Cha-ching

I'm doing the fake casino thing with a friend tomorrow. (Real games, real drinks, fake money, prizes for highest fake winnings.) His original date couldn't make it, so I was invited as a stand-in date. I'm trying to decide what that means. I'm also trying to decide what to do. As many of my readers may have noticed, I have the worst luck at anything involving chance. That leaves me with two options, I think: I can play blackjack, the only casino game that comes to mind that I like, and at which I am slightly proficient. I will quickly lose my money in this scenario. Or, there's baccarat, the game you can play without knowing how to play. This is because the game is completely noninteractive. There are no decisions to make other than the bet. You can bet that you'll win, that you'll lose, or you'll tie with the dealer. Betting to tie is an 8-to-1 payout, but something like 10-to-1 odds. Betting on yourself or the dealer is a nearly 50-50 chance, with roughly 1:1 payouts, with slightly better margins when betting on the dealer. If I were to bet every round that I was going to lose, the Hand of Fate wouldn't know what to do to screw me over... I can't lose the bet and the hand. Anyway, this route involves minimal risk and minimal excitement. I think I'll stick with blackjack, and play a few rounds of baccarat just to try it out. Having never played much in the way of casino games, I'll also have to try out craps and slots (the game that combines a zombie-like trance state with the excitement of flashing lights).

On the subject of games, yesterday the FP team played a few rounds of Quake III to commemorate one of our venerated elders leaving the team. I seriously do not understand how people can play with the WASD key scheme. If I had to choose between playing HL2 or Doom 3 with WASD and never playing them at all, I would be seriously considering never playing them. It boggles my mind how people can stand to move with those keys when it is so, so much easier to use a gamepad or joystick or pretty much anything else. But, I don't understand a lot of peoples' insane habits.