Fill or Bust a Pole

Day 24 - Fill or Bust

Farkel with a little twist of the cards. This is a great little game for those who enjoy rolling dice and pressing your luck. A game for 2 to 10 players (although you may want to split up the deck and have an extra set of dice going for a lot of players or else you will be waiting on everyone else and the game will take forever), the game plays best I think with 2 to 4 players. You can set the end of the game to any scoring value you want, so the game can be as long or short as you would like.

For those unfamiliar with the game Farkel, it is a dice game where you roll 6 dice looking to score as many points as possible. You can keep rolling as long as you keep rolling "pointers" (or dice that give you points). You score points for the following: a 1 is worth 100, a 5 is worth 50, a straight rolled on the first roll with 6 dice scores you 1500, 3 1s are worth 1000, and 3 dice of 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s, and 6s are respectively worth 100 times that number. You have to roll the multiples in the same roll (you can't store 2 3s hoping for a 3rd 3 etc.). So, that is the base of the game. Rolling dice trying to obtain points. Simple and fun.

Fill or Bust adds a bit of an extra element with the deck of cards that come with the dice. At the beginning of one's turn, the top card of the draw pile is flipped over. Each card has a different affect. There is a "No Dice" card where the player looses any points rolled so far his/her current turn or if at the beginning of the turn, their turn is skipped. Most of the cards offer a bonus for a "Fill." A Fill is when a player scores points using all 6 dice. If the player scores a Fill, then they get the bonus points from the card as well. Some cards make you continue to roll the dice for certain bonuses, and the Vengeance 2500 will take 2500 points from the leader if you score a Fill. A "Bust" is when a player rolls the dice and it does not produce any pointers. This ends the players turn, and will result in loosing all their points they rolled during this current turn (unless they flipped over the Must Bust card).

Anyway, that is the game in a nutshell. A great little game that you can fit in your pocket and play anywhere (waiting in a line at a theme park, waiting for a movie to start or your food to arrive, waiting for something in the airport or on the plane, in a car, on a boat...you get the idea.). Played this game tonight with The Wife and The Brother In Law (T.B.I.L.) (who was just introduced to the game tonight) and The Brother In Law pulled out a win creating a tie with Sauron and placing me now 8 games away from gaining a winning record.

Sign Holders Out in Full Force

Just a little realization that happened to me today. You know the people on corners or on the side of the streets that are holding signs for business advertising? I'm sure you have noticed them; the statue of liberty people trying to get you to come to them for tax services, the Little Caesar's Pizza guy promoting Hot N' Ready for 5 Bucks, the girl enthusiastically holding a sign stating that their is a special for haircuts at Great Clips, the mechanic outside Jiffy Lube saying that they currently have No Wait, or the kid who has practiced flipping the sign around like only a ninja could stating that their are some town homes for sale. You have to admit, some of these people do a great job getting your attention. I like the ones who are dancing like crazy people myself. But wait! Have these people always been on the streets doing this sort of thing? I don't have a very good memory, so help me out people. 10 years ago, where their people dressed up like Lady Liberty dancing The Robot? Were there sign holders back then? I don't remember any. If I could go back in time, I would go back 10 years to answer this question. Maybe the sign holders have just become more efficient at getting my attention. Maybe the economy has forced these people into jobs where they are providing the same support to a sign that a pole does just as well? There is a Pearls Before Swine comic that showed Pig getting a job where he was holding a sign. He says to Rat, "My Mamma Raised a Pole." Where did this society of sign holders come from? Would it be offensive to call these people poles? I have so many questions regarding this situation. How many years out are we from having Sign Holder classes taught at the local community college?

Sign Holder Interview:
Jerry Pole - "OK Mr......Brewster. I appreciate your interest in being a Sign Holder for us, but we have a lot of applicants for this position. It is among the top most desired sign holding positions around. Tell me, what sets you apart?"
Mr. Brewster - "Well, I have a Bachelor's in Sign Holding and I'm really skinny. I have an emphasis in Long Arrow type signs, so that could come in handy..."

Can we gauge the economy by how many sign holders we see on the streets or is this (dare I say it) career emerging because people love the idea of being similar to a pole or maybe they like the attention? I just don't want to see my Stop sign dancing around on the next corner I pull up to and that is How Lou Sees It.