Wondering what kind of rock paper scissors player you are? Check out the profiler quiz from the World RPS Society. Don't forget to start practicing for AADL's RPS tournament on October 29th in the Multipurpose room Downtown.

Put mystery and science together and you get a cool thing called forensic science. If you are a big fan of the television show CSI (Crime Scene Investigation), then you know what I'm talking about. Check out our graphic novel collection based on the series, CSI and CSI Miami.

If you are in to hands on science, check out our CSI program on October 1st. There are still spots open for the 1pm program. Just call the Youth Department desk at 327-8301.

Red is For Remembrance by Laurie Faria Stolarz is the latest in her wicked new series. Laurie's stories blend suspense, romance, and the art of keeping secrets - with spicey doses of teen witchcraft and magic. Be sure to start with Blue is for Nightmares, followed by White is for Magic and Silver is for Secrets. A perfect way to get into the witchy season ahead...

AADL-GT: Ann Arbor District Library Game Tournaments

Preregistration is now open for AADL-GT Round 2, happening this Saturday, September 24th, from Noon - 5 PM in the Basement of the Downtown Library. Doors will open at 11:30 for players in grades 6-12, so be early to get checked in and start warming up. Winners of the Sur-Prize round game will take home $70, $50, and $30 giftcards for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. We'll have single-player and team events in both Mario Kart Double Dash and Super Smash Brothers: Melee, and the event will (really this time) be broadcast live on Comcast channel 18 in Ann Arbor, so be sure to bring a signed release form if you haven't turned one in before. We'll be implementing several enhancements this round, including smoother, faster registration & check-in, split-screen single player Kart for more races in less time, checkin and food and tables outside the room, and definitely more pizza. Read on for more.

We'll also be having an All-Ages DDR Tournament, Sunday Sept. 25th, from 1:00-4:00 at the Malletts Creek Branch. Open Gamecube play will be available, and prizes are $40, $30, and $20 giftcards.

Youth Service America's website offers a list of organizations that have mobilized to support the relief effort. Also available at this website are project planning tools and resources. Included is a downloadable project planning toolkit and easy to use tip sheets. These will help you and your friends think through the steps needed to plan and impl

This past weekend, I attended the Penny Arcade Expo. It was absolutely incredible. There were PC, console, and tabletop game tournaments, panel discussions, an exhibitor room (think E3 lite), concerts, freeplay, prizes, and the OMEGATHON II.

I went to see how truly large game tournaments are run, specifically to get some ideas on how to handle our recent influx of new players, and to do a little of what adults call 'networking'. Also, to play some games. Read on for complete details.

Ok, we've got some new features in our system, and we're proud to present the first ever Season Clan and Player leaderboards. There may still be a few issues here, of course, so if you've got questions, ask away. Also note that these are the only clans for which I have registration information. If your clan played last weekend, and you're not listed, post a comment or drop an email to axis@aadl.org and we'll get you all set.

First of all, we've got a bit of a surprise on the Clan Leaderboard after 1 round. With 5 Clans competing so far, the Clan Champ of round 1 is....

Skillz dat Killz!
-- Earnist da Chicken
-- J's Coolio
-- MonkeyMan
-- Doomblaze

Total Round 1 score: 4000 points

Skillz dat Killz, made up of 4 wildcards from season 1, storms out of nowhere to rack up the most points out of any clan competing at round 1. They secure their spot in the Clan Cup in december, narrowly edging out second place Turtle Clan (3940 points) and the third place Trouble Monkey Clan (3850 points). Here's the full clan leaderboard:

1. Skillz dat Killz (4000)
2. Turtle Clan (3940)
3. Trouble Monkey Clan (3850)
4. Vaccinated Monks (1360)
5. Black Shark Clan (1340)
6. Turtle Clan 2: T-unit (600)

I know there are some other clans that we didn't get registered, so let me know and I'll get you set up. Also, this is without recruitment bonuses applied; recruitment bonuses only count toward your leaderboard score, and can't help you win a single round. We'll get recruitment bonuses sorted out over the next few weeks, but we will only credit the clan that the new member says recruited them, so get your recruits online and in here to tell us that you recruited them!

So, here, also, are the top 32 players on the Individual Leaderboard:

1. Earnist Da Chicken (1785)
2. c0N (1695)
3. TurtlePerson2 (1680)
4. pr0 (1515)
5. anti snowman (1305)
6. Jimmy (1140)
7. Post (1130)
8. Doomblaze (1040)
9. Ice (905)
10. *Flare* (895)
11. Corey (865)
12. Bad driver (740)
13. Gnato (695)
14. Ion (670)
15. Monkeyman (660)
16. bbqkitten (625)
17. Chris R (615)
18. DrewE (565)
19. J's Coolio (515)
20. jlgelinas (515)
21. Duck (485)
22. zyke (465)
23. Joe S (455)
24. aaron (440)
25. D-Rex (435)
26. KingBoo (435)
27. Paul K (420)
28. John (395)
29. The Gamer (395)
30. AKIA (390)
31. Nick11 (385)
32. Balla (375)

Ok, got questions? I knew you would. Fire away, but bear in mind I'm off to PAX tomorrow morning, and may not get to all your questions until next week.

AADL-GT: Ann Arbor District Library Game Tournaments

The AADL-GT season opener this past weekend was simply insane. With over 100 people in attendance, things were fast, furious, and, thanks to the debut of Clan Noise Machine, a little overwhelming.

After everyone finally got checked in, we began the Single-player Mario Kart event with 84 players. Everyone only got two races, so we had a tie for 14th place between Black Shark, Ice, Omid, and John Durski. With a thrilling finish on baby park, Ice edged out John Durski for 3rd place and a trip to the semifinals. After resolving a scoring snafu, Ice wound up winning the event, with Earnist da Chicken taking 2nd, and season 1 veterans Doomblaze (Arjan Arora) and pr0 (Sravan Rengarajan) taking 3rd and 4th, securing their spots in the surprize round.

We were then almost a full two hours behind schedule, and we had to rush to catch up. First, a single-elimination Team Mario Kart Race event, with 33 teams producing 4 winners: Korm (Aaron and Ion), Monkeys of Doom (Doomblaze and Monkeyman), Evil Sunflower (Super Sunflower and Evil Bus Driver), and T Team (The Savage Brothers).

Then, on to the Super Smash Brothers: Melee Single-PlayerEvent, with a whopping 91 players. Everyone got two battles, and after eliminating down to 40, then down to 16, we had 4 final battles, each sending a player to the prize round. To save time, these 4 didn't face off directly, so each gets the full point bonus for winning an event.

Ion, Nick11, and Balla were defeated by Turtleperson2,
Flare, PaulK, and J's Coolio were defeated by pr0 (Sravan),
DrewE, Gnato, and Doomblaze were defeated by newcomer Post,
and Lightning, Zyke, and MiniKinLin were defeated by Corey Atwater.

With the seconds ticking down, we proceeded to the Super Smash Brothers Team event, with 40 teams facing a brutal, 1-stock, single-elimination slugfest. After eliminating down to 10 teams, the event produced 5 winning teams for the surprize round: Team Ramrod (Post and Jimmy), Melee Masters (Turtleperson 2 and AntiSnowman), Trouble Monkeys 2 (Sravan and Galen), Toasted Kittens (bbqkitten and Flare), and FlipForever (Gnato and Chris R).

Then, at 4:50, we were on to the Sur-Prize round. Round 1's Surprise game was Bomberman Generation. We had 20 players qualified for the prize round, and 5 preliminary battles:

AntiSnowman defeated Corey, Gnato, and Flare,
Jimmy defeated Monkeyman, Post, and pr0,
TurtlePerson2 defeated ChrisR, bbqkitten, and Ice,
c0n (galen) defeated Bad Driver, Evil Bus Driver, and Ion,
and Earnist da Chicken defeated Super Sunflower, DoomBlaze, and Aaron.

We then did a bit of a round-robin to eliminate 1 player before the final prize round, and after a truly intense series, Season 1 Grand Champion TurtlePerson2 was eliminated. The final prize round was very close, with veteran Galen Gong taking home his first $70 giftcard, and newcomers Earnist da Chicken taking the $50 second prize, AntiSnowman (Bryan Li), taking third for $30, and James Detlefs taking home the lousy aadl.org t-shirt.

What remains to be determined is what clan scored the most points. We can calculate that as you tell us who your clan was represented by on saturday. Future tourneys, this won't be a problem. So, click comment below and let me know the up to 4 players present at last week's tourney who were playing for your clan, and we'll post the clan and individual leaderboards soon.

We've also got a lot of ideas to streamline future tournaments if we get such a large turnout again. We're going to move video production, commentary booth, food, and registration outside the room and provide a TV to watch the tournament. We may very well limit registration to a certain number of preregisters and a certain number of walkins, stay tuned for details. We will also go split-screen on Mario Kart so that 16 players can play at one (2 separate races). Of course, we'll also order more Pizza. What are your ideas?

AADL-GT: Ann Arbor District Library Game Tournaments

Our new registration is system is ready to go! Here's how it works.

First, login to aadl.org if you're not already logged in. If you don't already have an account, you should register for an account first, as an aadl.org account is required to preregister for tournaments, and to track your stats later!

Once you're logged in, just go to http://www.aadl.org/aadlgt. You can first set up your player info, including your full name, nickname, age group, and short 4-character version of your nickname for Super Smash Brothers.

You'll see the upcoming events listed on that page. Just click register below the ones you want to register for, and POOF, you are preregistered for that event. Know that you still have to check in when your arrive so that we know you're there.

To register for a team event, you'll see a link to create your team. Enter your team name, and choose your partner from the list of registered players. That means you won't be able to preregister your team unless both players have already registered for a single-player event. So get both teammates registered, then one of you register your team. You can create different teams for each event.

UPDATE: Clan registration is working now too. If all your Clan primaries are registered for an event, you can create your clan. Email me at axis@aadl.org your clan logo, and I'll upload it.

AADL-GT: Ann Arbor District Library Game Tournaments

AADL-GT: Ann Arbor District Library Game Tournaments

This weekend marks the start of the 2nd AADL-GT Tournament Season for grades 6-12, with the opener starting at Noon Saturday, 8/20/2005, at the Downtown Library. This event will be broadcast LIVE on Comcast channel 18, from Noon-5 PM.

Because the event will be televised, you will need to bring this release form, signed by your parent or guardian, or you won't be able to play! Don't forget it! If you participated in last season's Grand Championships and already turned in a release form, you don't need to do it again.

AADL-GT Season 2 will include single-player and team events in Mario Kart: Double Dash race mode, and Super Smash Brothers 2-stock battle. The prize round will be a mystery game, and 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place prize round winners take home $70, $50, and $30 giftcards respectively.

Registration for this event will open Wednesday Night, 8/17/2005. You will be able to register your handle, sign up your teams, and create your clans.

Creating a clan will involve entering the four nicknames of your 4 primary clan members. Clans must have exactly 4 primary members. At each tournament, for your clan to score points, you must roster exactly 4 players, and at least 1 of those 4 must be a primary clan member. You can get subs to fill out the other spots. Subs can only be primaries of other clans if their clan is not rostering at that tournament. While it's in your best interest to figure out who your subs will be ahead of time, there will be time at the beginning of the event to come up with clan subs.

Bonuses will be awarded to clans for recruiting players that didn't play last season. These bonuses will be applied AFTER each tournament is over, and won't be included when determining the clan winner of each tournament.

If you have a clan logo, email it to axis@aadl.org, and I will upload it for you after your clan has registered.

Any questions? Now's the time. Hope you've been practicing, the competition is going to be intense.