score: 1

    Aww I can't beleive no one mentioned Axis and Allies the biggest time burner ever printed on paperboard.

    --
    Find out about my new childrens book: SS Death Camp Criminal Batallion Go To Monte Carlo For The Massacre
    1. Re:Axis and Allies by nelsonal · · Score: 1

      Also good is Samurai Swords, aka Shogun. Its quite similar to the Total War: Shogun series for the Computer.

      --
      Degaussing scares the bad magnetism out of the monitor and fills it with good karma.
    2. Re:Axis and Allies by Havokmon · · Score: 2
      GOD that game sucks.

      Yeah, I can't remember half of the stupid rules, but here are two of my favorites:

      I'm MOVING troops with my carrier, so when you attacked my carrier, you actually killed that trooper there.
      OR
      My SUBMARINE traveled from Northern Russia to Spain in one turn. WTF? There some kind of time warp through England?

      Rant off...

      --
      "I can't give you a brain, so I'll give you a diploma" - The Great Oz (blatently stolen sig)
    3. Re:Axis and Allies by Martin+Blank · · Score: 2

      I haven't played in a couple of years, but I don't remember carriers being able to transport non-aircraft units, and there's no way for a sub to move that far in one turn.

      --
      You can never go home again... but I guess you can shop there.
  28. One more feature that would make it perfect by Infonaut · · Score: 4, Funny
    one of those electro-zappers used to such good effect in the first episode of the Simpsons. I can see it now:

    Player: "But, I never actually said I was gonna attack the dragon."

    DM: "Uh, no, but you yelled out 'Die scumsucking winged lizard!' and told me you were running towards it with your +5 Holy Avenger drawn."

    Player: "Yeah, but how do you know the dragon interpreted that as a hostile act?"

    DM: (pushes the under-the-table zapper button, jolting the player with a dose of electricity strong enough to take down a rhino)

    Hmm.. wait, am I putting too much of my own history into this little scenario?

    --
    Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
    1. Re:One more feature that would make it perfect by Black+Jack+Hyde · · Score: 1
      DM: "Uh, no, but you yelled out 'Die scumsucking winged lizard!' and told me you were running towards it with your +5 Holy Avenger drawn."
      Player: "Yeah, but how do you know the dragon interpreted that as a hostile act?"

      Gosh, you had Bill Clinton as a player in your game?

      Jack

    2. Re:One more feature that would make it perfect by ivrcti · · Score: 1

      Thanks for bringing a tear of joy to my reminiscing eye!

  29. It really DOES have everything! by Guppy06 · · Score: 2

    Right on top of the table is the feard "Intergalactic Cat of Destruction" that is known to ravage armies in this and many other universes. Closely related to the "Toddler Cthulu" and "Cosmic Sneeze."

  30. Re:Netcraft reports Slashdot is dying by Verizon+Guy · · Score: 2

    Yeah but the simple fact that it goes down is bad. Having, say, a Linux box with a 450 day uptime is totally useless if the DB goes down every other day.

    --

    Aw, fuck it. Let's go bowling. - The Big Lebowski

  31. Save? by bpfinn · · Score: 2, Funny

    DM: Um, what's yer save versus Slashdotting?

    Dude: 12

    DM: Sorry, you didn't save. You are separated from the party, and you lose all your spell points.

    Dude: D'oh!

  32. web server by darc · · Score: 1

    Hope that gaming table didn't contain the web server too, because it'll be up in flames. All that time wasted...

    --
    Tired of legitimate data sources? Try UNCYCLOPEDIA
  33. Server Too Busy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    cache

  34. Secret Balls by Boawk · · Score: 4, Funny

    and (best of all) an under-table tube network using hollow gravity-fed balls to deliver secret messages to players.

    Knowing the geeks I knew in high-school, they'd probably put more than their balls in the under-table tube network.

  35. You want to Slashdot something? by SaDan · · Score: 1

    Slashdot THIS!

    http://papa.burningserver.org

    I need to reload this machine anyways, so go ahead and nuke it. I'm interested in seeing what kind of traffic it can handle. ;-P

  36. URLs of individual images by wheany · · Score: 1

    URLs of individual images can apparently be obtained by going to the google cache and copying the url of the link to the sub-page, and substituting the word "pages" in the url with "images" and "asp" with "jpg".

  37. Table Builder Claims: "Game Table Gets Chicks!" by monstermachine · · Score: 2, Funny

    We at Agyris.net really built the game table to:
    - Get Space Chicks. Not just any chicks, mind you, but the really hot klingon ones with thick knees and sharp, pointy armor. We met some down by the river, and they came back with us after they heard about our bitchin' table. Alkhound said that they were just carnies, but I know better.
    - Fight Owlbears. We just hate them, so we built the player stations to be too small for their big, furry, hunched backs. They can't even send messages back to the GM because their claws are too damn big to hold the message spheres. We also hate their fur-less asses.
    - Promote the Mullet. At Agyris.net we think that the 1984 Mullet should be protected and promoted. The ultimate game table attracts innocent newbie gamers to our personal hygiene lacking hobby. Simply put, more gamers = more mullets!
    - Improve the Flavor of Dr. Thunder. Gamers love caffinated drinks, and the ridiculously cheap Dr. Thunder (27 cents per gallon) is certainly no exception. However, since the now famous game table fad of 2002 causes thousands more oily spills than ever before, Walmart will be forced to improve the flavor since there will be a shortage of the horse hide flavoring that they commonly use. ---
    We never thought that we'd be featured on Slashdot, but we also never thought that we'd be forced to move out of our parents' basements at the age of 38, due to an official court order. Life is funny.

    --
    -- monstermachine - butter eatin' robot from toaster town.
  38. Re:Netcraft reports Slashdot is dying by thunderbee · · Score: 1
    Yeah but the simple fact that it goes down is bad. Having, say, a Linux box with a 450 day uptime is totally useless if the DB goes down every other day.
    Start Flamebait
    • DB? They don't have a DB, they use MySQL.
    End Flamebait

    --
    In my opinion, Scientology is a cult you should avoid.
  39. Re:Netcraft reports Slashdot is dying by photon317 · · Score: 1, Offtopic


    Bastard mods dropped me two points for "Offtopic". I really hate when legit meta-discussion gets pushed down as noise, makes me feel like I'm being censored by the Slashdot Police or something.

    --
    11*43+456^2
  40. Prior Art by RembrandtX · · Score: 2

    "These are some of the icons that were designed for individual player stations by Shannon Potratz, the lead conceptional designer for Agyris.net... Each player station will have it's own iconic identity, which will be painted on the wall of each one, and also on the Game Master side next to each sphere hole! The icons themselves symbolize the elements of change and decay, Creatures and Gods, in the World of Agyris."

    The icons themselves symbolize just *HOW* much time I spent playing Magic:The Gathering. But since I changed them around on my giant POOLTABLE, they now mean various geeky ingame things about chaos and checkers or something.

    --

    --Ne auderis delere orbem rigidum meum, non erravi pernicose!
  41. Re:Netcraft reports Slashdot is dying by photon317 · · Score: 1, Offtopic


    Keep going assholes.

    --
    11*43+456^2
  42. Google Cache by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    http://216.239.51.100/search?q=cache:Ul4aRoXNUOgJ: www.agyris.net/portal/game_table.asp+%22%2Bwww.agy ris.net/portal/game_table.asp%22&hl=en&ie=UTF- 8

  43. Nice table, but... by jgkastra · · Score: 1

    ...there is no way your wife is going to let you keep that.

    --
    I Support Fair Use
    1. Re:Nice table, but... by mitheral · · Score: 1

      My wife would. I've got a W40k table permently setup in the finished portion of my basement; and there's still lots of floor space left.

  44. Re:Netcraft reports Slashdot is dying by photon317 · · Score: 2

    .... I can't believe it's still being modded this far off the front headlines.... talk about psycho moderators - one more time?

    --
    11*43+456^2
  45. Pull ups for the geeks by goldbishop · · Score: 1

    Pull ups are the DEVIL! What are they good gor anyway? I'm one of the top runners in the nation and I can only do one! My football friends can do a million but yet I reguarly kick their ass. I think it's just the school's way of deciding who's going to get a good math class or not. That's the only way to explain how, no matter how smart you are, there's always some football dude in your class.

  46. Game table site is Moving... Be back up soon! by monstermachine · · Score: 1

    Just a quick note to let you know that the game table site is being moved to some more dependable hosting. Same address, same crappy asp, better servers.
    It will still be at: http://www.agyris.net
    Should be visible within a few days.
    Thanks for your patience.

    --
    -- monstermachine - butter eatin' robot from toaster town.