Junk Wax Battle 2.0 - Players Needed!

If you're a longtime reader of this blog, you know that I'm all about innovation in this wonderful hobby of ours. Not so much innovating the cards themselves, but how we as collectors approach and make sense of them, and their meaning and use within our lives.

Back in October, my friend Matt and I hosted a game—we called it Junk Wax Battle—at our local board game cafe in Brookline, Mass. The goal was to put together a complete set of 1988 Donruss by ripping packs, trading with other players, and winning in-game auctions. We had five players and one judge.

And while it was fun, it was too chaotic, frenetic, and crazy to keep track of everything at once. That was problem number one. By going for a complete set, players had to keep the cards face-down in order to view each card's checklist number, so they couldn't appreciate the ugly, futuristic blue design and photos on the fronts of the cards (problem number two). And after two-and-a-half hours, none of the players had completed the set. So there was problem number three.

Our post mortem with the players revealed other problems: there were too many moving parts in the game-play structure and the set itself was too big to complete in the time we allotted. While the players' different checklisting styles wasn't an issue, the time it took each of them to sort and then physically cross names and numbers off the checklist was.

Armed with this constructive criticism and firsthand experience, it was back to the drawing board. And now, after much tinkering, Junk Wax Battle 2.0 is ready to be put to the test.

We've incorporated smaller checklists—within the larger set—that can change from game to game (or even round to round). We've made the scoring system easier to manage for the players and for the judge. We have a game board (like a baccarat mat), and a less convoluted game structure than before. And we have a real prize, supplied by a generous local card shop. All we need now are players.

Would you pay $10 for a chance to win an autographed David Ortiz baseball card? We're looking for 3 to 5 players available for Sunday, February 15th. If you're in the Boston, Massachusetts area and are interested in competing in Junk Wax Battle 2.0 for a chance to win this great prize, drop me a line.

Junk Wax Battle: 1988 Donruss

We like to break new ground here at The Baseball Card Blog. From the exhaustive Best Set of the 1980s Countdown, to publishing reader-submitted card designs, to an all-cardboard rendition of Casey at the Bat—not to mention showcasing the talents of Mike Kenny and Travis Peterson—we're always pushing new and unexpected ways for collectors to enjoy our hobby. 

Well, add another to the list. We're excited to announce that Junk Wax Battle: 1988 Donruss (formerly one of Ben's pipe dreams) is going to happen. It's a game, played with cards, where the goal is to be the first to hand-collate a set of 1988 Donruss. Sounds easy, right? Well, did we mention that there are eight players and a dungeonmaster-like judge?

Game play combines ripping unopened wax packs, keeping a checklist, trading with other players, and bidding in judge-run auctions (all bidding is based on cards' book values from a 1988 Beckett Baseball Card Monthly). And actual prizes will be awarded to the top two finishers.

It's guaranteed to be weird—if not exhilarating. If you're in the Boston, Mass. area, I invite you to join us. Right now, we're looking for eight players, and we'll be playing at 7PM on Thursday, October 2, 2014, at Knight Moves Board Game Cafe in Coolidge Corner (Brookline). It's free to watch and $20 to play. All players will go home with a complete set of 1988 Donruss.

Tell your friends!

Junk Wax Battle homepage

Junk Wax Battle rules

Junk Wax Battle on Facebook

Casting Agent: "Hops"

This week's edition of "Casting Agent" is for a pay-cable mini series drama focusing on the trials and tribulations of running a brewery during the late 1850s/early 1860s in the United States. It will take place in Milwaukee and focus on a character based on Joseph Schlitz, the power struggles of running a profitable brewery, and more larger themes like the U.S. Civil War. I see this as a "television event"–type series, with six episodes (at most) and no additional series renewal. I'm calling it "Hops."

Characters

Jim Thome as Tom Schlipps, upstart owner of the Knüg Brewery/Schlipps Brewers

Harmon Killebrew as Augustus Knüg, deceased owner of Knüg Brewery (shown in flashback)

Mary Steenburgen as The Widow Knüg and future Mrs. Schlipps

Bob Moose as Lemuel Fjordsson, brewmaster at Knüg Brewery
and rival at Mountain River & Sons Brewery

Walter Johnson as Castleton Parnassus "C.P." Billingsley, local financier

Johnny Bench as Meinhard "Pete" Wermeißer, Schlipps' neighbor and friend

with Johnny Mize as James B. Cross, mayor of Milwaukee and later rival to Schlipps

and Mark Eaton as Martin Bartellschloss, a corrupt policeman
in the new Milwaukee Police Department

Baseball Card Game: Casting Agent

One of my favorite games is called Casting Agent. You choose, based on the photograph on the front of their baseball card, the perfect candidate for each role. This morning the show I’m casting is a cop show I’ve titled “Third Strike.” (I know, it’s a bad title… but good in a late night syndicated cop show kind of way.)

Casting Agent: Cop Show

Title: Third Strike

‘A’ Plot: A heroic police detective screws up on the job and his identical twin (and detective partner) dies in a vat of hot wax (or so he thinks). In the wake of his mistake, the detective leaves the force to become an alcoholic, with a candle phobia. When he returns he asks for a transfer to a new department and lands in Street Crime. He bonds with his new partner, mayhem ensues and he learns that the only way to defeat his personal demons is to pursue elusive criminal masterminds including “Nickel Nip,” whom Detective Malzone figures out is his identical twin, Haddix Malzone (portrayed by Cardinals’ fireballer Harvey Haddix).

‘B’ Plots: The Sarge (Ron Kline) is incompetent and the other detectives are crazy.


Cast:

Street Crime Unit

Frank Malzone as Detective Malzone


Tommy Davis as Detective Davis


George Scott as Detective Scott


Sal Bando as Detective Sal “Loose Cannon” Bando


Ron Kline as The Sarge



Villains

Bobby Thomson as "Bang Bang" in episode Shot In The Park


Wally Moon as "The Professor" in episode Evil has an MA


Moose Skowron as "The Moose" in episode Off Season Hunting


Rocky Bridges as "Chaw" in episode Bad Habits Die Hard


Harvey Haddix as Haddix “Nickel Nip” Malzone
in episodes Brothers in Blood (and Wax), Nickel In Change, Requiem For A Malzone, Family Reunion and Third Strike (Nickel Nipped)