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The Geekiest Game Ever Made?

Posted by Unknown on from the settlers-of-frustrated-interactions dept.

KentuckyFC writes "Spin glasses may be esoteric but they are also one of the more fascinating phenomena in physics. They are disordered magnets in which the atoms interact with each other to create conflicting configurations that compete for stability. That makes spin glasses metastable. They can seem firm and constant but a small change to the configuration in one part of the lattice can ripple through the magnet like wildfire. Now a German physicist has created 'Spin Glasses: The Game,' a two person board game that reproduces all the complexity and excitement of...err... spin glasses. The players compete to configure their atoms in a way that dominates the lattice when the game ends. The board game is available in German or as a free downloadable cut out version in English. Is this the geekiest game ever made?"

60 of 87 comments (clear)

  1. Nethack? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    No mention of Nethack. I am disappoint.

    1. Re:Nethack? by Smauler · · Score: 1

      Does anyone still play nethack? I still play TOME, does that make me a geek?

    2. Re:Nethack? by znrt · · Score: 1

      you hear loud noises coming from the drain ...

    3. Re:Nethack? by module0000 · · Score: 1

      I still like nethack, but at some point I switched to 'dungeon crawl stone soup' instead.

      --
      Trackball users will be first against the wall.
    4. Re:Nethack? by hubie · · Score: 1

      Absolutely. I got it on my Windows and linux machines, and I had it on my old phone (haven't put it on the new one yet).

    5. Re:Nethack? by Hatta · · Score: 1

      I quit once I ascended. Well, I started another game and got my ascension kit together, and decided I had had enough.

      Does TOME have an ASCII interface for those inclined? Can you play it entirely without moving your hands from home row?

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  2. If a tree falls in the forest ... by quenda · · Score: 1

    If you count games actually played, Carcassonne is awfully geeky. At least if you are not German, major geek points.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carcassonne_(game)

    1. Re:If a tree falls in the forest ... by Andtalath · · Score: 1

      Huh, that is fairly mainstream and simple.

      Heck, I've played it with semi-drunk non-nerdy people.

    2. Re:If a tree falls in the forest ... by TheLink · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Doesn't seem geeky to me. How about programming games:
      e.g. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega_(video_game)
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Core_War
      More here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Programming_games

      How much geekier can it get than writing programs as a game?

      --
    3. Re:If a tree falls in the forest ... by gl4ss · · Score: 1

      I'm curious, how exactly did you come to the conclusion that carcassonne is awfully geeky? it's the frigging family game of the year award winner in some countries and probably the best known, most popular, new boardgame in 20 years.

      how about mechwarrior? or just some binary games? go?

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    4. Re:If a tree falls in the forest ... by Sockatume · · Score: 1

      Well, this one was published on Arxiv. That's got to be something.

      --
      No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
    5. Re:If a tree falls in the forest ... by alex67500 · · Score: 1

      I agree, Core War all the way. We had one in my CS courses, one of the geekiest weekends ever!!!

    6. Re:If a tree falls in the forest ... by Sarten-X · · Score: 1

      I'm currently drafting a tabletop game based on the exciting life of a cubicle-dwelling software developer... does that count?

      No, really! Caffeine gives +1 to rolls, managers are unpredictable, and calls from customers are a thing to be dreaded!

      --
      You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
    7. Re:If a tree falls in the forest ... by Wycliffe · · Score: 1

      I've played Carcassonne with my grandma and 6 year olds. If that's your definition of geeky then you
      haven't been exposed to very many games. As far as board games go, risk, settlers of catan, magic,
      and even chess are all both more geeky and more popular. But judging geek games on popularity is
      kindof an oxymoron so if you exclude popularity there are a ton of games alot more complex and geeky
      than carcassonne.

    8. Re:If a tree falls in the forest ... by TangoMargarine · · Score: 1

      Have you ever played the Dilbert board game?

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    9. Re:If a tree falls in the forest ... by nedlohs · · Score: 1

      What makes it geeky? It's not particularly niche. It doesn't have a geek theme. It's doesn't require much in the way of making calculations while playing. It doesn't consume large amounts of time. It doesn't involve building and painting huge numbers of miniatures. In fact I struggle to think of anything geeky about it.

      Compare with:

      Android: Netrunner - very geeky theme.
      Dungeons and Dragons - this was once the definition of geeky...
      RoboRally - geek theme plus "programming" of sorts.
      1817 - 6 hours of pretending to buy company stocks and of course there are trains (what geek isn't into trains), any 18XX in fact.
      Warhammer 40,000 - science fiction and fantasy and painting hundreds of fiddly miniatures. Any miniatures war game really.
      Magic: The Gathering - why paint miniatures when you can spend thousands of dollars on cards. The rules are easily mistaken for the US tax code: http://media.wizards.com/images/magic/tcg/resources/rules/MagicCompRules_21031101.pdf encouraging players to push literal reading of card text as far as they possible can.
      Dominion, Agricola - all the multiplayer solitaire games that are just optimization problems at heart and can likely be converted into solving some equations.

    10. Re:If a tree falls in the forest ... by quenda · · Score: 1

      What makes it geeky?

      Well, 1) its in a foreign language, and 2) its a board game. For adults.

    11. Re:If a tree falls in the forest ... by nedlohs · · Score: 1

      1) My copy is in English. You can get Monopoly in German does that make it geeky too? I guess I've never associated foreign languages* with geekiness - does having an English game make a non-English speaker geeky?

      2) There are huge numbers of board games for adults. Many far more than the the simple and short Carcassonne which is clearly a game made with children in mind.

      * Well OK collecting Japanese cartoons and insisting on subtitles does have some connection with geekiness...

  3. No. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    "Any headline which ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no."
    -Ian Betteridge

    1. Re:No. by camperdave · · Score: 2

      Is the actual quote not "Can any headline which ends in a quiestion mark be answered bye the word no?"

      --
      When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
    2. Re:No. by Tyler+Durden · · Score: 1

      That sentence is so self-referential it nearly made my head explode.

      --
      Happy people make bad consumers.
    3. Re:No. by slapout · · Score: 1

      Never trust a programer who can spel.

      --
      Coder's Stone: The programming language quick ref for iPad
  4. This by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 2

    High geekyness http://glassplategame.com/

    --
    If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
    1. Re:This by quantumghost · · Score: 1

      miegakure comes to mind.

  5. Ok and by ouachiski · · Score: 1

    How do you drink to it

    --
    sorry for my comments, I'm drunk
  6. Nethack by Sorcererbob · · Score: 4, Insightful

    For physics geeks, perhaps this new fangled glass spinning game is the new black, but for us fantasy nerds, Nethack still reigns supreme. Tiled, turn based, and riddled with more Tolkien references than The Hobbit movies, I don't think it can be beaten for ultimate nerdery.

    1. Re:Nethack by xvan · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Nethack wins in the references field.
      But I think Dwarf Fortress sandbox beats it / will eventualy beat it, on gameplay... It's crazy the unexpected things that surge from that physics model.

    2. Re:Nethack by ghmh · · Score: 1

      Look at the crowd of people on that lawn over there! -- More --

    3. Re:Nethack by slinches · · Score: 1

      If esoteric references and deep gameplay are the criteria, Sandcastle Builder may be in the running. It has even been referred to as "the Dwarf Fortress of idle games"

      And for extra geek credit, it's based off of a xkcd comic

      --
      Knowledge Brings Fear
    4. Re:Nethack by tibman · · Score: 1

      May i ask your bay12 forum name?

      --
      http://soylentnews.org/~tibman
  7. This obviously needs to be a computer game by DutchUncle · · Score: 1

    ... along the lines of Reversii/Othello

  8. In terms of non-mainstream PC games: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    A Slower Speed of Light http://gamelab.mit.edu/games/a-slower-speed-of-light/

  9. Settlers? by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 2

    I don't know about you, but I've never seen Settlers of Catan at any party also featuring beer pong. (I have seen D&D played, in fact enhanced by beer pong...before you ask.)

    1. Re:Settlers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      hahaha

      Catan is so mainstream, turn in your geek card please

    2. Re:Settlers? by Sockatume · · Score: 1

      What's not geeky about Beer Pong? Beer Pong, Beer Pac-Man, Beer Q-Bert, Beer Asteroids... admittedly Beer Spacewar gets a bit dicey due to the spill risk.

      --
      No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
  10. Light bot? by Luckyo · · Score: 1

    I always thought that light bot was one of the geekier, and at the same time more educational games I played about programming.
    http://light-bot.com/

  11. spin glass by bugs2squash · · Score: 4, Funny

    This could be as close to playing spin the bottle as any of us get.

    --
    Nullius in verba
  12. Polarity by rjforster · · Score: 1

    In Polarity you're not just simulating magnetic materials you are actually balancing magnets against each other.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polarity_(game)

  13. 3 words by bmimatt · · Score: 4, Informative

    Leisure Suit Larry

  14. CGoL is much geekier. But this is pretty cool. :) by rocket+rancher · · Score: 1

    Simple rules that produce fascinatingly complex behaviors, to me, is more geeky than complex rules that produce fascinatingly complex behaviors. YMMV.

  15. Doom by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    The geekiest game is Doom. Every geek I know of who is in the fitting age class has played it. (For older ones it must be D&D board games.)

    1. Re:Doom by HybridST · · Score: 1

      "Does anyone know what happens if you drop the
      One Ring down a sink?"

      OK, I'll bite. The One Ring (go from the print version here...) seems to follow the same rules detailed in Zalazny's "chronicles of amber" series so it would resize itself (definitely among its powers) and shift its surroundings until it can traverse the sewer lines and be found by its next victim on the path back to Sauron (also within its powers). Or it might just be caught in the u-pipe under the sink if it likes its owner.

      --
      Ever notice that Cobra Commander sounds an awful lot like Star scream?
  16. Dwarf Fortress by drphil · · Score: 1

    That is all

  17. Core War by vinsci · · Score: 1

    Apparently the Core War game has becomre largely forgotten, or become better known under its commercial variant: anti-virus software.

    --

    Trusted Computing FAQ | Free Dawit Isaak!
  18. World of Warcraft? Seriously? by Radak · · Score: 1

    FTFA: And any game hoping to top this list would have to beat off strong competition from World of Warcraft, perhaps the best online role playing game.

    Yep, you lost me right there.

  19. ThePowderToy by Ogi_UnixNut · · Score: 1

    One of my faves (physics simulator), where you can create all sorts of machines.

    The only game I know of where you can simulate nuclear reactions, and build different types of nuclear reactors/rockets with it.

    Wasted hours of my life on it.

    GPL game at: http://powdertoy.co.uk/

  20. Re:Geek is the wrong term by Sockatume · · Score: 1

    I don't think anyone has ever made a convincing case for that taxonomy. The best I can say for it is that if you bring it up or argue about it, you're probably under one of its categories.

    --
    No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
  21. spacechem by Paradigma11 · · Score: 1

    If you ever asked yourself why concurrency is hard try http://www.spacechemthegame.com/

  22. Kerbal Space Program..... by pslytely+psycho · · Score: 1

    My favorite physics simulation. Still in early developement but getting better all the time. Oh, and it updates to .23 today!

    --
    Donald Trump, on a crusade to make Nixon look respectable
  23. Zork by Mister+Liberty · · Score: 1

    Zork, bij Infocom.

  24. Anyone making an HTML4 version of this game ? by jcdr · · Score: 1

    Just asking.

  25. Uplink by peter.kingsbury · · Score: 1

    Way geekier, cooler, and prettier.

    Spin Glasses is just nerdly.

  26. Darwinia? by Lisandro · · Score: 1

    Yes, Darwinia, from the same guys who gave us Uplink and DEFCON.

  27. Ewwwww by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

    From TFWA:

    A*spin glass*is a disordered magnet with frustrated interactions

    So...spin glasses are Slashdot nerds?

    --
    (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
  28. Re:Geek is the wrong term by TangoMargarine · · Score: 1

    Geek at the intersection of Intelligence and Obsession, so this rules out the vast majority of slashdotters (including me).

    Well, that seems rather uncharitable.

    If you have any social ineptitude, you're a Nerd

    I think the only people who don't have *any* social ineptitude aren't the kind of people you want to hang around with (sociopaths).

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  29. Not even close by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

    Quantum Quidditch.

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  30. High Frontier by svirre · · Score: 1

    Try High Frontier by Phil Eklund (http://sierra-madre-games.eu/index_high_frontier_2nd_edition.html) A game about industrializing space made by an actual rocket scientist.

    The board is beautiful with spaces representing stable orbits and movements represented by delta-v needed to change orbits.

    Rocket stacks are built by reasonably realistic technologies and fueling and mass adhere to the Tsiolkovsky rocket equation (Placed in an elegant table array for simple use)

  31. Nah, by qwe123 · · Score: 1

    Calvinball beats everything.

  32. Geekiest Video Game by StrangeBrew · · Score: 1

    The geekiest video game I've ever played was Neuromancer, by Interplay.

  33. No, Quantum Tic Tac Toe wins by edremy · · Score: 1
    It's played on a normal TTT board. Each player makes two moves a turn, which exist in indeterminate states. Eventually the players will develop a cyclic entanglement of their moves, at which point a measurement is made and the entangled moves collapse into permanent moves on the board. I refereed a paper on it recently for J. Chem Ed where they used it to teach basic QM to physical chemistry students.

    You can play a version online here

    --
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