Today’s infographic is a little bit suspect. It’s comparing the best and worst payout rates from various countries based on data from the online Castle Casino, who also is responsible for the infographic itself, Drinking Hampers Gameplay. That conclusion comes taking the payout rates and matching them with the average beer consumption per person figures for the same nations. Unfortunately, there’s absolutely no correlation between the two. There’s no data to support that the countries that drink more per capita were doing their drinking while they were gambling. So the “moral of the story” is utterly meaningless.
Bottoms Up: Eight Drinking Games
Today’s infographic, entitled “8 Great Drinking Games,” was created by Best College Reviews, and also includes the rules written out below the infographic.
Beer Pong
Today’s infographic is a humorous instructional poster about beer pong, and how it’s played. I’m not a big fan of drinking games, but it is a great infographic, with a nice retro feel to it. It was created by Mel Marcelo. It almost makes me want to try it … almost.
Marzen Madness 2013
I may not be college basketball’s biggest fan, but I do still enjoy March Madness every year. The tournament is usually a fun diversion for a few weeks each year, so for the third straight year, I’ve set up a fantasy game, similar to fantasy football. It’s a bracket game through Yahoo which I call “Märzen Madness.” It doesn’t look like there’s a limit to the number of people who can play, so sign up and make your picks before March 19, which is when the first games take place.
To join Märzen Madness and play the Yahoo! Sports Tournament Pick’em game, just follow this instructions below. You’ll also need a Yahoo ID (which is free if you don’t already have one).
To accept the invitation, just follow this invitation link. For reference, here’s the group information.
Group ID#: 17084
Password: beer
Good luck everybody.
Farmville Hop Farming
I know next to nothing about Farmville, the popular farm simulation game played on Facebook, apart from the fact that it appears to be a time suck of epic proportions, with something on the order of 76 million active users every month. I know the company that created the game, Zynga, is in San Francisco. I remember passing by their offices with a huge screen outside the building on the way to the annual Christmas party at Anchor Brewing last month.
So maybe this is old hat, but here’s something I didn’t now. Searching for a graphic of hops yesterday, I discovered that in 2011, FarmVille added hop farming to their English Countryside Farm module, and it’s apparently available beginning with level 20, whatever that means. According to the wonderfully geeky FarmViller:
The Hops is a seed on the English Countryside Farm, available from level 20. It became available with the introduction of the English Countryside Farm beginning March 22, 2011.
It is available from the Market for 150 coins after reaching level 20. When bought and placed on the farm, the player receives 2 XP. It can be harvested every ten hours for 220 coins. The seed itself can be sold for 8 coins.
Here are the stages of growing hops in FarmVille:
Freshly Planted Hops
Hops at 33% Growth
Hops at 66% Growth
Hops Ready to Be Harvested
Hops Treated with Crop Fertilizer
Hops After Having Withered
A quick search reveals that you can also grow barley, but there appears to be no way to malt it or put all the ingredients together to brew beer. Oh, well, just when it was starting to look interesting. Perhaps I dodged a bullet there, after all.
NFL Football: Pick The Winners At Brookston Fantasy Games 2012
This is the sixth year for the Brookston Fantasy Football Games. We’ve had a lot of fun over the last five, so if you love football and beer, consider joining us this year, whether you’ve played in past seasons or are a newcomer. The NFL season begins on Wednesday September 5, so you’ve got about five days to sign up.
I’ve again set up two free Yahoo fantasy football games, one a simple pick ’em game and the other a survival pool. Up to 50 people can play each game (that’s Yahoo’s limit, not mine), so if you’re a regular Bulletin reader feel free to sign up for one or even both. It’s free to play, all you need is a Yahoo ID, which is also free. Below is a description of each game and the details on how to join each league and play.
Standings for both leagues will be listed at the bottom of the Bulletin’s right column.
Pro Football Pick’em
In this Pick’em game, just pick the winner for every game each week, with no spread, and let’s see who gets the most correct throughout the season. I’ve added a new wrinkle this year. Since we’re all very busy, and you (or I) might screw up at least one week, you can now throw out your lowest week. All that’s at stake is bragging rights, but it’s still great fun.
Also, like last year, we’ll be able to keep picking all through the playoffs, so the game will continue through to the Super Bowl, which is pretty cool.
In order to join the group, just go to Pro Football Pick’em, click the “Sign Up” button (or “Create or Join Group” if you are a returning user). From there, follow the path to join an existing private group and when prompted, enter the following information…
Group ID#: 11630 (Brookston NFL Pick To Win)
Password: brookston
Survival Football
If picking all sixteen football games every week seems like too much, then Survival Football is for you. In Survival Football, you only have to pick one game each week. The only catch is you can’t pick the same team to win more than once all season. And you better be sure about each game you pick because if you’re wrong, you’re out for the season. Actually last year they added a new feature and I changed the game so to be kicked out you have to be wrong twice. In that way more people stand a better chance of lasting longer into the season. So get one wrong, and you’re still okay, get a second wrong, now you’re gone for the season. Last man standing wins.
Again, like last year, we can keep picking all through the playoffs, assuming our luck holds. So the game could even continue through to the Super Bowl.
In order to join the group, just go to Survival Football, click the “Sign Up” button and choose to “Join an Existing Group”, then “Join a Private Group”. Then, when prompted, enter the following information…
Group ID#: 4804 (Brookston Survival League)
Password: brookston
With 50 players allowed in each game, there’s plenty of room, so don’t be shy. Sign up for one or both games. Beginning after the first weekend of the regular season I’ll post the standings on the home page (at the bottom of the right-hand column) and then each Monday after that through the season. Why not join us?
Play Brookston Home Run Derby
Over the last few weeks I’ve been trying to figure out if I could have a fantasy baseball game this season — similar to each football season and March Madness — but haven’t really had the time to figure it out. A regular baseball fantasy league seems like too much work, especially as my actual knowledge of current players is so thin. Every year I’ve played in one, I come in dead last, which is not my idea of a good time. But I may have figured out at least something to try, even if it is last minute, what with opening day of the baseball season tomorrow.
This year, Yahoo Fantasy Sports is offering a number of fantasy baseball games, and one caught my eye as potentially a lot of fun but much easier to play, in terms of time commitment and knowledge necessary. It’s called Home Run Derby, and you draft a team and get points only when one of your players hits a home run. You have a roster of 15 players, and each day you have to field a player at each infield position, plus 3 outfielders and a “Util” (utility) player from any position, to round it out to nine (and since pitchers won’t really count for much in this type of game), leaving six players for your bench. Each time one of your players hits a home run, you get a point. If one of your players hits a grand slam, you pick up four points. Whoever racks up the most points over the season is declared the winner, with all attendent bragging rights.
Currently, Yahoo allows the maximum number of teams in a league to be 20, and I already gave a slight preference and invited everyone who played last year or played Marzen Madness. So far, we have six teams, so there are 14 spots left. If you want to play, sign up now. As soon as we reach 20, I’ll turn the league status to “ready” and the auto draft should begin within 24 hours. So we may miss the first day or two of the season, but the settings give me the impression that it may go back and assign retroactive points, so we’d all get the points we’re due anyway. If not, we’re still all in the same boat.
Below are the instructions if you want to play Brookston Home Run Derby this year, but hurry up so you don’t miss out. If it won’t let you sign up, check to make sure we’re not full yet. If we are, sorry about that, there’s always next year. I’ll post the standings throughout the season and update them at least weekly, if not more often.
In order to join the league, follow this link or go to game front page, click the “Sign Up Now” or “Get Another Team” button and follow the links to “Join a Custom League”. When prompted, enter the League ID# and password below.
League ID#: 144900
Password: HomerWe will send you a confirmation with further details once you have completed the registration process.
Marzen Madness 2012 Reminder: Sign Up Today To Play
With the first tip-off tomorrow, today is the last day to sign up to try to pick the winners for this year’s March Madness. I’ve again set up a bracket game through Yahoo which I call “Märzen Madness.” It doesn’t look like there’s a limit to the number of people who can play, so sign up and make your picks before March 15, which is when the first games take place. I’ll post and update standings each day there’s games played until a winner is declared.
To join Märzen Madness and play the Yahoo! Sports Tournament Pick’em game, just follow this instructions below. You’ll also need a Yahoo ID (which is free if you don’t already have one).
To accept the invitation, just follow this invitation link. For reference, here’s the group information.
Group ID#: 10019
Password: beer
Good luck everybody.
Marzen Madness 2012
While not the biggest fan of college basketball, I still enjoy March Madness every year. The tournament is usually a fun diversion for a few weeks each year, so for the second straight year, I’ve set up a fantasy game, similar to fantasy football. It’s a bracket game through Yahoo which I call “Märzen Madness.” It doesn’t look like there’s a limit to the number of people who can play, so sign up and make your picks before March 15, which is when the first games take place. I’ll post and update standings each day there’s games played until a winner is declared.
To join Märzen Madness and play the Yahoo! Sports Tournament Pick’em game, just follow this instructions below. You’ll also need a Yahoo ID (which is free if you don’t already have one).
To accept the invitation, just follow this invitation link. For reference, here’s the group information.
Group ID#: 10019
Password: beer
Good luck everybody.
“DOZEer” Wins 2nd Straight Brookston Football Pool
Congratulations to Paul B. — a.k.a. “DOZEer” — for being the winner of this year’s Brookston Football Pick’Em Pool. Paul also won in grand fashion last year, making him unquestionably the man to beat next season.