The Hall of Odin

What's the fastest way to get from A to B?

2010-10-04T12:34:00.000-07:00

Is it by aeroplane? Perhaps by train? No, it's by using other people's cars, and lots of them! This ingenious idea will save you the cost of purchasing a ticket, or petrol. There are no waiting times for the plane or train to depart, and no need to wait at the petrol pump to refill your car. Everyone should do this, it'd make everything so much quicker!

The genius who came up with this idea is Vasco_F, who has put together a training programme called Freeway Fury. The government wish to trial this novel idea, and will get the best performer in the training simulator to try the notion out in real life. They will award points for the number of cars you successfully use, the speed at which you reach your destination, your athleticism in jumping far distances and your reaction times in swapping into cars going the other way. In a bid to boost recycling and the economy, they are also rewarding the number of cars you destroy and how many need some bodywork done after you're through with them. They also wish to convert everyone to the obviously vastly superior practice of driving on the left hand side of the road, so will reward those who do the business on that side of the road with a gift of everlasting nitro.

You have a week to get as high a score as possible, leave a comment here so I know to check for your score, or tell me in chat (I might tell you to leave a comment here anyway :P). Post a screenie in the comments of your end score to brag about how you are the paragon of driving in each of the desired areas. Good luck!

Edit: you may need to submit your score by pressing 'UP' to get your score to register. You might not, but it's best to be sure :P

NB: the above recommendations to commit crimes are in jest only. Whilst it could well be fun in real life too, stick to playing with your keyboard to avoid jailtime.

Though None Survived, They Will be Remembered!

2010-09-28T13:20:00.000-07:00

With only three people with enough balls to face the zombies, determining the best zombie killer was easy, if a bit lonely :( Possibly my fault for not spamming this enough...

In third place, with 720 was PR2_STORY
In second place, Snape007 had 2270 points
But clearly the best zombie-killer with only footballs to use was Payton_Hayes with a freakishly massive 164790! A big, red Kongratulations to him, and remember his name for the next World Cup in case it is zombie infested too!

Hey, This Game Looks Familiar...

2010-09-18T13:37:00.000-07:00

If you pay attention to the blog, and have a good memory, you'll recognise some aspects of this game which will give you an advantage, although the instinct to kill zombies should be inherent in everyone so nobody ought to have too much trouble :P

Mousebreaker brings us to a zombie infested World Cup, where it is up to you to kick footballs really hard after bouncing it on your noggin, and at zombies to send them crumbling into the earth. You have 7 days to get as high a score as possible (extended to midnight on Sunday 26th September), and submit it by posting a screenshot like this (name and green plug in top right of chat, score visible in game over screen, or whatever happens if you beat the last boss :P) in the comments. The guide on how to do that is here.

A few tips: head the ball a few times to make your hoofing power increase, your bonuses (throw speed, base hoofing power and fancy balls) stay with you so each time you try will be easier, and your score accumulates from previous levels so on your best run, start from level 1 :P

Good luck, and happy zombie rekilling!

PS: the legit version of the inital game is here (this is NOT the tourney game! Play the above one for a score).

Running, Jumping, Money Collecting, Switching and Levering... and oh, Teamwork's pretty important to get right too

2010-08-28T16:12:00.000-07:00

After the failure of the World Cup thingy, let's give this a go :P

The game is 5xMan by Gibton, and I'm looking for the highest score you can get. The game calculates your score by multiplying the number of glowing pieces of toast you collect by the amount of time you have left and the level difficulty (1 for easy, 2 for medium - which I found the most difficult to collect everything on, incidentally - and 3 for hard), then sticking some zeroes on the end. I'll calculate your score the same way, since I've heard of some problems with getting some of the in-game achievements to register (which give you half a million points in total).

You have a week to post screenshots (instructions how are here) of your 'Play' screen like in my screenshot (have your name visible at the top right of chat). Stick them in the comments below this post, and you are allowed to update your screenshot :P

A couple of hints: try to get your people to arrive at the multiswitch rooms at about the same time so they don't waste time waiting for each other, and press space bar to end your turn as soon as you put a man on his multiswitch - the time left on the clock will go towards your total.

Good luck!

Edit: Important announcement! It seems that the easy mode glitches (2 cases reported so far), giving people an impossibly high score. Hence we won't be using people's easy score, only their medium (doubled) and hard (tripled) scores.

World Cup South Africa 2010 is here!

2010-06-13T10:45:00.000-07:00

Right, let's see if this can get the blog flooded with comments :D

The vuvuzelas are widely known for granting psychic abilities to those who hear them, so we can see who in the HoO has picked up on this the most. I'll pad this post out a bit more ( :P ) once I've put up the essentials:

Predictions will be accepted at any time prior to the first relevant match being played (this is the first group match in the case of predicting the winner of the group, or the actual match in the case of predicting the result). We will start with Netherlands vs Denmark tomorrow, from group E. Of course, you may submit guesses for any future games and final standing for groups F, G and H too.

Points for you are scored as follows:

For each game, you get 2 points for the correct scoreline, or just one point for the correct result (i.e. who won, or if it's a draw). If I guessed that England would beat the USA 2-1, then I'd get 0 points; if I guessed 2-2 then I'd get 1 point; a guess of 1-1 would net me the maximum 2 points (the score for that game was 1-1, if anyone didn't know :P).

For each group, you get 1 point for picking the correct winner and a further point for the correct runner up. I'll give you half a point for getting the top 2 correct but in the wrong order.

Now to test your long range forecasting skills - guess the eventual winner before the start of the knockout stages for a whopping 5 points (you can guess now, but might as well wait until there are only 16 teams left), guess it correctly before the quarter finals start for 3 points, 2 points for before the semis and 1 point for guessing the outcome of the final. Note that if you change your guess, I will only consider your latest guess - if I back Brazil to win now, and they do indeed win the whole thing, I'd get 5 points (plus 2 or 1 points if I guess the right score or just result in the final). If I back Brazil now, switch to Spain prior to the quarter finals then back to Brazil before the semi finals, I'd only get 2 points for Brazil winning.

Leave your guesses in the comments for this post below. I'll make a new post for each round of the competition if things get too clutteres. See the comments for my example guess, then leave your own!

Upcoming deadlines (all times and dates are in BST, but they are just the times of the kick-offs):

14th June:
1230: Netherlands vs Denmark and final group E standings
1500: Japan vs Cameroon
1930: Italy vs Paraguay and final group F standings

Groups and whens of matches

And The Best Babysitter In The Hall Is...

2010-03-30T05:55:00.000-07:00

Over the week many of you tried your hand at babysitting, but only one can have the coveted prize of best babysitter, decided by the Joll parents of course.

They watched your progress throughout the week, and gave you scores which they have kept secret until just now when they told me. Well, they tried to keep it secret, it seems that the scores of your competitors were continually leaked but we won't tell them that.

In reverse order, the best ball babysitters were:

5) Katare             14279
4) Soro99            14381
3) Kresick            14502
2) george076393 14839

And a big, red Kongratulations to Kong's best babysitter of baby balls, Zelja! He got the all time high score of 14860 and claims to have optimised every level!

Save The Children!

2010-03-14T18:46:00.000-07:00

This week you've been asked to do some babysitting. Your charges are very adventurous, however, and have a tendency to roll off without warning - much like their parents actually.

Of course, babysitting some balls would be far too easy for the likes of you - a simple box would do the trick. No, first of all you must round up all the children by throwing their parents and grey strangers at them, who you can stuff or starve (don't worry, they're smiling so they don't mind). The jolls have been raised well so will only go off with their parents, who happen to be the same colour as them. Only once all rounded up can you babysit them, and the longer they spend indoors the happier the parents will be (you wouldn't want them to worry about their children perhaps being stuck at the bottom of a potential well, would you?).

Now for the rules: complete all the levels as quickly as possible, and the person with the highest total score at the end of the week will receive a huge red Kongratulations!

So, have fun rounding up the jolls from the land of King.com and good luck to you all!

PS: leave a comment if you figure out what the 9 diplomas mentioned in the game description are :P

Escaped the Zombies!

2010-01-10T11:16:00.000-08:00

Only to be poleaxed by a yeti, massive bee or gravestone (or maybe a zombie did get you after all).

Kongratulations and thank you to everyone who had a go at this game, it was a much larger turnout than for zombie football. The top ten were:

RustyMetalBox    2591
LethalMutiny        3049
vaen                     3149
EatinCheez   3187
PR2_STORY       3328
Xymnala              3604
WiiPlayer113      4335
ribnag                 4983
elldaman311       5003

And Katare was the winner with a score of 5758 feet - the only competitor here to have run more than a mile, and getting the all time high score in the process! A huge red Kongratulations to you, Katare!

I'll post the final scores I saved earlier in the week in the comments below, so if I have missed you out then you can bring my attention to it. If I have missed you out for whatever reason, chat more in the HoO and/or leave a comment for the next time ;) In any case, I made sure I picked the right person to name as winner :P

Running Away (From the Zombies?)

2009-12-28T13:36:00.000-08:00

After reviving some zombies alongside the blog about a month ago, only to have them stolen away, you must now do a bit of running. 'Running from what?' I hear you ask. Good question, all I know is that the screen keeps pushing you along and you have to hop, slip and jump past several types of obstacles on your way to ~~dying~~ being incapacitated by one of them later on.

The game is Kawairun by xelu, and is pretty easy to jump straight into. Take a screenie as per ES' instructions (showing your end score like in this one) and post it in the comments, or just get a score, make sure it's in the kong high scores and leave a comment here to tell me you've had a go. You have a week to run as far and as wide as you can, good luck!

Undead Olympics

2009-12-17T14:08:00.000-08:00

In the spirit of the Olympics (I'm cold and am not thinking straight - there might also be some typos in this due to stiff fingers), I have decided only to mention the top 3 scores.

With the brilliant bronze medal, we have elldaman311 who had a score of 480

The super silver medal goes to ace0of0spades with a score of 730

And the winner this week, with a glimmering score of 106140, it's RustyMetalBox! Super Kongratulations to you! Enjoy this gaudy gold medal:

Oh dear

2009-12-10T14:24:00.000-08:00

It appears the zombie football game has been removed for being stolen, so you won't be able to play for a better score. If you have any screenies of your scores, you can still upload them until midnight on Sunday.

I'll, erm, try to pick a game that has been out for longer next time :P

Necromancy!

2009-12-07T00:01:00.000-08:00

Bad news! It seems that in resurrecting this blog we have overcooked our spells and also revived some rather unwelcome characters. We need your help in defeating them and have provided you with the ultimate weapon to do so, FOOTBALLS! That means round things you hit with your foot, not eggy things you hold in your hands...

The choice of weapon is because the zombies heard about the world cup draw (USA are in England's group, how excellent ;) ) and decided to join in the fun by eating all other weapons to force us to play football against them. You might think opponents with rigor mortis would be easy pickings, but unfortunately, the zombies don't play fair - sending on substitutes without warning, hiding underground, flying, wearing armour and employing all manners of dastardly tactics. On the plus side, the ref is worse than Graham Poll and will happily caution and card you without following through, so feel free to knock the zombies' noggins off (hint hint).

Enough background information, the zombies are located here thanks to a tip off from LOLaffro. Go get them and leave proof of your prowess in the comments section via a screenshot - details on how to take one have been kindly written by ES here. You have a full 7 days to submit a score, and I'll work out exactly what time that is when I'm less sleepy.

You needn't kill all the zombies to be able to submit a score here, but it is highly recommended or they'll come for your pets during the night :( A suitable screenshot would be this, showing you in the user list, top right of the chat window and also showing the green (or yellow) plug there. I might change these conditions later or paste rules from a forum tournament, but essentially just get a score yourself and show that it was you and not someone else :P

Good luck to you all, there are only about 12 levels so don't get disheartened! :)

A Belated Announcement

2009-11-29T14:57:00.000-08:00

Not quite 6 months after it was due, here are the results of the Zodiac Reactor Tournament:

The top ten, in reverse order, are (were :P) :

sykoone 4325
VNeuberg 5462
greatether 6460
HawaiianPenguinz 8865
Katare 12414
PR2_STORY 15150
LethalMutiny 55795
Asperon 59400
archilepsy 88700

And the winner was elldaman311 with 200516!

A big kongratulations to elldaman311 for winning, and thank you to everyone for taking part and being patient for these results to be posted up :P

The Biggest, Baddest, Bestest, Boldest, Brawniest, Brutalest Epic War Ever!

2009-07-22T15:41:00.000-07:00

As you may have noticed, there is a tremendous storm gathering. Led by a guinea pig, clouds of bleach are heading across space to our planet to take part in a multi-game challenge. No one knows how long this bleach storm will last, but we do have numerous methods to defeat them - post higher scores than them in flash games, beat them at flash games, and... that's about it. BUT, we don't need anything else!

In the confusion of the foremost fringes of the storm, a lot of game suggestions have whirled around, with criticisms and praise battering everything in sight. As a result, almost everything is up in the air and we need YOUR help to not only display your prowess at flash games, but also your adeptness at choosing them! From the dark skies, we have managed to pull what has been suggested so far. Please suggest and leave your opinions in the comments below. Suggestions will be added to this blog post when I get round to it :P

Games from the thread:
Kongai Stick Arena Buggle Connect Starland TD Platform Racing 2 LOLcaptions Zilch Draw My Thing Mud and Blood 2 Areas Pyro Frantic Mushroom Revolution Globetrotter XL Gemcraft Chapter 0 Run Elephant Run Colourshift Mirrors Edge 2D Minions

Games from comments:

Pel Hunted Forever

Great link this

Making Stars

2009-06-14T08:25:00.000-07:00

Today, we embark on a journey of weeklong length, starting slowly but increasing our pace all the time to create stars. We must shove blobs of Earth, Air, Wind and Fire into funface's Zodiac Reactor, whilst avoiding the villainous Chaos Orbs and nefarious Exploding Orbital Minions.

Grab the elements when they come within reach, and protect your reactor with the shield. It might be a good idea to start on normal mode, but the high scores will be taken from the terminal velocity mode. Leave a link to your screenshot with your name and score in the comments below. Screenshots like this are acceptable, showing your score and your name in the top right of chat next to the plug.

To take a screenshot, follow the directions here by ES, then paste the link between the exclamation marks in step 10 into the comment box (click where it says [number] comments below this post). Don't forget to say who you are and what your score was in the comment too.

Entries will be accepted until midnight on Sunday the 21st of June (that's Father's Day!). Good luck to you all!

2009-05-27T06:00:00.000-07:00

After a tough week of joining up coloured pipes, only a handful of people have managed to emerge with a score, so thank you and kongratulations to you all for taking part. Despite there being two categories, unlike last time we have the same person emerging victorious in each high score list. Impressive!

In reverse order, the top 11 were:

Smuglapse with 416
Pezsmatulok with 259
Purplefrog with 232
Zelja with 199
Kma029 with 150
Amoz with 149
Kyriva with 136
Xymnala with 131
Zachkenobi with 117
CheezezbergrPls with 114

And the winner by almost half a minute is... Deafr0x with 87! Very big kongratulations to you for winning this week's "The choice is yours" Hall of Odin Tournament!

Full scores here!

Spin, Mix and Light Up!

2009-05-17T00:01:00.000-07:00

No, this isn't a an appeal for resident DJs, but it is a call to the mouse for this week's Hall tournament!

A big red thank you to Xymnala for suggesting the game. We'd also like to thank everyone who took part and voted in this very close vote, especially to whoever gave the 11th vote to Colourshift which saved us the headache of working out what to do with a tie :P

With the game decided you now have one week, until Sunday midnight, to get as low a score as possible on two modes of Colourshift. Your scores will be added (a little easier than multiplication ;) ) together and whoever has the lowest score will be crowned the victor. Despite being unreliably informed that hard colour had no wrap (you know who you are :P), the two modes will be medium colour, and hard mono. These are found on 'Quick Play' on the main menu.

Good luck everyone!

Happy Birthday Ciaran!

2009-05-14T00:01:00.000-07:00

One of our regulars had become a whole year older than he was yesterday so we'd like to wish a very happy birthday to CiaranM624!

Have a good day and may this upcoming year be your best yet :)

Break out the Ballot Papers!

2009-05-03T17:27:00.000-07:00

With much thanks to Mcdestructor, Xymnala, someone anonymous (please sign your name!), elldaman311 and XEN0N, we have five games to choose from - that's almost too many to count on one hand in quinary and upwards!

The poll's at the top of the page with 5 options if I've done it right. It should be open for a week, and you should be able to change your mind up until it closes. Do please try all five games before voting though, even if you've played a game before, it may have been updated recently. You can vote for your own suggestion, I wouldn't want to penalise people who were brave enough to make a suggestion :P

It would also be nice to see what stats you all would like to compete with in these games (if there is more than one reported one), so make loads of comments for this blog post to that effect :D

The games are, in order submitted: Flash Flash Revolution, Colourshift, The Space Game, Pop Pirates and Falling Bombs 2. Get testing and suggesting!

The Choice Is Yours...

2009-04-26T14:24:00.000-07:00

Over the past few months the Hall has been competing in various games chosen by the regular mods. Now, it's time to see what sparkly gems everyone else has hidden up their sleeves :D

So, we'd like you all to find a game you think would be really, really fun for everyone to play, and send it in! Submissions by email, blog comment, fax and carrier pigeon will be accepted. Of course, it may be difficult to reach us by some of those methods, so choose one that you think will surely get your entry to us.

Your game suggestion should:

Have working API so we can tell who the winner is easily. :P
Be easy to learn to play - ideally you should be able to get a decent score with under half an hour's practice.
Following on from 2, try to avoid games with a save file based high score - if there is a save file, again make sure it doesn't take long to get a decent score.
Not have badges. We've all already had a go at playing the badged games (or will do, at some time in the future :P), so let's try some other games too - suitable unbadged games exist just as unsuitable badged games exist.
Not be multiplayer, as then the ability of your opponent becomes a factor as well as your proficiency at a game.

Entries will be compiled for a week (until Sunday) and then a poll will be put up on the blog (this one, right here). If we have too many entries then we'll vote on some this time and then the rest a few weeks later, so please only submit one game. If there are too few, then entries made whilst the poll is up will be added to the poll, and we'll ask those who have already contributed to submit another one too :D

The poll will be open for a week, with the winner awarded the honour of being the next Hall of Odin Tournament game, and the person who suggested it awarded a big thank you (it'll be in big red letters, you know the sort) from us for finding the game.

I think that's everything, now get those entries coming in! :D

PR2 Level Results

2009-04-21T05:42:00.000-07:00

Whoops, it's been a while since we finished this, and the poll has been languishing down in the corner for a few weeks. (A belated XD) Kongratulations to our runaway winner, Payton_Hayes, for his level 'Odin's....cookie?', with 13 votes! In joint second we had both elldaman311 and Lupenzer with 'Pyramids' and 'Teleporter 2' respectively. Next we had heartsriker with 'Skylight' and then beast1996 with 'Symmetrical'.

If you haven't played these levels, or have forgotten how good they are, play them on Platform Racing 2. The poll on this blog may be closed, but you can still vote with stars in game :)

Game Over

2009-04-16T17:36:00.000-07:00

After a long week and a half of eking out an extra ten points here and there in AirBattle and venturing far into the perplexing realms of Whaa, we have found a winner of the first double gamed Hall tournament! Interestingly, the winner did not achieve the highest score in both games. Anyway, without further ado, let's see who won! (After a top ten countdown of course :P)

ryanh9513 6475060
Soro99 14215500
Darcouth 15022800
Payton_Hayes 20163360
Xymnala 33375960
Kyriva 40550400
PR2_STORY 48216640
zachkenobi 59354880
Zelja 154196460

And the winner is, with 155285100 points, elldaman311! Double kongratulations to him for his victory!

Week 1 scores.
Week 2 scores.

If I have missed out anybody, or calculated your score wrongly, please leave a comment by clicking where it says '[a number] comments' below.

Huh? Eh? :/

2009-04-09T16:15:00.000-07:00

Things are very tight at the top at the moment, so it's all still to play for in this second game. The closing time for the whole tournament will be midnight on Thursday the 16th of April, and you can still add to your score in AirBattle until then. Did you find the two secret hyperlinks in the previous post?

Now, onto what you have all been waiting for! The second game is ... Whaa by Ridiculous! If you're in trouble there are instructions, somewhere :P A few tips that might come in handy are to shoot and avoid stuff, and to use the mouse ;)

We've had a (relatively) massive number of comments on the previous post (thank you PR2_STORY, elldaman311 and the mystery anonymous person whose comment I don't fully understand), let's keep it up!

As before, good luck and have fun!

To The Skies! (And Hopefully Staying There)

2009-04-06T13:58:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since the last tournament, so here's one with a bit of a twist. This time it will last for a week and a half (or maybe more, make comments below!), and have two games, the second of which will be announced later this week. We have yet to decide which game should be the second one, but have some ideas - suggest what type of game (sidescroller, puzzle etc.) you'd like in the comments too (after a month of posts with no comments, I'll be really peeved if there aren't any for this one >:( ).

To get everyone warmed up, first up is AirBattle by EvgenyKarataev! Fly around, collect coins, avoid spiky stuff and shoot other stuff - oh, and get as high a score as is (super)humanly possible ;)

Highscores for this game will be counted from now until the tournament ends (announced along with the second game), so there is more than a week to work on perfecting each level. If you feel you are in the need for a break, why not have a look at other games by the same developer?

Final scores will be combined from the scores in the two games by multiplying them together, so look forward to some massive numbers. In the mean time - good luck and have fun!

Person of the Week

2009-04-05T03:31:00.000-07:00

The person of the week for the 29th of March is CiaranM624!

Ciaran is a friendly, talkative presence in chat. He likes to shoot the breeze with people, and see how they're doing. Whenever you see him in chat, feel free to start up a conversation!

Let us three cheers for CiaranM624, this week's Person of the Week!

The Shield of Odin
Awarded to CiaranM624 on 5/4/09

Lots of love, the Hall of Odin crew

Person of the Week

2009-03-29T13:06:00.000-07:00

The person of the week for the 22nd of March is Soro99!

Person of the week this week is Soro99, an amicable regular in the Hall. He is steadily garnering badges so if you'd like to discuss the latest achievements to come out, Soro is a good person to turn to.

Let us three cheers for POTW this week, Soro99!

The Shield of Odin
Awarded to Soro99 on 29/3/09

Lots of love, the Hall of Odin crew

Person of the Week

2009-03-22T22:00:00.000-07:00

The person of the week for the 15th of March is PotatoZ!

Happy to talk to anyone in chat, PotatoZ is POTW this week. He is very friendly and has been in The Hall for quite a while now, so feel free to ask him for help with the workings of Kong, or just have a random chat.

So let's have three cheers for PotatoZ, Person of the Week this week!

The Shield of Odin
Awarded to PotatoZ on 22/3/09

Lots of love, the Hall of Odin crew

Person of the Week

2009-03-15T22:00:00.000-07:00

The person of the week for the 8th of March is TylerKillspoon!

Tyler is Person of the Week for this week; a chatty regular in the Hall (and not just about food as hinted in his avatar!), making great company. Go grab him when you see his friendly ~~face~~ name and say hello!

Let us have three cheers for the POTW this week, Tyler!

The Shield of Odin
Awarded to TylerKillspoon on 15/3/09

Lots of love, the Hall of Odin crew

Crisis Averted!

2009-03-10T19:48:00.000-07:00

Many precariously perambulating pixels have been spared from certain death by our brave Hall of Odinites. Pel's creator, scriptedfun, thanks each of you for your efforts in protecting his precious packets of color!

As the stardust settles, one hero stands out among the rest.

We would like to announce the victor of this tournament, with the highest max combo AND overall score is.... elldaman311!

¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤~¤

Top Scorers Score Username Max Combo
elldaman311 1677445 elldaman311 405
Zelja 1438144 Zelja 297
RustyMetalBox 726287 RustyMetalBox 282
Darcouth
Katare
someguy542003
SuperChick7
zachkenobi
Xymnala
Jugglinguy
ProfessorPimp
buggieboy
Soro99
Kyriva

Rest up fearless Odinites! The next tournament shall be forthcoming!

Person of the Week

2009-03-08T20:00:00.000-07:00

The person of the week for the 1st of March is PantsAreOptional!

PAO is a lively presence in the Hall, and she always brings a bright spark of randomness to chat. Her cheerful and welcoming demeanour towards others means we look forwards to seeing PAO in the Hall for a long time to come :)

So let's have three cheers for PantsAreOptional, this week's PotW!

The Shield of Odin
Awarded to PantsAreOptional on 8/3/09

Lots of love, the Hall of Odin crew

RED ALERT! RED ALERT!

2009-03-02T16:15:00.000-08:00

Calling all Hall of Odinites!

We have JUST received an urgent distress call from scriptedfun. His beloved pixels are falling through vacuous black space and he needs our help!.

Top-notch hand-eye coordination is a MUST to guide these helpless pixels to safety. Armed with a paddle and power-ups, you have one week to save them before they are lost for all eternity!.

Join us in the Hall's newest tournament game, Pel!.

All are welcome and may the force be with you....

(Tournament runs till Sunday, March 8 at 11:59:59 PM CST)

Person of the Week

2009-03-01T20:00:00.000-08:00

The person of the week for the 22nd of February is Jugglinguy!

Jugglinguy is a very talkative, long time regular in the Hall, and with a huge collection of badges has a wealth of information with which to help out other users. Jugg will also happily chat about many other things, so when you need a break from that latest infuriating imp and see him in chat, go and say hi! :D

Let us have three cheers for the Person of the Week for this week, Jugglinguy!

The Shield of Odin
Awarded to Jugglinguy on 1/3/09

Lots of love, the Hall of Odin crew

Person of the Week

2009-02-22T14:32:00.000-08:00

The person of the week for the 15th of February is Grimelex!

Grimelex is a friendly regular in the Hall, very approachable and happy to chat to anyone. If you see him in chat, feel free to go and ask him for a game recommendation, or however you'd like to strike up a conversation!

Let us have three cheers for Grimelex, this week's PotW!

The Shield of Odin
Awarded to Grimelex on 22/2/09

Lots of love, the Hall of Odin crew

Platform Racing 2 Voting!

2009-02-21T10:15:00.000-08:00

As promised, there is now a poll for you all to vote on your favourite level above. Do try out each of the levels (they are all brilliant designs) before voting, and bear in mind you can change your vote. The table below lists the entries along with their makers, as some of the levels' names throw up more than one result.

So, get playing and rating and voting! :D

Test Polls

2009-02-17T08:45:00.000-08:00

You may have noticed some test polls on this blog (for this). Please assist by answering honestly, and bear in mind, we can (somehow) tell if you aren't telling the truth! :P

If you can't see any polls, leave a comment in response to this post.

Edit: Psst, there is another one left and down a lot if you want more stuff to click :D

Puzzle Answer

2009-02-17T08:36:00.000-08:00

Kongratulations to Zelja for being the only person to have sent in a correct answer to the puzzle! Here is his winning entry:

Answer: 1 minute (for both 60 and 120)
Reason: If you assume that a collision happens when you have one ant travelling “east” and one ant travelling “west” reaching a particular point at the same time, then after the collision there will still be one going “east” one going “west” at the same point, as if a collision had never happened. Therefore the worst case scenario is if an ant starts at one end of the stick, and is going the wrong way, it will take him 1 minute to reach the end of the stick.

The idea was to work out a (sneaky) way to model the ants' bumping into one another, hence why the hint was added later as a little prod in that direction, and also to work out the longest it could possibly take an ant to jump off the stick if unobstructed (which was mentioned in chat). Well done to Zelja for working it out, and thank you to everyone who entered :)

Please leave a comment on whether or not you like puzzles such as these. Perhaps the question was too easy, or 'perhaps' too difficult ;) Maybe this is the first you heard of it and feel it should have been spammed as often as that message that taunts you for not having got the card challenge yet. If you guys liked it then I'll look ~~in my homework~~ for similar questions.

Person of the Week

2009-02-15T14:30:00.000-08:00

The person of the week for the 8th of February is Xymnala!

With an impressive reputation for badge collecting, Xymn is a good choice in asking for help with a game - be it for tactics or even with obscure game rules. Also very active in The Hall, Xymnala has a GSOH and really livens up chat with frequent quips.

Let's have three cheers for this week's PotW, Xymnala!

The Shield of Odin
Awarded to Xymnala on 15/2/09

Lots of love, the Hall of Odin crew

Walk a Mile in My Shoes

2009-02-14T12:25:00.000-08:00

It has been a while since the last tournament, so we are going to kick it up with a special event.
This week's game is Platform Racing 2, made by the one and only Jiggmin. Everyone will have six days to create the best map ever! Once your map is finished, it will be published and everyone will vote on the best map. The winner gets bragging rights and a free hug =).
Any map submitted should be one which was started after the event start date to keep the game fair. Once you have published your map, please send an email to hooblog@gmail.com - in this message, please write your Kongregate name, your Platform Racing 2 name, and the name of the level. On Friday evening, a list of maps will be posted for everyone to try out, and on Saturday or Sunday, you will have the ability to vote for the best map (you may not vote for your own map).
Event starts at 00:00 on Sunday, February 15th and ends at 23:59 on Saturday, February 21st. The official PR2 day is on Saturday. Grab your hammers, your tiny colored blocks, and your fancy hats and get building ^_^

Puzzle

2009-02-10T13:49:00.000-08:00

Due to 'popular' demand, here is a test for your noggins!

You have a metre long stick, and some miniscule myrmecophobic ants from your local children's playgroup's ant farm (note: such activity is not condoned in any way!). These little ants can (and do) scurry along the stick at a constant speed of a metre per minute. They can only move in two directions, that is, towards either end of the stick. If their tiny heads bump into each other, they both quickly jump around in fear and then scurry off in the other direction. They are so frightened, in fact, that if they reach the end of the stick they will happily jump off, noticing that there appears to be a welcoming safety net prepared for them, with a rather friendly looking eight-legged creature sitting by it.

Now for the tricky bit, what is the shortest time you must wait until you are SURE that all ants have jumped off the stick, if you started off with 60 ants (randomly placed, facing a random direction) on the stick? What if you started with 120 ants?

Whisper answers with a short reason on this person's profile! One answer only each please, and correct answerers will be announced at some point. Guess more than once and you will be ignored, so don't do it ;)

Hint: 'miniscule', and 'quickly' mean negligible.

Person of the Week

2009-02-07T17:00:00.000-08:00

The person of the week for the 1st of February is mojojojo822!

Mojo is a very amicable user in the Hall; happy to talk with anybody. Despite living far away on mars, he's managed to capture two imps, and we look forward to sharing in the quest of his (and of us all) for more!

Let us have three cheers for mojo, PotW this week!

The Shield of Odin
Awarded to mojojojo822 on 7/2/09

Lots of love, the Hall of Odin crew

Person of the Week

2009-02-01T13:25:00.001-08:00

The person of the week for the 25th of January is Katare!

Person of the Week this week is Katare, a talkative regular in the Hall. He'll engage in the dynamic conversations we have in chat with whoever's there, so we look forward to continuing to see Katare in the Hall :)

Let's have three cheers for Katare, this week's PotW!

The Shield of Odin
Awarded to Katare on 1/2/09

Lots of love, the Hall of Odin crew

Happy Birthday!

2009-01-29T00:01:00.000-08:00

Today one of our regulars has become a year older, and we would like to wish him a very happy birthday. So, have a happy birthday Grimelex!

Here's a present for you, and good luck in your upcoming exams!

Shopping Mall Bowling Results are IN!!

2009-01-28T07:49:00.000-08:00

We’re coming to you LIVE from our local shopping mall to report the utter destruction left by the most recent HoO tourney! Oh me, oh my… never have we seen such a sight! Fierce competition ensued last week as our bowlers wreaked havoc and stuck down the peskiest of mall shoppers!

Many will enter, but only ONE can win. This user has definitely spared himself from spending kajillionillions on post-holiday therapy bills!

Having knocked down 258 shoppers and with a final score of 71,415… the winner of the Shopping Mall Bowling tourney is RustyMetalBox!
Congratulations!!

Top SMB Scorers       Top 3 “Most People Hit”       Top 3 with “Best Combo”
RustyMetalBox          RustyMetalBox   258              RustyMetalBox          12
elldaman311                Zelja                        235              Darcouth                      12
Zelja                                ProfessorPimp    222              AlreadyDead3152    12
Darcouth
SuperChick7
XENON
Katare
Kyriva
AlreadyDead3152
ProfessorPimp
zachkenobi
caelen_tyr
Tchang
beast1996

Thanks to all for participating!
Be on the lookout for our next tourney!!

Person of the Week

2009-01-25T14:42:00.000-08:00

The person of the week for the 18th of January is Ghettomuffin!

Ghettomuffin is the Person of this Week, a friendly regular in the Hall for quite a while now. He is always happy to chat to you about anything, so go and say hi! :P

Let's have three cheers for this week's PotW, Ghettomuffin!

The Shield of Odin
Awarded to Ghettomuffin on 25/1/09

Lots of love, the Hall of Odin crew

Oh Glory! Oh Heavens! Oh Snap!

2009-01-19T20:03:00.001-08:00

WHY YES IT IS time for a new tournament, eager Hall of Odinties. This one will come at you with a vengeance and not let GO of your basal nervous system. It is the hardest of core, when it comes to HoO tournaments, which are SCIENTIFICALLY the most hardcore.

I am pleased and proud as punch to announce that this week's tourney game is in fact Shopping Mall Bowling, which was picked because it is the online flash game equivalent of the illicit substances they warn you about in health class, and by this I mean it is addictive. Start your gaming engines! GOOO!

(You have until next monday; all are welcome)

Person of the Week

2009-01-18T11:39:00.000-08:00

The person of the week for the 11th of January is Zelja!

PotW for this week is Zelja, a talkative, skillful regular in the Hall with a notable proficiency in the art of badge collecting. Friendly in chat, Zelja helps others in their quest for badges.

So let us have three cheers for Zelja, PotW this week!

The Shield of Odin
Awarded to Zelja on 18/1/09

Lots of love, the Hall of Odin crew

Person of the Week

2009-01-11T11:20:00.000-08:00

The person of the week for the 4th of January is RustyMetalBox!

RustyMetalBox is PotW this week. Happy to talk about games, and with more than a few imps to his name, Rusty is a talented gamer with much wisdom to share. However, since everyone takes a break from playing games now and again, don't be too surprised to see him chatting about any old stuff, and certainly don't feel nervous about joining in.

Let us have three cheers for Rusty, this week's PotW!

The Shield of Odin
Awarded to RustyMetalBox on 11/1/09

Lots of love, the Hall of Odin crew

Results for Roll!

2009-01-09T18:50:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays and New Year to the Hall! Whilst the Hall was bedecked with joyous holly, its contenders battled fiercely in our most recent tourny!

After a full week of finger-busting high intensity Rolling, a victor has emerged. This user dodged spikes, slid across ice, and rounded barrels to stand as number one for this round!

Without further ado, we would like to congratulate Elldaman311 with his tremendous come-from-behind victory and final score of 19,837 points!

Top Roll Scorers:

Elldaman311
Zelja
Soro99
Darcouth
Kyriva
zachkenobi
Nird
Xymnala (The last tourney’s winner!)
SuperChick7
Katare
Grimelex
Iamted
Remade
Banannaman72
Ghettomuffin
Payton_Hayes
Bonedeath

A hearty thanks to all our competitors!

Be on the lookout for an upcoming announcement about our next competition!

Person of the Week

2009-01-06T15:38:00.000-08:00

The person of the week for the 28th of December is zulufox1911!

This week's person of the week is zulufox1911, who has been an active user in The Hall for a long time now. Actively contributing to this blog as well as the lively discussions we have in chat, zulu is a great person to start with if you're new to the Hall, and of course, if you've been in the Hall for a while as well.

So let us have three cheers for zulu!

The Shield of Odin
Awarded to zulufox1911 on 4/1/09

Lots of love, the Hall of Odin crew

Ring in the new year with cutthroat competition!

2008-12-30T21:04:00.000-08:00

Oh my goodness and gosh darn is it time for another tournament? Sources say "yes" and I am pleased to announce that we have a title! The game for this week is Roll! So get practicing, and get rolling! Contest goes from 12:01 Wednesday December the 31 the 12:01 Wednesday the 7th.

Start your engines and have at it!

2008-12-24T18:34:00.000-08:00

The person of the week for the 21th of December is Bonedeath!

There are varieties of users. There are the users who have lurked in the Hall for ages, with almost nobody being the wiser. There are the users who start out mostly gaming and are charmed by the great atmosphere and wacky regulars in the Hall, and start talking more and more as time goes on. Then there is bonedeath, who has been present and active since he came into the hall! He has gained badges and a reputation, and we all know and love him. Bonedeath has quickly become a room staple, so you should definitely get to know him.

Let's have three cheers for bonedeath, this week's Person of the Week!

The Shield of Odin
Awarded to bonedeath on 24/12/08

Seasons Greetings, the Hall of Odin crew

Person of the Week

2008-12-21T06:13:00.000-08:00

The person of the week for the 21st of November is nird!

PotW for this week is nird, a friendly user who pops in frequently for a chat. He'll discuss strategies for various games with you and be helpful in other ways too - just say hi and strike up a conversation!

Let's have three cheers for nird, this week's Person of the Week!

The Shield of Odin
Awarded to nird on 21/12/08

Lots of love, the Hall of Odin crew

Laser War 2 Results!

2008-12-19T10:12:00.000-08:00

After a week of intensely skillful play and profoundly imaginitive deduction of how the game worked (other than the usual 'kill everything... QUICK!' approach), we have a winner!

Before we announce the winner (don't scroll down, or your computer will explode/[insert other vacuous threat here]), we'd like to kongratulate you all on some very impressive scores. Again the highscores table has been flooded with HoO regulars.

The competition was tight from the off, and even in the last day there were people improving upon their score, striving for a higher place finish, so well done to you all for making this round as much fun as it was.

The top 15 minus the podium finishers were:

Payton_Hayes
Grimelex
nird
Kyriva
yrudoy - the developer! (If seen, flood with thank yous for making such a great game.)
SuperChick7 - last round's victor! (And new moderator, don't forget to kongratulate her!)
BlueStarTrump
Zelja
Katare
Beric
Bonedeath
beast1996

Payton_Hayes' brother Slayden_Hook also put in a guest appearance with a score just below Payton's

In reverse order (this works so much better on TV *grumble*), the top 3 were:
elldaman311 with a score of 212957
Darcouth with 217642

And the winner was *drumroll* Xymnala, with 222046 - a humungous score so a humungous KONGRATULATIONS to you xymn, keep up the good work!

Person of the Week

2008-12-14T12:00:00.000-08:00

The person of the week for the 7th of November is Khargen!

This week's Person of the Week is Khargen, a cordial gamer in The Hall, happy to chat and willing to add to a conversation. So when you see Khargen in The Hall, don't be afraid to go and say hi!

Three cheers for Khargen, PotW!

The Shield of Odin
Awarded to Khargen on 14/12/08

Lots of love, the Hall of Odin crew

Tournament - Phase II

2008-12-11T10:52:00.000-08:00

Friends, Kongregans and computer(wo)men, lend me your VDUs...

For the sensational second challenge in the Hall of Odin tournament, we have unearthed an ancient treasure from the vast vaults of Kongregate. From the days before achievements (but thankfully not before highscores) we introduce Laser War 2 by yroduy.

It’s the same rules as last time, though this time round you’ll be using your keyboard instead of a rodent – get as phenomenally high a score as you can before next Friday midnight! That’s Friday the 19th for those of you panicking for not checking the blog ;)

Good luck to you all, and more importantly, have fun!

Person of the Week

2008-12-07T14:26:00.000-08:00

The person of the week for the 30th of November is Hobnob5000!

Hobnob is a friendly regular in The Hall. When in chat he will join in the conversation with his own amusing ideas and invite others to join in as well.

He also sets an example as an avid game commenter, and is ready to help other users with games so feel free to ask for aid with any achievements :)

So, let's have three cheers for this week's PotW, Hobnob5000!

The Shield of Odin
Awarded to Hobnob5000 on 7/12/08

Lots of love, the Hall of Odin crew

Happy Older!

2008-11-27T11:40:00.000-08:00

The hall wishes to offer it's HEARTFELT congratulations on two of our regulars who have completed another trip around the sun. Wish them a happy birthday if you see them!

Happy birthday to

Cheezezbergrpls (Thanksgiving Birthday)

and

Cinders101

Cake and ice cream will be dispensed, and are also lies.

Thanksgiving Omnibus

2008-11-27T10:52:00.000-08:00

Ok ok ok! There is a lot of BIG NEWS for the hall!

Firstly, Happy Thanksgiving for all of those that celebrate. We are thankful that we get to talk to you guys and be in the Hall! Also we are thankful for falling asleep in front of the TV, lazy on turkey.

Secondly, we must congratulate SuperChick7 for her AMAZING victory in the Hall of Odin's tourney. Our first tournament game was Kalurjong, made by hall regular YoungTrill. Her score of 194,520 should strike fear into the heart of the other competitors!

The top 15 scorers:

SuperChick7
Xymnala
Darcouth
tinlv7
DynamicUno
nird
Bacter
elldaman311
AdamHowell
IAmCelery
youngtrill
Cheezezbergrpls
Soro99
EndlessSporadic
Nyoibo

So a big, heartfelt congratulations to all of them! Our first place user, SC, takes home a custom-drawn, personalized avatar for Kongregate! I literally salivate over the concept!

The next tourney will be announced this Friday, so be looking forward to it!

Ladies and Gentlemen...

2008-11-15T07:31:00.000-08:00

Let the competition begin!

The Hall of Odin is very proud to announce at Kalurjong, that incomparable game by Hall regular YoungTrill, is our first challenge!

It's pretty straightforward. Competition began last midnight, and will continue until next Friday midnight.

I'm going to ask you guys to summon all your trust, because usually when people say "prizes will be announced at the end of the competition" it means they don't know what the prizes will be, but rest assured, we have a price bristling and brimming and ready to be claimed by the Hall's champion, and it is something that is completely and totally covetable. It is succulent, like a ripe FRUIT.

Hall Of Odin! HAVE AT IT!

Person of the Week

2008-11-11T10:33:00.000-08:00

The person of the week for the 5th of November is Xymnala!

Xymnala is a very skilled gamer, tearing through the badge pages like, well, someone tearing a page of paper, so look out for competition in the upcoming tournament! Xymn's always happy to help you with achievements, and chat about any other stuff too.

A friendly presence, Xymn is approachable and talkative, so feel free to say hello whenever you meet in the Hall.

So, let's have three cheers for this week's PotW, Xymnala!

The Shield of Odin
Awarded to Xymnala on 12/11/08

Lots of love, the Hall of Odin crew

Oh My Goodness Gracious!

2008-11-10T22:17:00.000-08:00

Guys we could not be MORE excited to announce, officially, the FIRST WEEK IN THE HALL OF ODIN TOURNAMENT! This is going to be a multi-week event, focusing on one game each week. The game will change every week and a high score table announced at the end of each week.

I want you to imagine a clearing, with grandstands circling a central field. Pennants flap sharply in the breeze, the morning air is crisp, cool, clear. The stands are filled with hundreds of cheering Hall-goers. The challenge is announced, the trumpets sound, and an inspired challenger takes the field. They focus, concentrating their entire being on the moment to come, they charge forward- they will be victorious! That challenger is YOU! Everybody who hangs out in the hall (and, hence, can read this blog) is welcome to be a member.

The challenge will begin on 12:00 AM on Friday (this Friday), and end at 12:00 midnight the following Friday.

Consider this an invitation to the opening ceremonies. Prepare yourself, Hall of Odin. THIS WILL BE EPIC!

Microscopic Mayhem

2008-10-31T12:48:00.000-07:00

Midnight. In a clean white room, under the faint blue glow of monitors, ancient bloblike things dance an ancient dance, in competition for resources, for space, for progeny. Look through the viewing glass with us as the particulars of the drama unfold. The blob in front of him was easily twice his size. He was running out of space to move; those viruses were everywhere. His only hope was to get his enemy infected.

Movement! The environment began to change, and highly evolved sensory membranes detected the change. To his left, a protein began to form."YES!" he yells as he darts towards it. The enemy also sees it, and surges towards it as well. Just then, a virus swerves into his path,blocking him from the protein. He lets out a sigh of final resignation as the enemy bacteria noms merrily away. He was surely doomed, as his enemy's size dwarfed his own!

Inexplicably, the enemy bacteria begins to change form, and quickly splits itself in two. The microbe was dumbfounded, and chased after one of the two bacteria. He is just finished ingesting it when the other explodes from the virus. At the lab, the scientist takes his eye away from his microscope. "They gave badges and a card to that?" he wonders in bemusement.

This week's story, written by our very own Zulufox1911, references Microbe Kombat

Kongrats to zulu on the great submission and also he is pretty engaged! Say thanks to him peoples!

Person of the Week

2008-10-27T15:02:00.000-07:00

The person of the week for the 22nd of October is SuperChick7!

A very friendly user, SuperChick7, is PotW for this week. SC is helpful, ready to aid you with problems with the site, and to talk to you about pretty much anything as well. Her cheery presence is also an invitation to say hi, so go ahead! We hope to see SC in The Hall for a long time to come :)

Let's have three cheers for SuperChick7, this week's person of the week!

The Shield of Odin
Awarded to SuperChick7 on 29/10/08

Lots of love, the Hall of Odin crew

Person of the Week

2008-10-22T13:23:00.000-07:00

The person of the week for the 15th of October is Tinlv7!

Look, we can think of the hall of odin as a big family, right? There are the annoying older brothers, the whiny youngin's, all sorts of people. You know that really cool brother that some kids have? The one that you always wished was your brother, looked out for his younger siblings, would give you a ride in his car? That's totally Tin. Tin is a lively regular in The Hall, always willing to chat to you. Consistently putting a spark into chat with something amusingly random, you are sure to notice him.

So three cheers for tin, kongratulations on being PotW!

The Shield of Odin
Awarded to tinlv7 on 22/10/08

Lots of love, the Hall of Odin crew

COLTchr's birthday

2008-10-16T14:03:00.001-07:00

We now have a quarter of a centurion in The Hall, and it is none other than COLTchr!

25 today, we wish him all the best as he leaves his first quarter century and embarks upon the next - we hope to share it with him whilst we all game in The Hall.

Happy Birthday Colt! And many happy returns!

Person of the Week

2008-10-14T11:10:00.000-07:00

The person of the week for the 1st of October is EndlessSporadic!

This week we see a friendly, considerate user receive the Shield of Odin. EndlessSporadic is a very approachable regular who is more than willing to talk about anything - be it music, food or (of course :P) games. We hope ES continues to be the neighbourly presence we have come to cherish.

So let us hear three cheers for EndlessSporadic, this week's PotW!

The Shield of Odin
Awarded to EndlessSporadic on 15/10/08

Lots of love, the Hall of Odin crew

Person of the Week

2008-10-08T13:18:00.001-07:00

The person of the week for the 1st of October is Kresick!

Though one of the calmer regulars in The Hall, Kresick will jump into life at the sight of a spirited conversation. He is somebody to look for whenever you log into chat, and a great friend to have. He knows the ins and outs of the hall, how we do things, and where to find help, be it for specific badges or for Kongregate navigation. Much like his avatar, Kresick is graceful and deadly. At least we're pretty sure his avatar is meant to convey swiftness and matching deadliness. Look out for his happifying demeanour, and don’t be afraid to say hi!

Let’s have three cheers for this week’s PotW, Kresick!

The Shield of Odin
Awarded to Kresick on 8/10/08

Lots of love, the Hall of Odin crew

Person of the Week

2008-09-29T16:20:00.000-07:00

The person of the week for the 24th of September is Cinders101!

Cinders101 is a friendly presence in The Hall. With his list of unachieved badges rapidly diminishing - even the tricky imps are not safe - he is also very willing and able to help others in their quest to conquer everything the mighty greg throws at them.

Let us have a cheer (and two more to make three!) for Cinders101, this week's PotW!

The Shield of Odin
Awarded to Cinders101 on 1/10/08

Lots of love, the Hall of Odin crew

Worst. Cult. Ever.

2008-09-27T00:12:00.000-07:00

The dust blew into the air, choking the faces of everyone in the vicinity- it wasn’t just dust, either. There was salt mixed in with it, salt crystals glittered everywhere in this wasteland. It was dry as bone, and hot as hell. There was a steady, rumbling litany of complaints in Jed’s mind as he strode out onto the flats. Brother or no, this was a long way to travel. His mother would never have forgiven him, of course, and what with the construction job falling through he needed the place to stay. He grumbled and pulled out a thermos, which was almost out of water, and looked through bleary eyes across the horizon. In the distance, he saw a dot, and made his way towards it.

Jed and his brother Kenny could not have been two more different growing up. Jed was interested in sports, Kenny in books. Jed was popular at school, well-liked, Kenny was a recluse with hygiene problems. Jed had felt protective of his younger brother for most of high school, but he began to tire by senior year. Kenny’s interests had darkened through high school, and he had stopped reading anything but musty old books, full of secret knowledge and magic and garbage like that. Jed had gone to college at the state school then, and had lost touch. After he graduated and moved back to his hometown, he was shocked to learn how much his brother had deteriorated- their parents begged him to bring him home, offering him free room and board. Money being tight, that’s exactly what Jed did.

The first time Jed found him, Kenny had been studying necromantic texts at a spiritualists’ library for days with no food or water. The next time he had to pull him out of a cult’s headquarters. As Kenny slipped further and further away from normalcy, Jed grew more frustrated. The one time Jed asked, Kenny would only comment that he was searching for something of “singular power, a… well… a chain of events which is beyond man’s comprehension. To experience it is to KNOW MADNESS”.

Kenny’s frame grew closer, hunched over and rocking on the salt flat. Jed wiped perspiration from his brow, but his annoyed face grew concerned seeing the prone, rocking form of his brother. He quickened his pace and shouted, but Kenny didn’t react. As he drew closer, he saw that Kenny was clutching something in his hand. “God,” thought Jed, “he’s been out here reading another blasted book”, but this was far too small for a book. No- it was more like a jewel case, containing a CD. Close enough now to see Kenny’s face, blank eyes staring straight ahead and lips murmuring something repeatedly.

“Kenny! Kenny get up! We’re going home!” Jed kicked at his brother, whose body offered no resistance. “Here, have some water”. He leaned down to give the thermos to his brother, and heard his soft, repeated whisper. “I’ve found it, here it is, I’ve found it…” Nervous now, Jed tugged at the jewel case. As it left Kenny’s hands he seemed to snap back to reality. His eyes opened wide, and he let out a scream. Jed’s arms held him in place, or he would have bolted. Making his way back to the truck, struggling brother in tow, Jed reached down to pick up the jewel case- there was a CD inside. “This don’t look that scary!” thought Jed… “Loops of Zen? Probably just some more of that Buddhism nonsense. Well, can’t hurt to give it a look when we get back.” It was the last time either brother was heard from.

This post references Loops of Zen, the absolutely infuriating new game from Kongregate. Play it if you DARE.

Happy Birthday Nird.

2008-09-18T04:51:00.000-07:00

The Hall of Odin is happy to celebrate the Birthday of

Nird

And we have a small e-gift for him.

Once again.. the Hall of Odin wishes you a happy birthday Nird.
Cheers.

Person of the Week

2008-09-17T13:31:00.000-07:00

The person of the week for the 17th of September is...

metallica_fan_18

Sure, sometimes we throw around the terms "easy to get to know", and "a good storyteller" when discussing Person of the Week, but you have to understand that it would be almost impossible to describe metallica_fan_18 without using these words. This guys is ALWAYS glad to see you, and goes beyond talking about kong related stuff and games with you. Do you want to talk about sports? He'll have his opinions but he won't shove them down your throat, so you can have a good debate. Music? He definately has a wide range of tastes even outside metallica.

So: what do you get when you take a good conversationalist, good friend, good gamer, and dedicated Hall of Odinite? Clearly, you get the person of the week. The Hall of Odin is proud to give this weeks' Person of the week to a very deserving candidate, metallica_fan_18. I'd tell you to meet and congratulate him, but since you probably know him already, just say gratz. Gratz metallica!

The Shield of Odin
Awarded to metallica_fan_18 on 9/17/08

Lots of love, the Hall of Odin crew

A New Era has Dawned

2008-09-15T09:11:00.000-07:00

Hopefully most of you will have noticed that the HoO has changed hands.

Right now bobo has some commitments which cut her time on Kong, as much as she would love to hang on to the hall she simply hasn't got the time right now. She will still be around as a room mod but I have passed the ownership on to Bacter. Valkyrie, Kyriva and bobo will all be around as room mods to support him.

I wish Bacter all the luck in the world with it and I am sure he will take the Hall to new heights.

Thehallofodin

'Till my head falls off

2008-09-12T15:02:00.000-07:00

Eldrich beasts and AI

The tile where my head fell had a crack in it, and my mind, hazy and indistinct as it was, snatched a piece of nursery-school lore from the fog. I remembered lining up for lunch, and the poor student who landed on the one crack in the sidewalk would have “step on the crack, break your back” whispered to them. Well, that was soon to be true enough for me. I shook my head to clear it, and looked indistinctly towards where I knew my opponent to be. Her hooded face sneered at me from behind crackling walls of arcane power. About halfway between us, features fading into the shadows of the warehouse floor, hovered the horrible tentacled THING she had summoned, blood dripping from its mouth where it had bitten my own creature, a flying imp, squarely in two. She had torn right through my defenses, waving them aside with a gesture as my green elder sign of protection faded away. She shrugged off my imp’s blasts, summoned the dread beast of Tindalos. The charge of that nightmare beast had almost killed me, and my sanity had suffered as I cast healing spell after spell. I had attempted to cast a bolt of pure mental energy at her, but such were her shields that it had evaporated before it touched her, and her fell beast swatted me down, where I laid now. Lips cracked, health and sanity on the brink of the abyss, I waited for her next move.

“Now, fool. Now is the time for your destruction!” She cackled. For this! Is the dawn…. OF A NEW DAY! Bright light flooded the chamber, instantly evaporating her creature and shield. I struggled to my feet, incredulous, feeling my mind bolstered. Had she miscast her spell? That didn’t make sense, because the incantation were so specific. Hesitantly, expecting a trap, I cast another mind blast. This connected, and she fell to her knees, gasping. She staggered to her feet, eyes blazing with anger. “That was your last mistake, you… you… PEASANT!” she spat. “Thy creatures turn on thee! AUIDIANA BRETHRLORM!”. Again, a slight pause as I processed the information. The spell she had cast at me was one designed to make my summoned creatures attack me, but… I hadn’t summoned a creature! My mind raced, attempting to pick out her strategy, but found no sound reason for casting the spell she cast. My hands crackled with power and my voice rang as I call forth a Dark Young charge, throwing her against the back wall. She lay bleeding, and rummaged desperately around in her traveling sack, until she brought out an ancient, yellowed manuscript. I stared in amazement as she turned the pages, reading at a superhuman speed. Surely this was just a copy of the Pnakotic manuscript. It would enhance her power, true but… Shrugging my shoulders, I reached into my own carrying sack and pulled forth an automatic shotgun. One ear-shattering blast and a few minutes later, and I staggered out of the warehouse and into the newly sunlit harbor. Truly, this world would be doomed if eldritch doomsday cults would learn the art of timing.

This post references The Necronomicon, a great game where your character is frequently at a disadvantage, and would surely be doomed if the computer didn't just play random cards.

Person of the Week

2008-09-10T14:15:00.000-07:00

The person of the week for the 3rd of September is CheezezbergrPls!

We absolutely guarantee that you'll get to know cheez during your time in The Hall. He's become a fixture in the place, and is always active in chat. He's definitely somebody that will talk to you, and get some inside jokes with you in a hurry. Cheez is somebody who understands how the hall functions, and knows how to give advice and encouragement without pestering others.

It would be hard for anyone to match his enthusiasm for The Hall, his willingness to talk to other users - new and old, and it it's been marvelous watching his responses mature from boilerplate "fails" to giving tips and strategies in games. We know that Cheeze will be with us for a long time to come, and that's definately a good thing! Let's have 3 cheers for CheezezbergrPls!

The Shield of Odin
Awarded to CheezezbergrPls on 10/9/08

Lots of love, the Hall of Odin crew

A Very Special Person of the Week.....

2008-09-03T18:01:00.000-07:00

As you may know, mods are not elligible for Person of the Week (persons working for kong, modding for kong, living with someone working or modding for kong, mowing the lawn or cleaning the pool of someone working or modding for kong or the pet poodle of the cleaning lady of the aunt of the big brother of the best friend of someone working or modding for kong are not eligible for this award). However, this week an exception has been made for a special user, a user who is closer to the PoEW (Person of Every Week) than PotW. This user is Valkyrie, and we just want to say thank you for everything you have done :).

So we are happy to announce that......

The person of the week for the 3rd of September is
valkyrie!

Well what can we really say about Valkyrie? She is known and respected by pretty much everyone that comes in the HoO.

There comes a time when, sitting comfortable in our padded Hall, we must turn our eyes to the past, and remember the Kongiverse as it once was - a formless place, where the wind howled over the abyss . Then Val got a room. Maybe several? We have a hard time not falling asleep during history lessons. Anyway; Val has made The HoO what it is today, she took a room full of reprobates and turned us into a room full of polite reprobates. She can take a joke, give as good as she gets and still find time to take out the trolls with her trusty ban thimble (now with it's new tea cosy of silence ). We are indeed like a weird, twisted, bizarre family . And, like any weird bizarre twisted family, we come together at least once a year to celebrate at the oldest weirdest one's place. That place is The Hall, and that weird musky odour is all the love she's put into it.

So let's all say a big Thank You together to val for what she has done!

The Shield of Odin
Awarded to Valkyrie on 3/9/08

Lots of love from everyone in The HoO.

The cake is the truth

2008-08-31T21:11:00.000-07:00

At least it is today! Be sure and wish a happy birthday to ProfessorPimp, one of the most excellent of the Hall's regulars! Besides being a year older, Prof is a great guy, and we thought it only appropriate to give you a pearl of his wisdom as he enters another year.

How true that is...

For Glory! (part 2)

2008-08-31T17:27:00.000-07:00

Head spinning, he tumbled forward tripping over his feet. The world
was a blur to him, but as he landed on his hands and knees he heard a
faint voice crying "you are the one to save the kingdom! Go, and do us
proud!" a crashing noise, and a second, nearer voice yelling "next
one's here!" Strong arms pulled him to his feet, and Fosco gazed up
into the stern eyes of a great bearded Dwarf. Gaping at the dwarf (who
was suspiciously tall, given the legends about their general stature),
he found himself being hurried along. "Fowsree the hobbit, you have
arrived just in time!" Boomed the dwarf. "Fosco, sir", said the hobbit
meekly. His voice didn't carry far amid the boom and clamor of hammers
pounding at forges, the hurried chanting of mages who seemed to be
coaxing great piles of rock to slowly stand upright, and the periodic
"thunk" of some great machinery operating high overhead.

The dwarf was moving so much faster than the hobbit could run that
Fosco was picked up by the scruff of his neck and dragged on, past
forges and training quarters and pantries and general uproar of
wartime preparations. "Foxwell, your deeds here today may well decide
the course of the war. This is a desperate and dangerous battle, and
we have need of warriors just such as you. This is why we've entrusted
you with this ancient and honored weaponry, used by fighting hobbits
in the glorious wars of the first age. Treat it well!" Fosco had
regained some of his composure by now, and noticed both that the dwarf
seemed to be reading the lines he said from a well-worn piece of
parchment that he held in one hand, and that the "ancient, honored"
armor and weaponry that was dropped into his arms as he was rushed
past looked suspiciously similar to the ones the smiths had been
manufacturing en masse in the forges he'd passed just moments before.
He tried his best to put them on, but the helmet was a bit too big and
the breastplate a bit too small. He saw a massive gate approaching,
what must have been the front gate. "Fazwith, this is where you make
your stand. Where your deeds will echo through all history…" "In the
Book of Deeds!" cried Fosco, with enough strength that the dwarf
paused mid-stride, confused. "My name will be entered into the book of
deeds! It must be! I was told that anyone who joined the army would
have their name.." "Right, sure! Whatever!" Cried the dwarf. "Fluuzle,
your name will be entered in the Book of Deeds. You are the one to
save the kingdom! Go and do us proud!" He was pushed out of the door,
which slammed quickly behind him.

Customs relating to death vary between races, of course, and different
races have different ideas about how ones last moments ought to be
spent. Elves, for instance, place a high value on dying in a peaceful,
tranquil environment. For a dwarf, nothing is more sacred than dying
with ones family close and ones gold closer. Almost any race would
probably agree that the last moments of Fosco were bad ones. Once the
door slammed behind him, he turned back just in time to see a burst of
purest white light explode from the castle, and see a fully armored,
absolutely enormous seraph descending from the clouds. His eyes almost
unable to comprehend the sight, out of his mind with terror, he ran
headlong away from it. Straining his eyes into the distance, he could
see the enemy castle. He was approaching it at what seemed an
impossible place. His mind putting pieces into place, he realized that
the… THING behind him was on his side. And he didn't see any enemies,
just the castle. He was beginning to have a good feeling about the
assault when he realized the castle was moving. His mind barely had
time to register the horrible eldritch creature as it rose impossibly
high over him, before he felt the nether-winds of it's attack of
flowing black nothingness which utterly erased him from this
existence. Somewhere, from far behind him, right before his mind
succumbed to the chittering madness which was a black ocean around
him, he heard a familiar voice cry "It's working! The hobbits are
slowing it down! Next!"

This story by Bacter has referenced the Epic War game on Kongregate! It is a truly excellent game, and you shouldn't feel sorry for your Hobbits.

For Glory!

2008-08-30T01:36:00.001-07:00

Pintsize Power, Part I

“Fight for the forces of good! A Grand Adventure awaits!” The poster had been the talk of the hamlet for most of the fortnight that it had been pasted on the side of the town hall. There had been an initial rush of fortune-seeking young hobbits, lured by the promises of glory and gold. Those who left had generally returned, a little battered but flushed with victory, full of tales of storming castles and the weak goblin resistance. Every week, another victory was announced via messenger from the summoning circle. Fosco now stood before the summoning circle, hand on his ample belt, collecting his thoughts.

He had wanted to be the first to charge across the circle, not for the generous army commission, but for the thought of getting his name in the Book of Deeds, along with the heroes of the kingdom. The idea of being a part, however small, in the great history of the kingdom made him think of banners snapping and great knights charging at dragons and other things far beyond the humdrum life of barley farming. Now that harvest season was over he could leave with the blessing of his family, so he took a deep breath and walked into the ceremonially carved circle. He said (not as firmly as he would have liked) the requisite pledge “I am Fosco Grubb of Little Delving, and I hereby commit myself into the services of the Glorious Army!” and, with a great wooshing, the world dropped out from under him.

This post references the excellent online game Epic War
Be prepared for part II!

2008-08-29T02:47:00.000-07:00

It has been just over a week since our last birthday feast, and we are very pleased to announce we are having another so soon. We hope you have been building up a healthy apetite to wish Ben a happy birthday, 14 today.

111ben111

Happy Birthday Ben!

2008-08-27T15:44:00.000-07:00

The person of the week for 20th of August is Littleriffy1!

LittleRiffy is somebody you certainly want to add to your friends list. He's excited to be in the hall, and we're excited to have him there. You'll know it when he gets here, too, as he's always got a friendly greeting ready. As a true community builder, he makes friends easily. He's ready to talk about whatever game you're playing, or to offer you advice on good new ones to play. In fact, he was among the first to respark the recent interest in the Johnny Rocketfingers games. We're very lucky to have LittleRiffy as a part of our community; kongratulations to him on this Person of the Week badge!

The Shield of Odin
Awarded to Littleriffy1 on 27/8/08

Lots of love, the HoO crew

Roundhouse Kicking into a new year

2008-08-21T21:23:00.000-07:00

Today the Hall is proud to feast on the occasion of the birthday of one of it's members. A hall regular and all-around great guy, Chuck enters his 15th year of life today Wooo Hoo ! He's a great guy to know, so everybody wish him a happy birthday!

ChuckNorris57

Happy Birthday Chuck

Person of the Week

2008-08-20T09:34:00.000-07:00

The person of the week for 13th of August is elldaman311!

Elldaman311 has been a warm and helpful user for the past few months, ready to aid novice users with the grand (yet often mysterious) workings of Kongregate and its games, and up for any and all challenges thrown at him. Beware though, whilst his warm personality will not tire, neither will his formidable skill. Just try a race in Platform Racing 2 (search speeder311 for levels) or bettering Ell’s score in jumpcat (see below).

Elldaman is an affable bloke who we hope to see much more of in the future. His energetic presence in The Hall brings high spirits to all. Keep it up!

Let us have three cheers for elldaman311!

The Shield of Odin
Awarded to elldaman311 on 20/8/08
Lots of love, the HoO crew

Stand Aside, Soldier! Part II

2008-08-15T23:59:00.001-07:00

A tale of power and pavement: Part II

(Part I was posted yesterday and can be found in the below post).

The second in a series of game-related short stories by Bacter

Roaring out of the woods in broad daylight, they were like something
out of a nightmare, fairytale creatures with many heads, the
shambling, walking dead, flying imps, and even a creature which
resembled nothing so much as a huge, moble mushroom. The castle
mustered all its soldiers, who looked at first splendid in their
shining armor. The creatures seemed to be endless, and all fought with
the ferocity of demons. Many soldiers had fallen, and the assault was
gradually wearing away at the castle. The only sleep the soldiers
could catch would be in the few minutes of silence when the monster
charge would stop- they seemed to come in waves. By now most of the
soldiers were injured, and dropped from exhaustion as soon as the last
monster lay slain.

In the highest tower of the castle, not far from where Clayton kept
watch, the king paced sharply. A collection of his most trusted
magical advisors were pouring over old tablets, murmuring over their
beards and robes at its ancient symbols. The king, an avid student of
history, was probably the person with the single greatest grasp on
what was happening in the kingdom, and he was terrified. The
aberrations, the wave-like nature of their attacks, the dark clouds…
all of it pointed to a repeat of the last great campaign, an era in
which the forces of darkness had nearly destroyed the kingdom. He
paced as his advisors struggled to translate the military records of
that ancient time, looking for the strategy that would cause them to
win. While he waited, he munched on one of the green mushrooms
provided for him by the local farmers. Completely unbeknownst to him,
one of his fallen solders on the battlefield suddenly started to life,
looked around, bewildered, then ran towards the castle at full speed.
The connection would never be recognized, unfortunately.

On the rooftop, Clayton's gaze drifted downwards as his eyelids grew
heavy. He was on the verge of falling into a dream, in which he was
with his family sitting down to a large feast, when he found he
couldn't take a bite. Everything smelled like the monsters, the smell
was choking him, he couldn't breathe. He fell backwards in the dream,
started to wakefulness, then almost fell over again. There had been
fierce attacks before, but this…. His eyes drifted around the field,
taking in platoon after platoon of monsters. They were doomed, surely.
He dully grabbed the rope and pulled, sounding the alarm bell.
Normally he would have raced downstairs to get his sword and head out,
but he stumbled down, as if in a dream. None of it would matter.

The alarm bell started the advisors and king. Peering out from the
door, he saw Clayton's hulking body moving towards the ready room, and
called out to the knight. Clayton dropped to one knee, gazing
downwards out of habit but the king bid him rise. His words were soft
now, instead of the forceful pomp of public occasions. "How bad is it,
my son?" "We've no chance, my lord. Their numbers are too great, and
they attack from all sides." The king let out a deep breath. "Well, I
suppose it had to be that way. Son, I need you to put down your sword
for today. It may be too late for us, but there is hope yet for the
kingdom." Clayton let out an involuntary laugh. "Hope? What hope?
Their numbers are beyond counting, their fierceness, their…" "Roads"
interrupted the king. "Pardon, m'lord?" "We need roads. Winding ones.
Roads no man would ever want to walk, roads so twisted it would take
hours to go a few hundred yards. That's how we'll win." Clayton gazed
steadily, trying to look for hints of madness in the kings eyes.
"They'll walk the roads, and we'll stand on the sides of them and
strike them down! You see, the creatures unique psychology…. Oh never
mind!" The king fumbled with a stack of papers, pressing them into
Clayton's hands. "Here, these are work orders for road builders and
pavement services throughout the kingdom. Now go, ride! Ride like the
wind!"

The storm finally broke on the castle as Clayton rode away, a sack of
papers strapped to his back. He galloped away into the night as
silhouetted figures of lizards, zombies, and badgers stormed the
castle, shutting his eyes to the screams, listened instead to the
sound of the rain on his back, the horses hooves on the ground, and
the name of the brave heroes who would save the kingdom: Milburry and
Sons: Pavement experts. No job too large.

Today's post references the game Protector: Reclaiming the Throne.

Stand aside, soldier!

2008-08-14T14:18:00.000-07:00

A tale of power and pavement: Part I

(Part II will be posted same time tomorrow).

The second in a series of game-related short stories by Bacter

It wasn't much of a break. The sun was already starting to leech
through the windows, making the dust shine in the air and the sweat
and grime on the faces of the soldiers glisten. The ramparts of the
castle had suffered considerable damage, as had the morale of the
soldiers. Groans could be heard from all corners of the common
sleeping area, which was distinguishable from the infirmary only
because the soldiers in the infirmary were not forced out of bed
shortly after first light. Any moment now, the alarm bell would
sound and they would have to go and die again.

Clayton took up his post on top of the castle's tower, sliding his
bulky frame into the cramped room. He looked out across the muddy
field of battle where most of his friends had perished in the last
three days. The great ancient stones that made up the castle he had
called home since he had been delivered to its doorstep by too-poor
parents were blackened with the flames and ichor of the… things that
had come from nowhere. The clouds, the clouds had come first. It was
ironic, he thought, running a hand through matted sandy hair. Peace
had reigned for years, decades. Swords had been abandoned, diplomacy
was used instead of brute force, and now they would die for it.

Expeditionary teams had been sent out to dismantle a number of
ancient sites of power not even a week ago, their bright banners
snapping in the wind. There had been regular reports, and the towns
nearest the shrines had held impromptu festivals, celebrating the
dismantling with jousting and drinking. Then, for a week's time,
nothing. No reports had come back. No sign came of the status of the
expeditions, except the dark storm clouds which rolled over the
castle, casting a pall over the entire kingdom. They hung unnaturally
heavy in the sky, always promising a rain that had not come. A tension
settled over the kingdom, villagers avoided being out past night and
the knights moved their families within the walls of the castle. Then
came the monsters.

To Be Continued!

Today's post references the game Protector: Reclaiming the Throne . Stay tuned for the thrilling conclusion!

Happy Birthday.

2008-08-13T22:09:00.000-07:00

The Hall is happy to be celebrating the Birthday of Bacter.

Happy Birthday Bacter.
Trust that you have a wonderful year ahead of you.

And now drum roll The Hall of Odin is proud to announce...

2008-08-13T09:35:00.000-07:00

The person of the week for 6th of August is Payton_Hayes!

Payton_Hayes has been a frequent, friendly face in The Hall for the last couple of months, and is always willing to greet the weary travellers who arrive. In fact, he has shown a great commitment to The Hall, which may or may not soon make an honest man out of him (see below). The Hall's parents have yet to be notified.

Payton is somebody that a recurring visitor to the hall will inevitably come to know and love. He's a guy that knows things, things that may be of interest to you. He has pro tips on the games, will listen to your story about how you completely almost got that last oozle until the grinder came out of nowhere, seriously, and share some stories of his own. Whilst working his way through games, badges and cards, he finds time and energy to be a cheery presence and talk about pretty much anything. We commend him on this and hope he continues to do this long into the future.

Let's have three cheers for Payton_Hayes!

The Shield of Odin
Awarded to Payton_Hayes on 13/8/08
Lots of love, the HoO crew.

Congratulations!

2008-08-11T10:40:00.000-07:00

In case any of you haven't noticed we have some new ~~victims~~ mods in the HoO. I would like to congratulate Bacter and Kyriva on becoming mods.

I hope that they will enjoy their new role in the HoO and that they will continue to uphold the standards set by the existing mods. I have every faith that our new mods will make the Hall even greater than it was before.

So once again congratulations and do us proud.

Thehallofodin

Godthab, Antananarivo

2008-07-25T07:26:00.000-07:00

Sunrise, Sunset

Part 1 of a series by Bacter

A faint clicking was the first sign that night had come. Barely audible from the surface, it was the sound of valves opening. Steam rushed up through tubes, escaping through tiny cracks and floating away in the frigid air. As the rusty generators spun, lights flickered on, and the temperature inside public buildings rose eleven degrees. Rats had discovered this effect, and had taken to living in the libraries and government offices. There was no-one to stop them.

The town was silent, and the wind whistled through it. The rats had made short work of most of the remaining supplies, and were beginning to starve. One particular colony had long determined that it was impossible to gain entrance to the Godthab central Hospital, which is why the rats that found a door left open were hesitant to enter. The smell of food, however, was overpowering. Their hunger overriding their hesitancy, they followed the scent through pristine rooms, stainless steel gleaming, not noticing as the doors shut with a whoosh behind them. Cameras subtly shifted to follow their progress, and a faint whirring noise could be heard from the depths of the building. Suddenly, they turned a corner and saw in front of them not food but a dead end. Turning in confusion, they were unaware of the cage closing over them until it was too late.

The illness had been untraceable when it first arrived- at first a very mild fever was its only sign, then even that was gone- it drifted from person to person until every body on the island was a carrier, the plague hiding, waiting. It had a nearly worldwide spread by the time an Australian doctor had isolated it, and once it was found the world was thrown into panic. Every nation responded in their own way- some closed airports, borders, shipyards in an attempt to keep the disease away. Some established martial law and curfews. Greenland decided to build the ultimate hospital.

Pouring most of the nation’s budget into the project, the automated hospital was to be the beacon of the new age of health care- built with the finest protocols and the most expensive materials, the auto-hospital was designed to be utterly self-sufficient, running on Greenland’s vast reserves of geothermal power. It would handle both patient care and research. The hospital was a smashing success and became the toast of the world overnight, hailed as the eighth wonder of the world. It was far too late.

Nothing had ever evolved as quickly and as disastrously as the new disease, which was referred to as the pox because of the spots it left on victims. The spots were the first sign, then encephalitis, nausea, necrosis, and kidney failure. With an amazingly high death rate and the human immune system unable to provide protection, people fell in droves. Governments took to handing out masks, giving bottled water, and burning bodies to slow down the infection, but to no avail. It surged through Greenland as implacably as anywhere else, the technicians barely having time to program “vaccine development” into the hospitals servers before succumbing.

Within thirty days, the hospital had run out of the samples provided by the technicians. The error correction software in the computer quickly realized that there was an abundant source of the plague left- in the bodies of the rats. It began trapping them, and dissecting their bodies for more plague to experiment on. Exactly two hundred and fifty days later, the completion of the vaccine was announced to an empty world.

Empty, that is, except for one city: Antananarivo. Madagascar had been quicker than most countries to close their borders, and had weathered the virus with zero casualties. Supplies were running low, however, and the population was growing anxious. As the sun rose over the capital city of Antananarivo, the president grimly turned to face the small company of fatigue-clad men and women he had assembled. “You were brought here because you have families”, he said in a deep basso. “and so you understand what is at stake. We need that vaccine- we cannot continue to power our homes and feed our citizens for long on the supplies we have.” The aging president looked steadily into their eyes. “Our planes can get you to the coast of Greenland, but you’ll need to move quickly from there. Avoid all contact with rodents, and certainly stay away from bodies. The plan is to get in, get the vaccine, and get out as quickly as possible. With it, we can begin to re-populate the earth. Are there any questions?” Only one cadet raised a hand. The president raised his eyebrows, checked a list “Lieutenant… Walters. What is it?” “Sir,” the young woman cleared her throat “I wasn’t aware we had an airport, sir.”

This post references Pandemic II. Greenland's hospitals will stay open even if every person on the island is dead as of this post, and Madagascar is jolly well impossible to invade without it closing it's shipyard. It will occasionally close it's airport, though the island doesn't have one.

All41ne

2008-07-25T02:15:00.000-07:00

I notice that a lot of new people have joined the hall! A very warm welcome to you all.

Bobo82 and Val have been tasked with enhancing the blog's look and feel. And they have both done great things. The new design for the blog is amazing and we will be unveiling it soon.

As our numbers have grown, user participation in Hall related activities have declined. I would like to call for volunteers to handle a few things in the hall. Those of you who are interested, leave a shout or a whisper or e-mail me thehallofodin[at]gmail.com

I will be happy to provide you the details of how you can make the hall a better place. Happy Gaming.

For a few moments of peace

2008-07-15T03:07:00.000-07:00

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
W.H. Davis

These days, heartburn, indigestion, roadrage and bleary eyes seem to be the norm. We at the Hall try to soothe away the day's frustrations and let you play games in a peaceful and calm atmosphere.

Taking it a step further, we would like to present to you the Zen Meditation Chimes for a soothing and calming experience. Your World, your games, your music your way!

I would like to welcome on board a new author: Bacter. If his guest contribution is anything to go by, then we have great things to look forward to. Bobo and Valkyrie have made an excellent choice.
Welcome on Board Bacter.

Most of you would have noticed that I have asked Bobo82 to take over the Hall. I am sure that you would all extend your warmest and fullest support to her. Valkyrie has informed me that she has family priorities which limits the time she spends in the Hall and in Kongregate. She will still be with us as a resident moderator.

Our other resident room mod is doing admirable social work and will be traveling to Africa shortly. We wish her all the best. Her warm and gentle heart is appreciated. We will miss her.

We would like to know your views on the hall, it's blog, your suggestions for improvement etc. Do talk out aloud here.
The Hall of Odin

Weirdos in the Hall

2008-07-12T18:33:00.000-07:00

So just a quick post..... Need I say more? :p

bobo x

Guest Post - Bacter

2008-07-09T21:12:00.001-07:00

Hi everybody! This is Bacter.You'll probably see me around the Hall at some point - I got randomly placed there right after I registered on Kong, and liked it so much I stayed. I'm fairly OCD about getting badges,so odds are if you're having trouble with something I'm available to give you tips and such.

So what is it we like about The Hall so much? To start off, The Hall is a part of Kongregate. Sure the thousands of free, quality online games are impressive,and the badges keep everybody addicted, from the casual gamer to the hardcore obsessive. The interface is easy to use, there are active forums, and don't forget the collectible card game too. But what makes Kongregate so addicting is the ability to, well,Congregate. This is where The Hall really shines - while I usually hate the term "lovable bunch of ragtag misfits", it's not a bad way to describe the regulars here. There are plenty of experienced Kongregators available for help on badges,it's new user-friendly, and almost always troll-free. In addition, the Hall is beginning to adopt a "self-moderation" technique (read an earlier post in this blog) that's cutting down on the Vigilantes Who Need To Talk Self-Importantly To Trolls, something almost as annoying as the trolls themselves.

The problem comes you've got your badges for the week, and the game you're playing is too fast-paced, demanding, or processor-hungry for chat. It can be really frustrating when somebody asks you a question or says something you HAVE to respond to as the Wall of Doom bears down on your frightened dino, or another wave of zombies approaches your ramshackle stronghold.

So, this week I give suggestions and reviews for a number of games which are excellent to play when chatting.

5 Differences /6 differences : These games jointly take home the first prize. They are "spot the difference" games,and will patiently wait for you to pay attention to them (no time limit). The artwork is absolutely beautiful, the games are very well made, and they will even play soothing music. The differences are not the same every time, so there is some replay value. Give them a try, and chat away!

Pappa's Pizzaria: When Pizzas Attack : This platformer is pretty standard fare: run, jump, collect tokens. Two elements put it on this list. First, it's very well made. There's something so satisfying about cracking a rogue onion over the head with a cutting board that you don't mind playing it, and secondly you are never more than a few seconds away from a safe platform, where you can leave papa for an indefinate amount of time as you chat away.

Chat Sketcher Beta: The ultimate for people who need all their processing power for one thing at a time. True, it's just paint with a chat function attached to it, but you can draw unflattering pictures of the people who are making fun of you in chat, and, as the only game on this list without a badge, solidly establishes my reputation as someone who does any research for his articles.

That's it for this time, ciao till later!

Bacter

...and that guys was a post from a potential permenant author. Give us some feedback and let us know what you think! Lots of love, The HoO crew.

New Authors

2008-06-23T12:08:00.001-07:00

Ok, time for some more user input on this thing. It took a while but things are set up and running nicely now so we thought it was about time we put out a call for some more authors. Now you know the old saying too many cooks spoil the broth, well too many authors spoil the blog.... So we will only be taking one or two new authors right now but we might take some more a little later on (so please don’t be mad/upset if we don’t take you as an author this time). To make this as fair as can be and make this blog as good as can be we would like anyone who wants to be an author to send in a sample post. Please read the following and then send your posts to thehallofodin@gmail.com.

Who can write one?
Anyone who is a regular, part time user or even occasional drop in to the Hall.

What to write about
You can write about whatever you want as long as it has something to do with the Hall of Odin. This is a blog for the HoO not for Kongregate in general so make sure it’s relevant to the HoO. You can write about something funny you saw in chat, start a competition, make up a fairy story about some of the regulars in the hall, whatever you want really! You can add in pictures if you want, either of screen shots from chat or any other pictures that are relevant.

Introduce yourself at the start of the post as if you are accepted the post you submit now will be your first post on the blog. Say your name and a little about who you are for those who may not know you and put your username at the bottom of the post also.

What not to write about
The same rules apply here as in the Hall, no profanity, no explicit writing or pictures, no abuse towards other users etc. Please also try and keep things general, the odd in-joke here and there is fine but this is a blog for ALL the users who frequent the Hall so make sure the post is interesting to everyone.

What does being an author on this blog entail?
There are no serious commitments, if you become an author we would like you to try and submit a new post at least once a month but beyond that it’s up to you how often you post. If you want to change your mind for any reason – you have started hanging out in a different room, you don’t have time for this or you just don’t want to do it anymore then no worries, let us know and we will take you off the author list. Be aware though, if you become an author and post something which contains profanity, abuse, inappropriate images or language or something generally not nice then we will remove the post and remove you from the author list. If you are ever unsure you can always run a post by one of us first.

We will leave this open for about a fortnight to give everyone time to see this post and to have time to write one of their own. We want good writers who will spend enough time in the Hall to have things to write about on a regular basis. Like I said, we are only looking for one or maybe two more authors right now so please don’t be offended if we don’t take you on as one.

Much love and hugs
The HoO bloggers :)

Self moderation...

2008-06-11T11:17:00.001-07:00

...What it means in the Hall of Odin.

This is not a “BIG” or “I have a Dream” kind of speech. This is just an opinion. And it is only MY opinion. It does not reflect the view of other people in Kongregate or else where. It is not a suggestion for a method that kongregate has to follow. Nor is it a proposal for a way to start letting people tell each other how to behave.

About two years ago, as I started visiting Kongregate, it was like coming home kicking off my shoes, getting myself a cold soda and sitting back on my favorite beanbag and watching my Aquarium. Relaxing.

It surprised me that people were fun and always helped others in a polite and friendly manner. Damijin was then a Moderator and owner of The Van. Yet The Van had little moderation. It just held well together. By itself! Mods came and went but I did not witness any bans happen. I thought that it was because of the Alpha days. But the new rooms were getting their fair share of bans.

The van was unique. It seemed to be a place of peace and relaxation. The people there made a big difference. They were not moderators and they were not shouting at you to keep quiet. The best way that I can describe it is “It was like a monastery or a zen garden.” There was no one there telling you to behave and there was no peace enforcement force, yet no one wanted to shatter the tranquility by being loud or offensive.

How? Why? What is the difference between a library where every one is quiet and one where everyone has a free for all? How do such places maintain their peace? Damijin and I had a discussion when I had asked him these questions. His answer was simple. Educate a few people at first what you expect and how you would like them to behave. And soon they will educate the rest who come there and they will educate the others and so on. The pattern would be set and the behavior will be more or less in line with what you expect. He also said something to the effect of “Not every one has the same line of thought as you. So you have to let them have some level of freedom and let then have some slack in what they do”. The best generals do not have to bark orders. They tell their lieutenants their idea and let them draw up the means of carrying out those instructions.

So what is this Self Moderation mumbo jumbo?

There are two different “Self moderation” concepts. Greg, the community manager has one concept (which is more about Moderation empowerment than self moderation), known as Automated User Moderation, which will be implemented soon and is generic to whole of Kongregate. Learn more here

Please note that Greg's Automated User moderation concept often referred as Self Moderation, is about letting users have a fair deal of independence in what they want to see and not see in the chats. But it is not an excuse for people to start becoming overexcited and overbearing when dealing with others.

My Concept has nothing to do with power or empowerment. It is not in conflict with Greg, or in competition or in any way tries to suggest what should be done. It is just a plea to people, requesting them to contain themselves. It does not over ride moderators nor does it mean that the existing system is being questioned. In fact it is more a behavioral pattern than applies to life rather than just to Kongregate.

My suggestion for self moderation is not about being a Moderator in kongregate. It is about following a set of codes in your own life. Like being modest, reasonable, sensible, restrained, judicious and temperate. It is not about authority or about giving you the right to rip into someone, asking them to behave in a manner that you want them to behave. That is what trolls do. For those of you who are interested in splitting hairs.. please ask me for any clarifications before you assume anything. Self moderation is NOT going and telling everyone that they have to follow rules cause "YOU" said so.

In simple terms what does self moderation mean in context of The Hall of Odin?

It means that you moderate yourself. Let me clarify, it does not mean that you moderate others, it means that you have to have self control and self awareness. It means that users behave themselves, be polite, civil and that behavior will encourage others to behave in the same way. Please mark what I am saying. The behavior will encourage people to be like you. YOU do not encourage or demand people to be like you. It means that you should not have to ask someone to keep quiet or demand that someone stop spamming. But by watching you they will be inspired to be like you and settle down.

The best action that you can take when someone is being a pain is to mute them. Exchanging words of any fashion with them will only increase any existing bad intent. This saves your sanity and deprives the bullies of their thrill. When the room does not respond to any of their taunts, they get bored and just hush up. Only when people start showing some reaction do they get their thrill and want more of it. I know it is hard to stay silent when some one is puking filth, but this is the essence of self moderation. Restraint.

For those of you who seek to be a contributing moderator, here are some helpful insights. If you try to control the chats, and spread goodness in them by being aggressive and trying to project yourself as a moderator, you would be knocking down the chances of you becoming a moderator. Your best chances to get noticed and picked up for a nomination is to stay calm, maintain your composure and be polite even in the face of worst insults. So the best thing to do will be to behave like a good host. Smile and keep smiling even when the trolls try to get a rise out of you. And for any reason, do not ever tell another moderator how to do his/her job. That will only result in you being stereotyped as a "Know it all" and could destroy your chances.

It is ok to tell someone.. "hey name. In this room we do not wish to discuss that topic", or "Hello Name, it would be nice if you did not use such language in here. Please refrain". And if they settle down, fantastic. Nine out of ten times, a new person with no trollish intent will quickly apologize and adapt. Else Mute is the button to Bliss. Should they continue trolling, please get a moderator. It is not acceptable to say something like "Yo noname. You are not welcome here" or "No name, you are going to get banned. But we will give you another chance. Just this once" and most certainly please do not say something like "Shut up stupid" or "Blow it out of your other ear"

The Hall of Odin has become one of the best Rooms in a very short span of time. The members and regulars here have been outstanding in their support and flexibility. Your adherence to the room's codes has been truly exemplary. Of all the rooms that have been assigned owners and moderators, The Hall of Odin has the lowest ban counts. Which means that it has the best people in Kong. So it has not been very hard to maintain the friendly ambiance of the HoO. And I have had phenomenal help from Bobo82 and Vanilla_dreaming, two exceptional people.

Lets be nice. It sounds simple, and it is all that it takes. Be nice and everyone will be nice to you.

Enjoy your experience in The Hall of Odin.

Links

2008-06-07T13:58:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post to say that we have added some useful links to the blog. If you look just to the left there's the link to the general help page for Kong. This has a lot of really useful things on it from how to earn points, to how to implement API on an uploaded game. There is also a link for the Kong behaviour guidelines, remember though that these are general guidelines and that each room has a slightly different tolerance for things. The last link is to a form to report abusive users. If you cant find a mod then you can report someone through this.

Any more links you think would be helpful leave a comment or give me a shout and we'll see about getting them up.

bobo x

New helmets!

2008-06-01T00:11:00.000-07:00

Look up at the top of the page......now look down at the very bottom of the page.....now look to the left of the page.....brand new custom designed helmets!

An enormous thank you to COLTchr for these amazing designs.

I had to fiddle about with them a bit to get them where I wanted on the page and at the right size so here are the original drawings in all their glory for you to gaze at in awe and wonder. (and before anyone says anything.... yes, I know it would have been better to have the colour one as the main pic and the pencil one as the little ones but when I shrank the little ones they were too faint and I kinda liked the pencil one so went with it for the main picture).

bobo x

Questions

2008-05-30T17:47:00.000-07:00

We've been getting a lot of questions about the blog so i thought i would try and answer some of them by giving you a little more info on what our plan is.

Authors: For the time being it’s just thehallofodin, Vanilla and Bobo. The blog has only been up a few days and we’re keeping authors to a minimum until things are a little more sorted and running smoothly. We would really really like some regulars to be authors and as soon as we are ready to take some on we will put the word out. In the meantime leave one of us a whisper if you want to be considered as a future author. Like we have already said this is YOUR blog and we want YOUR input, the only reason we are keeping it to a small number of authors at first is just to keep things easy whilst we get it all set up.

Contributions: You don’t need to be an author to contribute something to the blog. If you have a snippet of conversation, funny story, screen shot, anything really then just leave one of us a shout/whisper and we will try and put it into one of our posts with a comment saying it was your contribution.

Suggestions: Some of you have been giving us some really great suggestions (thank you Monkey_Saw for the poll idea!). Keep it up guys, leave us messages on our profiles and on this blog as then we have a lasting record of who said what. (I personally have the memory of a confused goldfish so please don’t be offended if I forget something you have told me in chat!)....er small apology some idiot (*whistles nonchalantly* me? No definitely not me!) may have pressed the wrong button on the allowing comments page...all fixed, so go ahead and leave us some comments on the posts on this blog!

And finally, okay okay I give in, now stop the nagging! (you know who you are)

Happy now? :p.

bobo x

And the person of the month is.....

2008-05-29T11:01:00.000-07:00

Heya all!

So, now we have this new amazing shiny awesome blog for the hall, we thought it'd be cool to have a person of the month kinda thing... so here goes!

This month, as tis a new blog and all, we thought that the person of the month should be, well, you! Yep, we figured that the first person, or persons as it were, should be all the regulars of the hall, for making it such a fun and awesome place. You've helped make it a great place to hang out and chat, and make us all smile. *hugs* Thanks guys! Cookies and cake for all! =D

Vanilla

Drumroll please.......

2008-05-28T12:15:00.000-07:00

Welcome to The Hall of Odin's blog!

This is a blog by The Hall for The Hall so we welcome any and all of your suggestions. This doesn't have to stay as a blog, this doesn’t have to stay on this site....this is YOUR (yes you the HoO's patrons) blog so tell us exactly what you want it to be like.

A few of you have mentioned that you might be willing to lend a hand in the creation of this home away from home and we would greatly appreciate any help you care to give. Give us a little while to get this whole thing up and running and then we will also be looking for any HoO regulars who want to contribute posts to this.

Anyone who wants to help with this or just make some suggestions please comment on here or leave a shout/whisper in one of our profiles.

And finally....a huge huge thank you to all the Hall of Odin’s regulars and occasional visitors who make The HoO the great place it is. We know who you are (mwahahaha yes we are watching you :p) and we think you are awesome. The HoO is only great because of you. Your friendly attitude in welcoming new and old users alike, your helpfulness in giving tips for their every gaming needs (so I’m meant to put the hairdryer in the sink not the bath!) and your friendly and entertaining chatter make The HoO what it is.

I shall leave you with a small example of this entertaining chatter we speak of....

Much love and affection
thehallofodin, Valkyrie, vanilla_dreaming and bobo82.