Mélusine:

This might help a little:

http://www.worldcamelotfederation.com/Camelot_Rules_French.htm

Pedro Martínez:Thanks, PM!

I notice that one of the supported languages on BrainKing is Hanaslang.  Can anyone tell me more about this language?

I want to let all BrainKing users know that they are entitled to a free membership in the World Camelot Federation.

The WCF is an international non-profit organization that is dedicated to the preservation, popularization, and play of Camelot, one of the finest abstract strategy board games ever invented.

As most of you probably know, both Camelot and its variant Cam are played on BrainKing.

To receive a free WCF membership, please contact me at michael@worldcamelotfederation.com .

There are currently 197 WCF members, spread throughout 14 different countries.  The organization is an informal network of individuals interested in any and all aspects of the game and its variants: Cam, Camette, Chivalry, Grand Camelot, and Grand Cam.

Membership comes with no requirement on your part.  Membership entitles you to a couple of things.  You will receive an occasional informational email
from me regarding subjects like Camelot computer programs, rules questions, editions of sets, legal issues, games, problems, etc.

Additionally, you will automatically receive an invitation to play in the next WCF Camelot World Championship (email) Tournament.  One just concluded two weeks ago.

I hope you take advantage of this chance to learn more about Camelot.

Please visit the WCF website at http://www.worldcamelotfederation.com .

Thanks.

Respectfully,
Michael Nolan (MrWCF on BrainKing)
President & Founder, World Camelot Federation

Fencer: Perhaps I have misunderstood  how one can contribute a prize for a Prize Tournament.  My profile shows five Brains. (I would have more to offer, but the 40 Brains I've won in another tournament will not be awarded to me until everyone finishes playing their games, years from now.)  Anyway, can I not use those five Brains as a prize in a tournament that I've created?  Or must I purchase something in order to offer a prize?

I have created a tournament, and wish to give a small prize in Brains to the winner.  However, the tournament's current status description reads "The prize for this tournament has not been provided yet.  It won't be started."

Must I take some action to provide the prize, or will this be done manually by the owner of the site?

Pedro Martínez:Wow!!!

Constellation36:

BTW as per what Pedro Martinez says about your Embassy Chess skills(although seeing some of your games i saw some unwise moves<img>) do you mind playing some fast paced games with me?

This site is great but most top players are unwilling to play and
reject my invitations as they have to play some hundreds of games and
have no time for more. :-(

I would love to!!!
Additionally, I would really like to hear about my specific unwise moves--I'm still trying to learn more about Embassy Chess, especially about deciding whether castling is wise in this variant.  Also, I can't seem to get the piece values in relation to each other straight--I'm still hung up on the 1-3-3.25-5-9 values in traditional chess.  Walter Montego and I have had a couple of discussions related to castling and piece values in Embassy Chess, but I'm still hoping for more information.

Pedro Martínez:

MrWCF: How did you come to that conclusion? You said the player
in question had played four games against people whose ratings were
1341, 1094, "unrated" and "unrated". How do you know that those
"unrated" ratings were actually not very high ratings? I mean even if
you have an "unrated" rating, it is expressed in numbers in the BK
system. For example, you have finished, to date, 2 Embassy Chess games.
After a quick look at your profile, however, I can tell that your BKR
is somewhere between 2298 and 2445, yet it is shown as "unrated".

I know (or at least strongly surmise) that the unrated ratings were not high because the two games against unrated players were actually against the same player who happens to have a Cam record of one win and two losses.  That cannot possibly be a high provisional rating I would hope, right?  That fact, coupled with the ratings of the other two opponents, allowed me to question the 2100 provisional rating. 

Moreover, I don't really care about the 2100 rating, in itself; I am far more interested in how it was calculated.  I still don't have an answer to that question.

 

Thanks--I'm pretty familiar with the USCF formulae.  What I'm getting at is the fact that the use of the special USCF formula (for players with eight or fewer games) in this case would have resulted in a provisional rating equal to the average rating of the opponents in his four games plus 400.  That can't be 2100.  Some other mechanism must be being used on this site.

Fencer:Yes, I realize that provisional ratings are very inaccurate.  What I was asking is how they are calculated.  In the example that I posted, a player received a provisional rating of 2100 after four victories, zero defeats, and zero draws.  Those four victories were against players with ratings of 1341, 1094, and unrated (2 of them).  How was his resultant rating of 2100 calculated?

Can someone explain one aspect of ratings calculations to me?  How is an initial provisional rating calculated after four rated games have been completed? 

In the game of Cam, Jannssen has a provisional rating of 2100 after four victories, zero defeats, and zero draws.  Those four victories were against players with ratings of 1341, 1094, and unrated (2 of them).  How is a resultant rating of 2100 possible? 

Let me hasten to add that this is not to cast aspersions on Jannssen's Cam skill level.  For all I know, he is a world-class Cam player.

Artful Dodger:Now I do--thanks for your help!

Artful Dodger:I give up, Artful--what do 1239, 1230, 1198, etc. mean?

Hrqls: Thank you!