Who wants to watch Pokemon!
I do!
Ok, let’s clean up the playroom.
Oh, I don’t want to watch Pokemon.
Cleaning up takes energy and I only have 1 energy left.
8/28/2023
,
history
comes in funny caps
That’s a funny looking cap.
,
red ball chasing this parabola
I pulled the background way down for the final composition. Just enough for some visual interest, but not enough to compete with the 5WP.
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reading by clear river light
I studied abroad in Paris in the Spring of 2007. It was a glorious semester. I traveled a little, had a nice project, and spent a lot of time in the city of lights. One of my favorite moments was reading Raymond Chandler along the banks of the Siene on a glorious Sunday afternoon.
,
Steve Jobs is my
sidekick
It’s crazy how addicted we are to these rectangles in our pockets.
Growing up in the 80’s, it’s crazy to think the guy behind the Apple IIe’s would take over the world with pocket computers, with unimaginable power and connectivity.
,
this moment frozen in flight
Once I have a good rhythm going, it’s really hard to go off script. So that last “t” was surprisingly hard, even though I had the cursive down pat.
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I’m writing this a bit in advance, but I’ll have basically run through my second Inktober.
I’m sharing my pieces on Substack Notes and on Bluesky, but I won’t be using Instagram, where the whole exercise sprouted. I despise Zuck’s algorithms, so I’m not giving him any more “content”, especially since all I get in return are a few hearts on IG and no comments of substance.
There are very few clean transactions in this world—one day I’ll have to reconsider my usage of Substack and Bluesky, but I’ll enjoy the party for now.
Cya next time!
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PS—Pokémon TV
It’s a kids show, boring for adults.
I was just old enough to miss the phenomena when it first hit America, but after winning a Pikachu stuffy at the claw in the Primm Outlet Mall, the kids wanted to see what the fuss was about.
Good lord, Nintendo created one heck of a merchandizing machine.
Gotta catch them all!
Toys, collectable card games, video games, books, plenty of gear, and endless TV shows!
A brilliant case study for late stage capitalism via a little yellow electric squirrel!
Pika pika!
—September 2023
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PPS-Pokémon Go
- A slight nudge to walk more Kilometers (to hatch eggs)
- Kids love collecting! I had to set a screen time password on this game.
- Eventually stopped using it, I don’t need more nudges to use a phone.
PPPS-Pokémon Sleep
- I never tried a sleep tracker before. Interesting to see how badly I slumber.
- The kids spent too much time playing with the game parts.
- I stopped using it. It’s weird to have a phone on the bed next listening to me all night.
PPPPS-Pokémon Smile
- Great timer for brushing teeth. Works for 44-year-olds too.
- The kids spent a bunch of time with stickers until Mama put her foot down.
- I brush my teeth in horse stance so my head is low enough for the iPad camera. 2-for-1 exercise!
—January 2024
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PPPPPS—Pokémon Zeddemore (v0.1)
Years ago, I came across a single-deck format for Magic the Gathering by Seth Brown and Tom (no last name given).
After a fellow architect gave me a pile of Pokémon commons for my kids, I dusted off the ruleset to make a game out of these cards (since the little ones aren’t ready to construct their own decks).
We played it a couple of times this weekend and this format translates well to Pokémon.
Plagiarism alert: everything below is a copy of Tom’s original tumblr post with only minor revisions to adapt it to Pokémon—why rewrite rules that already work?
Introducing Zeddemore
What is Zeddemore? It starts with Winston.
Winston Draft
Winston is a draft format designed for two players by Richard Garfield. Here’s how it works:
A big shuffled deck of cards is put, face-down, in the center of the table. The top three cards are placed in a line next to the deck. I will refer to these cards as ‘piles’, because that’s what they may soon become.
The first player to draft looks at the first pile (currently just a single card) and decides whether or not they want to add it to their pool. Let’s say they don’t. They add a new card from the big deck to that pile and move on to the second pile, where they repeat this process. Let’s say they want this card. They take it and replace the now empty pile with a new card from the deck.
The second player looks at the first pile (which now contains two cards). If he wants them, he takes the entire pile – in this case, two cards. He replaces the empty pile with a new card.
If a player passes on all three piles, they take a random card off the top of the deck.
Continue until all cards are taken.
And that’s it. Simple.
What Zeddemore does is take the already fun Winston Draft, and spreads it throughout the game. You draft as you play. Your initial draws at the start of each turn become drafts.
Hopefully that gives you a sense for how Zeddemore plays, so let’s talk about how it works.
The Opening Hands
The original MtG Zeddemore starts with three rounds of drafting to construct your opening hand, which makes sense for sophisticated players. On the other hand, I’m just playing with my kids.
So I just deal seven to the hand (and six as prize cards).
And then start the first draft as the first draw phase of the game.
Changes to Pokémon
Before we start playing, I borrowed up two key rule changes dug up from the internet.
- Any Pokémon can evolve into any other Pokémon of the same type, as long as the stage matches. Hoppip—Gloom—Venusaur, but not Hoppip—Vileplume—Venusaur.
- You can use any Pokémon as an energy (turn it upside down to attach). The energy type is determined by the Pokémon type.
The Turns
Aside from the draw being replaced by a draft, turns work as they usually would. Drafting does, however, have one important rule. Only your first draw during your turn is replaced by a draft. Any other card drawing is handled in the usual fashion – straight off the top of the deck. You may only draft during your turn, and only once per turn.
The Deck
Much like with Cube, a bunch of cards will be needed. A great deal of creativity is possible in the construction of a Zeddemore Deck. Generally though, it follows these guidelines.
- Energy – Since I use Pokémon cards as energy, there is no need for energy cards. However, this rule change came about because I wasn’t gifted energy cards. Maybe this will change at some point. (The original MtG Zeddemore recommends 25 to 30% of the cards in a Zeddemore deck should be lands, a bit less than normal, but they also start with a couple lands in their hand).
- Milling – Cards that put cards from the top of a player’s deck into their graveyard are generally avoided. Players can’t lose by decking, so most of these cards simply don’t do much.
- Singleton – Generally, Zeddemore decks are singleton, although this is by no means a requirement (I don’t have enough cards to go singleton, but it is a goal if I buy a bulk pack of a thousand).
- Card Quality – One aspect of Zeddemore that Seth and I both hold dear to our hearts is the inclusion of both good and bad cards. I will explain the thought behind this in depth in the future, but suffice it to say that it serves an important mechanical need in Zeddemore, and an experiential one. If you have any cards that would cause you to recoil in horror if they should somehow appear in your opening hand, you should probably include them in your Zeddemore deck. Worry not – strong cards are welcome too. An equal number of good, okay, and bad works well.
- Recovery – (I have no idea what is good or bad in Pokémon, but I’m keeping this here for future reference), Zeddemore has an aspect to it that can allow a player who’s ahead on the board to easily build upon their advantage, leaving their opponent in a situation that rapidly falls out of their control. For this reason, I like to include some cards that are not at their best in the hands of a player that’s winning. There shouldn’t be too many of the good ones, of course. Occasionally, players do have to lose.
- Deck Search – For reasons I will explain below, cards that let you search your library, while allowed, should be approached with caution. (Unfortunately I don’t think this is suggestion avoidable in Pokémon).
- Deck Size – The bigger the better. How small can a deck be? Well, you don’t want to run out of cards (though it’s not a big deal to just shuffle the discard pile and keep playing).
- Random – Some of these guidelines can be ignored if players are willing to utilize the deck construction technique that is most in the spirit of Zeddemore – completely random. With this approach, not even the deck’s builder may look at the cards until the drafting begins.
- Sundry – There is all sorts of other bits of advice and rules, often relating to specific mechanics, that I will share in the future.
The Graveyard
Traditionally, there is a shared graveyard in Zeddemore. This is not a requirement. If the builder of the Zeddemore deck feels that their deck would work best with individual graveyards, then that is their prerogative. Playing with a shared graveyard can make some cards better. Generally, this is fine. Zeddemore likes strong cards.
The Annoying Rules
Zeddemore alters some basic things in the game, and as such, some annoying rules are required. (Some of these rules might not be applicable to Pokemon, but I’m hesitant to delete them until I feel more comfortable with the Pokemon TCG universe)
- Searching the library – If a card tells you to search your library for a type of card, you may only look at the top eleven cards of library. When done, cards that weren’t taken are shuffled and placed at the bottom of the deck. The overall deck is not shuffled. Zeddemore decks are often very large, with the number of cards currently on the table possibly only representing a small portion of the deck’s total size. Allowing players to search even 50 cards, which they may not be all that familiar with, for the one card that would be optimal for them, is simply too slow. Searching 500 is a nightmare. It would also run headlong into one of Zeddemore’s greatest strengths – an exploration of the unknown. This rule makes many cards worse than they would otherwise be. Generally, this is fine. Zeddemore likes bad cards. However, cards that will often not do what they say they’ll do can piss off almost any player. Tread lightly.
- Card drawing – As already explained, additional card drawing never gives you additional drafts.
- Card ownership – A card’s owner is the player who most recently drafted the card. This rule can be especially important with shared graveyards.
- Tucking – Cards that are put on the bottom of the library or are shuffled into the library, should be put on the true bottom of the library. As already stated, the portion of the deck currently on the table may not be the full deck. In my case, it never is. Most of the library sits in a box, waiting to replenish the cards on the table. Rather than turn the timing of this replenishment into something that can be ‘gamed’ (a short library might advantage one player), never consider a portion of the library to be the full library. Cards that are put on top of the library, or in the top portion of the library, work like normal.
- Drafting – The game essentially pauses while a player is drafting. Abilities can not be used. Cards that continuously reveal the top card of the library don’t work until the drafting is finished.
- More on drafting – A single draft counts as a card draw, even if that player drafted five cards.
The Play
(a benediction from Tom)
And now it’s time to play Zeddemore. Zeddemore is fun. Seth, myself, and the dozens of friends that have tried it can attest to that. Something else Seth and I can attest to, however, is that not every game is fun. Sometimes a player won’t get the lands they need. Sometimes a bomb can’t be answered. What Seth and I found, in our marathon sessions of Zeddemore, was that these games ended quickly. The great games, though, the ones with shifting board states, barely-answered bombs, and the skillful deployment of some truly sub-par cards, can last quite a long time, especially in our memory. I hope you have as much fun with Zeddemore as we do.
Revisions
If we play this game more (which hasn’t happened in the past eighteen months), I’ll make a freestanding posts with updated revisions. However, I suspect, this moment will be a relic of a moment, as I continue (unsuccessfully) my quest to be a boardgamer dad.
—February 2024
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PPPPPPS—Practice
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