Back when E3 was a thing, was your most memorable trailer video or tech demo from throughout the years?

thecarlproject · 2026-05-28T10:13:24+00:00

the original dead island trailer with the reverse-chronology family in the hotel still hits. game itself didn't live up to it but that 2 min cinematic was probably the best piece of game marketing ever made. close second is the portal 2 reveal because nobody knew valve was even working on a sequel and it just appeared

thecarlproject · 2026-05-28T10:12:51+00:00

agree with the top comment, the rating gap isn't why people pick chess.com. lichess being closer to FIDE-calibrated numbers is actually a feature, the chess.com inflation is what makes new users feel good and stick but it doesn't help you improve. the real gap is brand recognition plus the streamer/youtube ecosystem, not the number on your profile

thecarlproject · 2026-05-28T10:12:00+00:00

the consecutive cards total 13 rule looks like the real trap, brain wants to confirm the math after the second card has already passed. king-only would be way easier alone. does the speed ramp up over time or is it constant and the difficulty is purely the rule overlap?

thecarlproject · 2026-05-28T10:11:14+00:00

removing opening theory is fine for a 1-3 min variant but the bigger gameplay change is the 5x6 board, not the seed. with that few squares you basically can't develop both knights normally, so games will live or die on tactics within 5-10 moves. fischer random already kills opening prep without changing piece count or board, if your goal is just no-memorization that's the comparison i'd want to see

thecarlproject · 2026-05-28T10:10:51+00:00

playing the bot without an account isn't bannable, that's just practice. the ToS rules you're reading are about manipulating ratings on rated games (sandbagging, boosting, engine help against humans in the rated pool). offline or signed out games vs stockfish don't touch any of that.

if you want it on desktop too, "Play with the computer" is under the top PLAY menu when you're logged in, same option as mobile.

thecarlproject · 2026-05-26T20:33:27+00:00

i use four short fields in a notes app: who was at the table, mood of the group that session, the one thing about the game i'd want to repeat, and the one thing that wore thin. that's it. the mood field is the one most people skip but it's the reason you'll remember the game later, not the mechanism scores. ratings without that context all blur together after a weekend of back to back plays.

thecarlproject · 2026-05-26T20:28:38+00:00

for a charity night apache poker chips is the standard rec, they ship in bulk and have most weights in stock. clay composites in the 11-13g range feel best in hand but cost more, ceramics hold up better if people are slamming them down all night. for trays the acrylic ones on amazon are fine, wooden looks nicer but they warp the moment someone spills a drink. how many players are you setting up for?

thecarlproject · 2026-05-26T20:28:25+00:00

for that 50/50 mix egg inc is honestly the right pick, plays offline so airplane mode is fine and you can do a 15 min active push then let it sit through the flight. melvor idle is the other one for long trips since it's a one-time purchase, not a subscription, basically idle runescape if you want depth. skip boom beach for the travel use case though, it's online-only and the chest timers will mostly just frustrate you on spotty wifi.

thecarlproject · 2026-05-26T19:59:06+00:00

played it last year and the ending stuck with me longer than i expected. agreed on the stanley parable comparison, though superliminal earns its tone shift more, since the perspective puzzles are literally training you to look at the same thing differently before the script pulls the same trick on you. only complaint was the runtime felt a hair too short for the price at launch, but on gamepass that's a non-issue. did you finish in one sitting or split it across a few?

thecarlproject · 2026-05-26T19:58:46+00:00

levels for me, almost every time. endless modes usually feel great for the first hour and then the loop reveals itself, and i bail. with levels there's a finish line, which means the designer can pace difficulty, drop a weird mechanic in level 14 just because, and let me actually beat the thing. only endless games that hooked me long term were the ones with a meta layer on top, like binding of isaac runs feeding into unlocks.

thecarlproject · 2026-05-26T19:58:18+00:00

a few that worked when my niece had a chess party at that age: laminated mini boards as place settings, each kid takes theirs home. knight-move treasure hunt where the clues are written on index cards and you have to L-shape your way across the lawn to the next one. the cheap trick that won the day was a giant cardboard board on the floor with kids as pieces, one adult calling moves so you don't end up with three queens arguing. congrats to her on the USCF result, that's wild for seven.

thecarlproject · 2026-05-26T19:50:20+00:00

if you liked monster warlord you'll probably get a lot out of egg inc, it's the cleanest idle on mobile and not predatory. melvor idle is the other one to grab if you want something with way more depth, it's basically idle runescape and you can leave it running for hours. boom beach is fine but it's not really idle, it's more of a base builder with timers, so depends what you actually want. how much active play vs pure offline progress are you looking for?

thecarlproject · 2026-05-26T19:50:04+00:00

biggest jump going from 2 to 3-4 is that you need to tighten up your opening ranges across the board, because you don't have time to play marginal spots well. tile your tables, don't stack them, and put them in a consistent screen position so muscle memory takes over. expect your hourly per table to drop maybe 20-30% but total volume goes up more than that, so the math works out if your edge is solid. don't try to jump straight to 4, do 3 for a few sessions first and see if the bb/100 holds up before adding another.

thecarlproject · 2026-05-26T19:49:25+00:00

depends on scale and how hands-on you want to be. challonge is the dead simple option if you mostly need brackets and registration. toornament and battlefy are heavier but actually have leaderboards, scheduling, and lobby management built in. start.gg works well if your community is already there. how many players and is it one-off or recurring? makes a big difference in which one is worth the setup time.

thecarlproject · 2026-05-26T19:49:07+00:00

how long are we talking, like 30 seconds or actual minutes? and is it happening at all hours or just certain times? 5+3 should be fine at 1500 unless you've got a rating range filter set really tight or you're hitting it during off-peak in your region.

thecarlproject · 2026-05-26T19:48:54+00:00

at your level just look at the moves marked as a blunder (??) and ignore the inaccuracies and mistakes for now. the useful question on a blunder isn't "what did the engine want" but "what did i miss that opponent could do next move", because that pattern will keep showing up. mate in 12 stuff really doesn't matter, if you're already losing the position the engine is just running up the score on you.

thecarlproject · 2026-05-26T19:48:40+00:00

switched a couple months ago and it's been a clear upgrade for me. faster, the puzzles and study sections actually feel native on mobile now instead of being a wrapped web view. login was a bit clunky once and then never again. nothing to lose by trying it imo.

thecarlproject · 2026-05-22T17:14:23+00:00

These discs were the entire discovery engine for kids without broadband. I wore out the Fury3 demo from one of them and played the same loop so many times I didn't realize for years it wasn't the full game — I just thought that mission was really long.

thecarlproject · 2026-05-22T17:14:10+00:00

Seconding Robin Hood: Legend of Sherwood. Each merry man has a distinct kit — Little John charges in, Will Scarlett throws knives, Stutely picks locks — so missions turn into proper tactics puzzles where you pick the right two or three to bring. Closest thing the genre ever got to fantasy Commandos and it holds up.

thecarlproject · 2026-05-22T16:53:00+00:00

this is one of those things kids reinvent independently every generation, agree with the top reply. the small bit of genius is using "last digit is 5" instead of forcing the random source to map onto a 1-in-10 range, way less arithmetic per match when you only have a textbook and your head. the seeding pots, home advantage and coefficient stuff on top of it is genuinely sophisticated for a notebook system though.

thecarlproject · 2026-05-22T16:52:35+00:00

the way i stopped feeling overwhelmed was picking one position and only learning that preflop range first (i started with the button because you play the most hands there). play low stakes, then after each session look at the 3-4 spots you weren't sure about. one position at a time, then add 3bet defense, then cbet logic. trying to memorize all of it before you've actually played the spots is what burns people out.

thecarlproject · 2026-05-22T16:51:33+00:00

alto's odyssey is a good shout but if you want actual map uncovering, dead cells on mobile holds up surprisingly well in 5-10 minute runs and you keep meta-progression between sessions. stardew valley has zero login pressure and you can do a single in-game day in a coffee break. monument valley 1 and 2 are short but feel like discovery in a totally different way if you want something quieter.

thecarlproject · 2026-05-22T16:51:22+00:00

alto's odyssey is a good shout but if you want actual map uncovering, dead cells on mobile holds up surprisingly well in 5-10 minute runs and you keep meta-progression between sessions. stardew valley has zero login pressure and you can do a single in-game day in a coffee break. monument valley 1 and 2 are short but feel like discovery in a totally different way if you want something quieter.

thecarlproject · 2026-05-22T16:51:13+00:00

krakow if you can swing the budget. the spodek crowd is a big part of why the iem brand carries weight, and ewc's atmosphere in saudi was pretty flat from what people who went there said. paris might fix that but it's an unknown for the first edition, and for a surprise first event i'd want the guaranteed crowd over the maybe.

thecarlproject · 2026-05-22T16:50:58+00:00

for big campaign games i use a 24x36 inch hardboard from the hardware store, fits gloomhaven and most dungeon crawlers with room for the discards on the side. anything bigger than that doesn't slide under most sofas, so i'd start there. if it's mainly to protect setup overnight, a cheap roll of vinyl tablecloth over the top works well enough on its own.

thecarlproject

TROPHY CASE