What a fun experience it has been these past eight years playing Game of Death. I remember the first game in 1995, which wasn't run by me, but actually run by Brian Smith. It's nice to see some things that haven't changed, like the old-time style website, which still has frames, making it impossible to reasonably link to pages within the site, and the wonderfully trickling blood in the "Game of Death" icon. In addition, the number of people who have played all eight games are very few: in addition to Mark and me, there's Larry Beiderman and Keith Macklin.
Everybody knows Larry; he's not only responsible for our trophies, he's had a rule named after him, a song dedicated to him (people want to *be* him), been mentioned in the news, and the butt of a couple of top-ten lists that are probably too obscure to detail here. Keith Macklin has been a much more silent player, writing his list, sending me $5 every year with a little note wishing me well. Thanks for playing, Keith.
The first game was actually won by ... me. It was my best submission, and probably my last decent one. Not to fear, we had our fingers on the failing pulse of death-prediction, picking such unlucky folks as Spiro Agnew, Carlos Castenada, Leon Hess, Morton Downey, Jr. and Richard Harris (leaving, as Mark J sadly noted, Peter O'Toole without a drinking buddy.) Marsha's dramatic 1998 victory is also notable. You ought to read some of the old game progressions (see the Results links on the main page.)
There are some notable players, including Mike Richard who won three years in a row. Marsha always gave a great fight, and oddly has a significant series of "Cryogenic Awards", including the coveted "L. Ron Hubbard Cup". If you don't know about this, you really missed out, and can find them by looking at the Awards link on the left-side menu.
Thanks for playing, everyone. I'm sad to see it go. --Rob K
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