Happy Together

Scott Hardie | September 12, 2015
Rock Block's fall 2015 tournament begins this afternoon, at 4pm eastern. It's deliberately set at a slower pace than the brief, frantic summer tournament, so this one should take most of the fall to play out.

Have you ever played one of those matching memory games? It's similar to that. For every draw in concert, you get to claim another album on the grid, trying to find both copies to make a pair. For every win in concert, you can steal an album that someone else has already claimed. Only when you have a matching pair does it become yours forever. At the end of the tournament, whoever has collected the most matching pairs will win.

Please remember to claim an artist on the grid after every draw or win. You only get one concert at a time, and your next concert won't start until you make your claim. New concerts start on the hour.

If you play, you will get a free copy of The Turtles added to your label, and at least ten ranks of new artists. You will also get the insanely catchy song stuck in your head. My apologies for that. :-)

Have fun, and may the best collector win!

Scott Hardie | December 22, 2015
It has been clear for some time that this tournament is going to reach its timeout date of December 30. If someone still has a lead of multiple albums over the other players that evening, I'll just wrap it up a few hours early instead of waiting until midnight.

Scott Hardie | December 31, 2015
The tournament is over. Prizes will be issued this weekend.

Congrats on the long-foreseen victory, Steve! You pretty much had a lock on this from the get-go. :-) I salute you all on playing so hard. This was tough.

I enjoyed the tournament, even though it went on longer than expected and we didn't use half of the albums that were in the system. I thought that the album-collecting offered an interesting mini-game, and I liked the twists and reversals of fortune that came with stealing.

I don't expect to run another tournament until we have more players in the game. It's just too difficult to get enough gameplay happening with so few players right now. What I might try to do in the meantime is a single-afternoon mini-tournament, so that everyone can play at once, especially if former players such as Aaron or Matthew or Richard would be interested in playing that way. We could even get a chat or video conference going. Let me give it some thought.

Chris Lemler | December 31, 2015
Congrats Steve!!!!!What about games still going on Scott? Do they count towards the albums we collected?

Scott Hardie | December 31, 2015
Nope, sorry. Those concerts can play out but they won't affect final scores.

Chris Lemler | December 31, 2015
Okay thx Scott

Steve West | December 31, 2015
I am so on a roll. How can I turn this streak to my advantage? Oh Brenda...

Chris Lemler | December 31, 2015
Steve can your new years resolution be take it easy on me in rock block.....jk. It's always fun having a match with you Scott,and other players

Steve West | January 1, 2016
Brenda says, "Oscars will be soon..."

Scott Hardie | January 3, 2016
For anyone curious, here's the full list of albums in the tournament:

B.B. King, Singin' the Blues
Screamin' Jay Hawkins, I Put a Spell on You
The Teenagers, The Teenagers Featuring Frankie Lymon
Elvis Presley, Elvis Presley
Carl Perkins, Dance Album of Carl Perkins
The Coasters, The Coasters
Gene Vincent, Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps
Fats Domino, This is Fats
Little Richard, Here's Little Richard
Chuck Berry, After School Session
Johnny Cash, Johnny Cash with His Hot and Blue Guitar!
The Everly Brothers, The Everly Brothers
Jerry Lee Lewis, Jerry Lee Lewis
Jimmy Reed, I'm Jimmy Reed
Sam Cooke, Sam Cooke
Buddy Holly, Buddy Holly
John Lee Hooker, I'm John Lee Hooker
Ritchie Valens, Ritchie Valens
Bo Diddley, Go Bo Diddley
Ray Charles, The Genius of Ray Charles
James Brown, Live at the Apollo
The Beatles, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Bob Dylan, Highway 61 Revisited
Otis Redding, Otis Blue
The Beach Boys, Pet Sounds
Aretha Franklin, I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You
The Velvet Underground, The Velvet Underground & Nico
Jimi Hendrix, Are You Experienced
Love, Forever Changes
Leonard Cohen, Songs of Leonard Cohen
The Zombies, Odessey and Oracle
The Band, Music from Big Pink
Van Morrison, Astral Weeks
The Kinks, The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society
Sly and the Family Stone, Stand!
Neil Young, Everybody Knows This is Nowhere
The Who, Tommy
King Crimson, In the Court of the Crimson King
Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin II
The Rolling Stones, Let It Bleed
The Stooges, Funhouse
John Lennon, Plastic Ono Band
Marvin Gaye, What's Going On
Joni Mitchell, Blue
Funkadelic, Maggot Brain
Pink Floyd, The Dark Side of the Moon
Stevie Wonder, Innervisions
Elton John, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Patti Smith, Horses
Ramones, Ramones
Queen, A Day at the Races
David Bowie, Low
Television, Marquee Moon
Fleetwood Mac, Rumours
Kraftwerk, Trans-Europe Express
Elvis Costello, My Aim is True
Bruce Springsteen, Born to Run
Sex Pistols, Never Mind the Bullocks Here's the Sex Pistols
Blondie, Parallel Lines
The Clash, London Calling
Joy Division, Closer
AC/DC, Back in Black
Talking Heads, Remain in Light
Michael Jackson, Thriller
R.E.M., Murmur
The Police, Synchronicity
Van Halen, 1984
Tina Turner, Private Dancer
Prince, Purple Rain
The Replacements, Let It Be
Madonna, Like a Virgin
Tears for Fears, Songs from the Big Chair
Dire Straits, Brothers in Arms
Peter Gabriel, So
U2, The Joshua Tree
Guns N' Roses, Appetite for Destruction
The Pixies, Surfer Rosa
Public Enemy, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
The Cure, Disintegration
Beastie Boys, Paul's Boutique
They Might Be Giants, Flood
Mariah Carey, Mariah Carey
Metallica, Metallica
Pearl Jam, Ten
Nirvana, Nevermind
Red Hot Chili Peppers, Blood Sugar Sex Magic
My Bloody Valentine, Loveless
Liz Phair, Exile in Guyville
Smashing Pumpkins, Siamese Dream
Counting Crows, August and Everything After
Wu-Tang Clan, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
Green Day, Dookie
Pavement, Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain
Weezer, Weezer
Oasis, (What's the Story) Morning Glory?
Beck, Odelay
Belle & Sebastian, If You're Feeling Sinister
Radiohead, OK Computer
Lauryn Hill, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Outkast, Aquemini
Ryan Adams, Heartbreaker
Fuel, Something Like Human
The Strokes, Is This It
System of a Down, Toxicity
Jay-Z, The Blueprint
Wilco, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Norah Jones, Come Away with Me
Maroon 5, Songs About Jane
The White Stripes, Elephant
Death Cab for Cutie, Transatlanticism
Kanye West, The College Dropout
The Killers, Hot Fuss
Arcade Fire, Funeral
James Blunt, Back to Bedlam
Kings of Leon, Aha Shake Heartbreak
Coldplay, X&Y
Sufjan Stevens, Illinois
Amy Winehouse, Back to Black
Bon Iver, For Emma, Forever Ago
MGMT, Oracular Spectacular
Florence + the Machine, Lungs
Vampire Weekend, Contra
Spoon, Transference
The National, High Violet
LCD Soundsystem, This is Happening
Band of Horses, Infinite Arms
Bruno Mars, Doo-Wops & Hooligans
Take That, Progress
Kid Rock, Born Free
Adele, 21
fun., Some Nights
The Lumineers, The Lumineers
Mumford & Sons, Babel
Three Days Grace, Transit of Venus
Tame Impala, Lonerism
Daft Punk, Random Access Memories
Ed Sheeran, X
Taylor Swift, 1989
Imagine Dragons, Smoke + Mirrors
Kendrick Lamar, To Pimp a Butterfly