January 6, 2001

3:49 AM

Pixelflo launches Web Trumps- a new Top Trumps style game where you can play with your favourite web celebs, down-at-heel webloggers, and gods like Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos. Based upon Dan Hon's Blogtrumps. Several questions leap to mind, including the obvious one: it's fun, but why?
posted by barbelith (9 comments total)

It's theraputic though, you win every time it seems (!)I'm sure one or two people will be contesting their quotients given to them.
posted by williamtry at 4:31 AM on January 6, 2001

Why? Why not? I saw Dan Hon's blogtrumps and wanted to take it a stage further. The people chosen are just the people i admire from all facets of the internet. And yes, some people didn't like their inital point ratios.

Initially we just awared people between 0 and 100 points in each of the 4 categories, but that didn't work to well since directly comparing people to their peers is never a good idea. The way we worked it in the end was to give each 'card' 200 points, then divide them according to the person's weak and strong points. This seems to have worked a little better, although we're still working to balance the points more realistically.
posted by iamcal at 5:43 AM on January 6, 2001

Really addictive - for the first five hands. Then the strategy gets kinda mundane. I LOVE THE ILLUSTRATIONS.
posted by tamim at 7:49 AM on January 6, 2001

Wow, Derek Powazek's wealthier than Jeff Bezos! Awright Derek, congrats! :-)

This is a fun little game (if a mite inconsistant :-), thanks!
posted by cCranium at 8:33 AM on January 6, 2001

You know, no matter how hard I stare at the cards, I can't seem to contact anyone.
posted by Aaaugh! at 9:14 AM on January 6, 2001

The "web celeb" thing is just a rack to hang it on. (Well, that, and a way to get hits, if enough people who are profiled in the game link back to it.)

What's interesting to me are the fine illustrations, and the deft deployment of web technologies that aren't "safe" to use on general-interest, commercial sites.

Experiments like this are fun, and they may even encourage users to upgrade to newer, more capable browsers.

Anyway, it's well-programmed and purty and I'm a sucker for that stuff.

Doesn't work in IE5/Mac yet, I think because the IE markup is optimized for IE/Win instead of the DOM. They'll work it out.

I think if you're worrying about your quotients you're taking it too seriously.
posted by Zeldman at 1:47 PM on January 6, 2001

Oooh now thats cool!
you can play them online!!

I'm currently working on a similar on-going web-card project called weblogemon and anyone can have their own card as long as they run a weblog on it, they request to have their card and I draw them (in my shakey, not so skillful art - well at least I think so).

Its also a playable game, but you print off the cards and play them, y'know for real, with other people, life beyond the computer, e.t.c..

posted by Frieza at 3:23 PM on January 6, 2001

I like playing cards!
posted by spaceplace at 11:15 AM on January 8, 2001

And that's exactly why we made it :)

BTW, thoroughly flattered about the "I LOVE THE ILLUSTRATIONS" and "fine illustrations" statements....but I swear I have arthritis from making those frigging things.

Of course that just means I'll draw more for the next update.......I think momma says it's masochism....but we still call it fun.

As for Derek's wealth listing....well we both know that he's poor while he writes his great new book, but it went against our original master plan to paint him as a malevolent, hoarding, diabolical Kingpin of internet webloggery.....
(note to self, stop typing befoe thinking)

Yeah, it's been fixed ;)

Peter


posted by salvagion at 5:11 PM on January 8, 2001