The Authoritative Minesweeper Guestbook

Feel free to chat, make suggestions, or tell your scores!


08/05/02 05:51:13 AM  
Name: Dan
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: No videos, but I put the screenshot on my site(It is my only 47). The 3BV is 136. I was quite surprised to break mid 50s, let alone get a 47, because I wasn't aware I was going especially fast. My goal now is to get a 10 or 11 on intermediate(easier said than done) to challenge the best combined time for any period so far. I think 61 is the best.
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08/04/02 07:27:21 PM  
Name: Marc Schouten
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Not too bad, Dan. Do you still make videos of your games? I've been slowly regaining a bit of form since I got back from my vacation. I've gotten 4 sub-60s so far (56, 58x3) in quite a few hours this weekend. Played halfway through a would-be low-50s, high-40s games, but nothing close.
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08/04/02 04:51:48 PM  
Name: Dan
Best expert: 46
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Suh-fuckin-weet. Just got a 47, my first sub50 since the first week of January.
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08/04/02 10:09:06 AM  
Name: Sorin
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Yes Owen but it was expert over beg this time You have a good chance now. I have 3-17-xx so far and just two days left before I leave. Hey Dan, I wouldn't be surprized at all to see you posting a 39 these days. You only need to finish one of those fast games. It's how I got my 49.
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08/04/02 05:11:25 AM  
Name: Owen
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Hi guys, I'm back from holiday. Congrats to Stephan and Lukasz. Damn, when I sub 50 It won't be anything special with all ye others doing it before me! Yet again Sorin, you nibbed me at the line in the Active Rankings. you beat me on your lower exp score again.... And Dan also Good Luck All and have good holidays!
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08/04/02 02:42:26 AM  
Name: Roelof Smit
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Great job Lukasz! Got my 6th sub-20 yesterday, of course another 19. It feels good: I used to get 20's and 21's all the time, now I haven't seen those numbers in ages. When I finish an intermediate game it's a 19 About the Active Ranking: Stephan was nice enough to take over my task as listmaker. Thanks again mate That means that I'm going to ask you to send your scores to bechtel@uni-hohenheim.de for the upcoming period (which has already started). If someone else is interested, please do tell us, because Stephan's got exams these days and doesn't have much time. I'll post this message in all 3 guestbooks + the addicts group and I'll send an e-mail warning to everyone who was on the list once + some other minesweepers I did put into my AR adress book
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08/03/02 04:36:25 PM  
Name: Dan
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Fabulous, Lukasz. I have a feeling there will be another ten guys who get a sub50 before I can do it again. I keep getting great chances, but I can't close the deal. Hell, one game the other day the board was over half cleared in 17 seconds. I calculated my pace to be upper 30s. One of these days, maybe.
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08/03/02 08:01:55 AM  
Name: Sorin
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Congrats Lukasz! You should start playing and the program start counting. It should count clicks from all over the screen. "Recorder" counts the clicks and 3BV(upper left corner) and outputs two files in the same directory. "Counter" is the same except it does not write any files.
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08/03/02 07:33:04 AM  
Name: Marc Schouten
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Well done, Lukasz! I was hoping to break 50 when it was still somewhat special. Now, with you and Sorin getting 49s, I'll have to break it really soon, if I want to even get noticed .
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08/03/02 04:08:43 AM  
Name: lukasz malinowski
Best expert: 49
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: nice to read the guestbook again . i don't have internet connection now.. so i broke my record one week ago. before i hadn't played for a month and a half because of exams, but severals days of playing turned out to be enough to have good form again. i forgot to take a the screen so i can't post it now. see you guys
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08/03/02 04:05:35 AM  
Name: lloigor
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: ive dled it but simply cant figure out how to use it... when i start any of the two *.exe i get a little window (minesweeper is started) which says 1 left, 1 time, right 0 and all values dont change at all.... i hope someone can tell me what to do
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08/03/02 02:21:38 AM  
Name: Sorin
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Ok, I've uploaded it. It doesn't count double clicks yet,but I could do a version that does. I'm a flagger and don't use that but if you really want it tell me before tuesday.
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08/03/02 02:04:33 AM  
Name: Roelof Smit
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Congrats Stephan! I did get my 5th sub-20 (19 again) yesterday evening. It seems I'm finally learning a bit about how to play intermediate
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08/02/02 10:06:28 PM  
Name: Damien
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: only played for 5-6 min before coming on the net this evening...third beg game was a 3, first and only int a 16 and first and only ex a 55. the 16 was a 35-click board whereas my 11 wason a 39, so my playing this evening wasn't really that great. congrats on the 13. can someone send me the no-file version of sorin's counter? thanks
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08/02/02 06:52:13 PM  
Name: Dan
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: The active ranking page has been updated. Let me know if there are any errors.
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08/02/02 06:19:52 PM  
Name: James
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: I live is a crazy fucking country (Canada). The first 2 weeks of August are usually the dryest in my region, with less than a 10% chance of any percipitation from Aug 1-15. There is 6cm of snow on the ground right now, and it is still falling.
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08/02/02 06:13:31 PM  
Name: Matt
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Good job Stephan. I knew you were about to have a breakthrough. I have been paying absolutely no time at all to minesweeper in the past two weeks. I've been out and about doing things that were burning a hole on my "Life Checklist". I want to do everything once (not EVERYthing...you know) and it's only so often opporunities arise that allow you to seize the day and make your life a little more worthwhile. I'll be taking the penalty this period along with several others it seems.
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08/02/02 02:47:05 PM  
Name: Stephan
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Sorin, you should really let the world participate at the advantages of your recorder. I'm using the nofile-version, and I couldn't detect any inacceptable bugs. It's great! Ben, I'll expect a new record post of you any time I watch this guestbook!
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08/02/02 01:21:55 PM  
Name: Ben
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Damn Stephan great job I'm leaving for Denmark for a week tomorrow. Then I'm a week at home and then two weeks in Marburg, Germany, for a 'Summer School'. When do you expect me to catch up on you???
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08/02/02 01:21:42 PM  
Name: Axolotl
Best expert: 98
Best intermediate: 29
Best beginner: 4
Comments: I'd just like to say...I'm never playing this dumb game again . I finally broke 100 on expert and that's all I ever wanted to do. I will never play it again .
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08/02/02 12:46:15 PM  
Name: Sorin
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Sorry Stephan I din't saw the first line. Hmmm...one other thing My counting program turned into a recorder... I think i'll upload it into the addicts site sometime next week before I leave. It won't be bug free but with your help I will have something to work on when I get back .
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08/02/02 12:36:37 PM  
Name: Sorin
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Hey good jop Stephan! You're doing big steps lately! What was the 3BV of that board? I'll be going on a two week trip in a few days but I don't want the AR stopped. I have 4 days to get my scores and I hope it will be enough.
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08/02/02 12:02:12 PM  
Name: Stephan
Best expert: 55
Best intermediate: 13 (!!!!)
Best beginner: 2
Comments: Finally got a 13 on a 30 3BV board. Sorin's program counted 42 clicks (left, nf). After >80 sub-20s in July, the new record was quite due. Ben, I think this should give some additional ambition . About the A.R. break: We discussed that already, and I think, to be just to all Australian participants, we shouldn't take a break. If there is nobody else, I would take the listbuilder job.
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08/02/02 10:14:04 AM  
Name: Elmar
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Roelof: i'm with you on the idea of making the next period a holiday break. i'm going on a two week vacation today, so i wouldn't be able to submit any scores.
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08/02/02 06:10:10 AM  
Name: Anonymous Surfer
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: I think I have a 25 (might be 26) 3BV board that I scored a 16 on. It might have been mentioned here already because I'm sure when I posted it to Damien he said it was the same board he had got a 13 on. I've never bothered downloading the 3BV program so have counted it myself... I'm not sure how it rates as a dreamboard; I can't visualise playing it just looking at the finished board, but for example, at the extreme bottom-left there is a 'blank' square, surrounded on its 3 sides by numbered squares. This takes 3 off the 3BV score, but is only of any use if you happen to click the empty square; so maybe it is not as easy as The Dreamboard, which doesn't look to have any similar enclosed blanks. There are a few other areas as well - at the middle-bottom there are 2 empty squares on their own, surrounded by numbered squares, and clicking either would take out the 7 surrounding squares. I don't know if this is one of the reasons why some boards with low 3BVs get slightly higher times, i.e. empty squares are going to lower the 3BV, but the smaller the number of empty squares in a group, the lower the probability is of clicking them. I might be speaking the obvious here... Like I said, I find it hard to visualise playing it; it might be easier (relatively speaking) to clear than I think (I can't remember playing it by the way. I tend towards clicking as opposed to double-clicking as well).
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08/02/02 12:38:53 AM  
Name: James
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: I now have a web-site. This is my first try at this, and I really do not know anything about computers, so it is not very well done. This is kinda embarasing to say, but when my little sister returns from her visit to Quebec she will be able to help me make it beter. Damien, do you think that you could put it under the "personal" links?
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08/01/02 06:25:25 PM  
Name: James
Best expert: 86
Best intermediate: 22
Best beginner: 3
Comments: P.C.S.: Only 5 months ago I was at the same level you are at now. I did just what Marc recomemded and learnt the paterns. If you are anything like me, you probably have only a vague understanding of what that means. Just click the "Links" button on the left and look at Frank Westers site. There you will find out all you need to know about patterns. Another useful tool is videos. I suggest that you watch all the vids you can; but sometimes the really fast ones (sub-60, sub-16) are not so useful because they are just too fast. I recomend looking at Yoni's videos (link to his site is on the home page) that are around the 70 sec range as they display excellent style at a more comprehendable speed. Good luck. Remember: if you actually want to get faster, you will. Just keep playing. Yesterday my second board of the day was a 35 3BV that I played horribly (no less than 5 seconds just starring) and got a 29. Latter I had a great exp board (121 3BV) and lost at 72 seconds with 9 mines left. James
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08/01/02 03:31:45 PM  
Name: Sorin
Best expert:
Best intermediate: 15*4 - damn
Best beginner:
Comments: I got a 101 3BV intermediate and lost at 29 seconds with one or 2 squares left to click. I got tired of clicking and clicked randomly i guess. I was really nervous because I was getting lots of 20's. I got 3 20's in less than 2 minutes. two of them were right one after another. I also got my 100th sub 20 today.I did 10% of my total 100 today in a little more than 2 hours: 15 16 2x17 2x18 3x19 (and 10x20). Sorin
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08/01/02 11:51:51 AM  
Name: Dan
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Any idea what the worst 3BV intermediate board is? I just got 26 seconds on a 62 3BV. I bet there are some worse.
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08/01/02 08:37:42 AM  
Name: Matt
Best expert: 51
Best intermediate: 10
Best beginner: 1
Comments: Hey AJ, can you send me the screenshot of the your 26 board? The screenshot of my 11 on the AR site takes 26 clicks also.
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08/01/02 06:44:03 AM  
Name: Roelof Smit
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Hey, I'm going on holiday Friday 9th and I'll stay away for 2 weeks. Which means that I can't do my work for the AR the 16th. Could someone take over my task for 1 period? (collecting e-mails, making the list and send it to Dan?) Please let me know. Thanks Roelof PS: We could also make this a holiday break of course, please let me know what you think.
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08/01/02 06:26:36 AM  
Name: Active Ranking
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: **** Deadline tomorrow @ 20:00 GMT/4pm EDT ****
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08/01/02 02:55:59 AM  
Name: Marc Schouten
Best expert: 51
Best intermediate: 12
Best beginner: 2
Comments: Hey P.C.S., (what does that stand for?) You're at a point where you probably aren't quite familiar yet with all the different patterns. I'm guessing that your mouse handling isn't optimal yet either. There is really only one remedy for that: keep at it. I could go and explain all the different patterns, but that really wouldn't be much help. You need to find out for yourself in order to remember them. When your scores drop to, let's say, 70 on expert, you want to find more advanced techniques of reducing time, but by then, you'll have mastered the game to such an extent that you'll probably have a pretty clear picture of what to do. So: just keep playing. You'll be surprised at how quickly you'll drop below 100 if you put some effort into it.
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08/01/02 02:43:10 AM  
Name: P.C.S.
Best expert: 140
Best intermediate: 37
Best beginner: 7
Comments: hey u ppl, i wanted to post a message here bcos i felt that this is a great site for all the minesweeper freaks and bcos i need a bit of help too. i donno how to better my times and am stuck with these horrible times.please pls help me.feel free to mail me at iam_pc@yahoo.com . thanx to all and wiatin for ur mails
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07/31/02 01:16:11 PM  
Name: AJ
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Hey I am bak from holiday and just catching up on all this 3BV stuff. Finally downloaded the program at the 20th attempt and I ran it on some of my int boards. The lowest 3BV I found was 26, which I believe is lower than the dreamboard, and I knew that when I was playing that board it was frighteningly fast - but that was ages ago when I couldn't play intermediate, so I won't run away from it if I got it again !
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07/31/02 07:32:02 AM  
Name: Active Ranking
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: **** 2 Day Warning ****
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07/31/02 05:02:50 AM  
Name: Dave McBryan
Best expert: 61
Best intermediate: 17
Best beginner: 2
Comments: I posted here yesterday, but the message seems to have disappeared. In short: New Expert Record - 61 (was 63).
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07/29/02 11:37:20 PM  
Name: James
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: I am trying to get my girlfriend to stop nagging me about minesweeper (i know some others have the smae problem) and thought that i would try and get her to start playing. She does play a little whith bests of 6-37-125, but I thought that if I could show her that she could be one of the fastest women ever she would get addicted, like me. What are the womens records? In the records page I found Katie Hsin (Australia) with 4-16-72. The next best was Kathleen Lavalle (US) with 2-19-89. I also found a Katie Eschbacher (US) with ?-24-82 (I would guess that she had atleast a 4 beginer) and Sara Chrysler, who is, if I am not mistaken, the creater of the yahoo group , with 2-?-?. If this is acurate than I would be able to show my girlfriend that she only needs a 109 sum to be the 2nd best woman ever. Maybe that would get her interested, and off my back. On another note: am I the only person who knew about double-clicking their entire career? My girlfriend actually showed me the game in grade 10 computer class and she already knew about it. It seems as though every one plays a NF style untill they discover the double click. I don believe that this is why I struggle with beg and int, as my style is too entrenched with flagging. James
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07/29/02 09:08:20 AM  
Name: Sorin
Best expert: 49
Best intermediate: 15
Best beginner:
Comments: I got a 240 3BV board.I didn't had the chance to play it since I hit a mine in the first seconds. Also got a 55. My 4th best.
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07/28/02 11:56:13 PM  
Name: Ben
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: About LASIK surgery: my mother is an ophtalmologist (but eye doctor works fine too) and she does surgery at the universitary hospital of Leuven. I can ask her what she thinks about it.
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07/28/02 10:54:16 PM  
Name: James
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Hmmmmmmmmm........I am using a Microsot Optical Wheel mouse and sometimes (probably 1\5) when i press down on the left button it acts lile i pressed down and released. This sucks for obvious reasons. Is this a problem I can cure, or is it just a characteristic of this model of mouse? (I think Matt uses the same one.) Oh yeah... my drunken experiment was inconclusive: i got 7-33-107 in an hour of playing. This is the slowest i have played in months, but I am not convinced. To be sure that alcohol negatively afects sweeping i have increaased the dossage form 750ml to 1L. Wish me luck! James
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07/28/02 10:01:15 PM  
Name: AZUMI KAWASHIMA (Female - Pretty - Japanese girl)
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: LET ALL OF YOU VISIT MY BEST EVER WEBSITE !!! YOU ARE WELCOMED AT => HTTP://WWW.CANDYROOMS.COM <= COME AND SEE MY 'PICTURES/PHOTOS' AND 'MOVIE' ENJOY!!! HAVE FUN !!!!!!
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07/28/02 12:16:25 PM  
Name: David Barry
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Robbie McEwen has won the maillot vert in le Tour de France! First ever Aussie to win any jersey in the Tour, so cycling fans here are all very happy. Even if watching it meant losing last night's sleep because of the time difference... I believe some American won in the overall time standing category.
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07/28/02 08:56:01 AM  
Name: Azumi Kamishawa & Bunko Kanazawa
Best expert: 289
Best intermediate: 60
Best beginner: 7
Comments: VISIT my BEST EVER site !!!!!! YOU ARE ALL WELCOMED !!
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07/28/02 12:30:03 AM  
Name: James
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Have just finnished a bottle of wine. Am about to perform an experiment. (To see how well I play). Hope it turns out well. James
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07/27/02 06:33:20 PM  
Name: James
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: My friend's girlfriend, who is in Uni to become an optometrist, said that some optometrists believe that LAZIK surgery can cause you to lose night vision later in life; while others, presumedly those who do the surgery, endorse it. She said that she did not know enough about it to have an educated opinion, but added that the procedure is new enough that prolonged efects have not been thouroughly researched. But I say: get the surgery. Those doctors don't know fuck all anyway. Did you know that they once belived that cigretes caused cancer! James
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07/27/02 04:30:58 PM  
Name: David Barry
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Dan, I've heard of the surgery. I've not heard a complaint about it (except the cost...), and I know of a few people who've had their eyes LAZIKed, including one who had just about everything wrong with his eyes that there could possibly be short of being blind. The one thing I have heard is that you should find someone who's done thousands of laser surgeries before, they say that the more experienced surgeons can handle any complications.... but that's just what I heard, I don't know if the last bit's true. I personally like my glasses.
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07/27/02 03:39:13 PM  
Name: Dan
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Ratz! I just guessed wrong on a 50/50 with the clock at 29 seconds and only a 14x7 area left(That is a 42 pace). I manually counted the 3BV and it was 108.
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07/27/02 01:15:34 PM  
Name: Dan
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Have any of you had LASIK eye surgery? I'm very tired of wearing glasses and contact lenses and I'm seriously considering getting LASIK done.
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07/27/02 12:58:41 PM  
Name: Damien
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: i believe matt posted this month earlier that he had passed 1000 sub-20's...i just spent time scrounging through my bedroom looking for all my loose papers with scores on...i can't find aug7-dec31 and i only found 5 days may-june, but i've found most of all my other scores....i had 661 sub-20's last august 7th, and without the 6 and 1/2 missing months i still have 1324 sub-20's, so i must have passed it quite awhile ago. going to look around again.
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07/27/02 02:36:43 AM  
Name: Stephan
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Lance: Benny made a new version of his board reader. You can download it at the yahoo group. It checks all board sizes and all standard file types.
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07/26/02 04:29:43 PM  
Name: Lance Votroubek
Best expert: 62
Best intermediate: 16
Best beginner: 1
Comments: Benny, you said we have a 3BV counter now - are you referring to that program that records the intermediate game clicks, or is there one that does expert now, too? that would be the one I'm more interested in. Thanks a lot! Lance
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07/26/02 04:14:36 PM  
Name: Benny Benjamin
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: A lil bit to add about 3BV: When Stephan told me about the "minimum click", I said the terminolgy is too limiting. It is only "minimum" for non flaggers. For flaggers and especially mix style, the minimum clicks can be lower. That is why I proposed the name 3BV. It is a benchmark value, but it's not absolute. By the way, that is the only way known so far on how to benchmark a board. An opening is the same for both methods, it only takes 1 click. The difference is with some board layout, the flaggers can clear the rest of the board in less clicks than a non-flagger. However, the number of squares that needs to be cleared is 3BV - Opening clusters which applies to any style. Since we already have a 3BV counter, we can do a study on how well it applies. Let's say everyone plays 10 boards a day, in the middle of their estimated playing session (which I assume when a player is at his/her prime speed), log the time and the 3BV. Accumulate 'till we get 100 boards, and submit it to someone who can do stats and he/she can work it out how well it reflects the board's friendliness for the different styles. And if screenshots are provided, the person can analyse the boards to probably design other board benchmarking methods. But that won't be me since I know jack about stats, unless you want to wait till I pass STAT170 (Introduction to Statistics) hopefully 6 months from now, And that is if that's enough to make any decent extrapolations from the data.
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07/26/02 03:38:57 PM  
Name: Benny Benjamin
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Hi everyone, Congrats to all the players who had broken their records I just started Uni this week and so I might not be able to work on the program for a while. However, Yoni has made some improvements for the program and I have requested that he updates it. Thanks Yoni. Mike: It's a pitty that you decided to retire from minesweeper. Can't table tennis and minesweeper go together? I can tell that you're quite into it since you don't call it "ping pong", I used to play regularly at the club too, but in the last year or so, I've been so lazy I hardly ever turn up at the club anymore. Now that I'm in Uni, I might be thinking about joining the Uni club. While you might like table tennis more than minesweeper, I don't see any problem with doing both. I was doing both when I was still playing TT regularly. Just curious, what style do you play? Just for a joke, since you're a non-flagger in minesweeper, we'll equate that to no-spin fast play which would make you a pips-out fast attacker, like Johnny Huang (Unless you're a penholder which I don't think is the case)
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07/26/02 01:32:05 PM  
Name: Owen
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: what is Wrong With my bloody mail? My scores for this period are 2-15-53 Bye again
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07/26/02 01:27:22 PM  
Name: Owen
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Thanks Sorin and nice to hear from you again Ben. I liked the rivalry between us before so all you have to do now is keep playing and catch up with me! And Dave, don't worry. It took me 97 sub 70s before I sub 60. I was getting worried that time when you were only 1 second away from my Irish record! Nice to have a decent gap in beteween us again hehe. But I want you to do well and represent Ireland with honour and pride I'mm off on a weeks holidays tmro so good luck all and don't forget to get some sunshine while the summer lasts P.S Sorin, I don't understand how you can get a 49 and then barely sub 60 next minute. I remember a while back when your record was 57 you were telling me that you couldn't sub 70!! Owen
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07/26/02 04:38:59 AM  
Name: Marc Schouten
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Just a quick hello from Helsinki. I'll be back in Holland on sunday or monday. I can't say I've missed Minesweeper one bit, although you can be sure that I'll be playing some when I get back
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07/26/02 04:20:14 AM  
Name: Dave McBryan
Best expert: 63
Best intermediate: 17
Best beginner: 2
Comments: OK, This is beginning to get annoying: When I got my record (63) it was only my 3rd sub-70 (The first 2 were both 69s). Today I got my 50th sub-70 and I still haven't matched, let alone beaten, that 63. I now have: 63, 64x4, 65, 66x5, 67x8, 68x12, 69x19. The sub70s are coming more consistently now, and yesterday I lost a game at 53 with only 12 mines left to isolate, so it's surely just a matter of time...
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07/26/02 03:23:51 AM  
Name: Roelof Smit
Best expert: 62
Best intermediate: 17
Best beginner: 1
Comments: Congrats Ben! Great job! By the way: I don't have a girlfriend...
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07/26/02 03:18:27 AM  
Name: Lasse Nyholm
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Just played for half an hour and my goal for this period is reached - to get below the total I would get with another 5 penalty-points. So my scores for this period will probably be 4-18-49, though it screws up my statistics a bit. I finished only one expert game after 10 minutes of playing, so it seems I haven't lost all my speed though being away for 25 days. Now I can go home to my girlfriend with peace in my minesweepermind. Keep smiling people - Lanyjé
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07/26/02 02:42:07 AM  
Name: Lasse Nyholm
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Hey folks - I'm back after a nice and relaxing week in Durham, which involved a lot of music and just a bit sweeping - my scores for this period so far is x-25-88. As you can see Paul's setup didn't quite suit me well, but I now have one day to sweep before I go back home to my parents and my girlfriend. Congrats to all recordbreakers, hope you've all enjoyed the summer so far - Lanyjé
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07/25/02 10:50:22 PM  
Name: Mike
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: The guy who owns this page says that it is better to not start at a corner... I see where he is coming from, but let's not forget that the corner is often a "trouble-spot", a.k.a. a spot where we often find ourselves faced with 50/50 decisions. So, what I do sometimes is click the top-left corner square first (to make certain that at least one of those corners won't be a mine and will hopefully be less of a "trouble-spot"), and then cut back really quickly to the center and just start clicking randomly. It doesnt waste any time if you go fast, just a thought I had, maybe I'm wrong. Who really cares?
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07/25/02 06:40:53 PM  
Name: James
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Elmar: I agree that 3BV is not perfect for flaggers; however, in general, I think that the lower the 3BV the faster the board for any playing style*. *This statement is 90% acurate, 19 times out of 20. Has anyone else ever come up with another system? I cannot think of any other way. That being said, I have no idea what I am talking about. A quick check of my Exp screen shots shows a low of 122, and a high of 186. The average would be somewhere in the 150 range. James
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07/25/02 01:18:30 PM  
Name: Matt
Best expert: 51...
Best intermediate: 10...
Best beginner: 1
Comments: I got a 12 nf last week. The video will be on my site when I get home in a few days. I think it took something like 39 3BV, which is exactly how many clicks I took.
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07/25/02 12:19:12 PM  
Name: damien
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: i meant, for no-flags my best scores are 1-15-73.
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07/25/02 12:01:48 PM  
Name: Sorin
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Only wireless mice use batteries Yoni. If you want an optical wireless mouse it will be on battery power. I haven't play4ed much lateley. My best game after the day I got the 49 is a 58. Anyway, my program looks good so far. I'll try to finih it before the deadline so I can get some play time. A 53 after five day break Owen? You're getting close...
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07/25/02 11:30:59 AM  
Name: Yoni Roll
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Question for optical mouse users: Does optical mouse uses batteries? (my wireless mouse does)
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07/25/02 11:06:50 AM  
Name: Yoni Roll
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Damien, you wrote: my best no-flag int game is a 1 (73 for expert though). You probably missed a digit in the int game.. You can get the program in the addicts files section.
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07/25/02 10:57:56 AM  
Name: Owen
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Havent played in 6 days except today. Ye yo, got a 53 on video
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07/25/02 08:07:12 AM  
Name: damien
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: i haven't been able to pay much attention lately but have been loosely following along...where can i get the program? i did some counting without it and randomly chose five of my sub-50 boards...my count gave 133, 139, 133, 134 and 136 for two 49's two 48's and my 47. got my seventh 8 last night. my best no-flag int game is a 1 (73 for expert though). thinking of crazy games, i finished a board in 60-some that had only about 15-20 mines of tehe right half of the board...the left have was all 3's, 4's and higher.
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07/25/02 07:04:09 AM  
Name: Stephan
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Ben, congratulations. You're only 1 sec back... Nice that I am the reason for your comeback Yoni, I only know that alle my 15 boards are nf int boards. It's likely that Vincent's 14 is nf as well. Georgi, I think, 96 is the lowest 3BV by now. Vincent is also holding the 2nd place with 100 (his 50-failed.jpg at the same address). Elmar, my best >200 performance is a 209-in-77 board. My highest sub-100 finished is 224/91. Somewhere, I have a 24 on int with a 3BV over 100. I haven't checked any beginner game so far.
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07/25/02 06:47:17 AM  
Name: Yoni Roll
Best expert: 65
Best intermediate: 17
Best beginner: 2
Comments: Congrats Ben and Vincent! Elmar, I found a 233 and 230 3BV boards in my gamse pictures archive. Does someone knows the intermediate non-flagging record?
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07/25/02 03:32:12 AM  
Name: Elmar
Best expert: 66
Best intermediate: 19
Best beginner: 2
Comments: hi guys. i think i had the nightmare board yesterday. 224 3BV.... it took me 86 sec to clear it. (my average is 79) that's actually pretty fast considering i could definetly go sub40 with that speeed on a 96 3BV board! i've started to collect sucker boards. i also got a 29 3BV on beg. has anyone of you some worse boards? i also think the 3BV can't be really applicated for flaggers. in my opinion flaggers (like me) can go a lot faster than non-flaggers on boards with a high 3BV. i counted the 3BV on all boards i finished in the last days. my 3BV/sec ratio changes from 1.8 to 2.6 and i don't think my speed changes that much. allthough i have to admit that i got my best times on boards with low 3BV (136/69;146/69/;150/72) but i also got weird ratios(204/78;152/82;168/90)! so my conclusion is that i depends more on the layout of the board for flaggers. but on the other hand, what do i know! tell me your opinion, you flaggers out there. later Elmar
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07/25/02 01:52:49 AM  
Name: Georgi Kermekchiev
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Hi guys, Vincent send to me his best 3BV expert board - it was not 51, but 52sec-board and not 98 3BV, but .... 96 3BV !!! http://www.public.iastate.edu/~vyeh/mines/52.jpg As far as I know it is the only sub-100 3BV expert board for now...
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07/25/02 01:33:12 AM  
Name: James
Best expert: 86
Best intermediate: 22
Best beginner: 3
Comments: I am very close to getting a sub-20. I got a 23 today with a 48 3BV. (Maybe I should start working on my Int. Hall of Fame profile now ). I also nearly beat my Exp record but it took me (cough...cough) almost 10! seconds to find the last mine. Would have been an 81/82. Ben: I think that we are in the same boat. Thankfully my girlfriend is not willing to waste the last 4 1/2 years just because of a stupid computer game. And finally, I have been accepted into my program at University! I am in Honors English which means that I do will be going to school for a long time, as graduation with a BA (Hons.) in English essentially assures acceptance into graduate studies! Therefore, in two years I will be working on my masters, and with any luck I will be on the enlightened side of the sea. Yahhoooooooo! GL to all. James
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07/25/02 12:48:30 AM  
Name: Ben
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Hi Sorin, now I can personally congratulate you with sub50 performance. Awesome! I have to admit that I quit quitting some weeks ago, it was Stephan's 55 that pulled me through thank you Stephan! girlfriend's face: . but she still loves me...
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07/24/02 04:11:44 PM  
Name: Scott Storm
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Roughly sixteen hrs, this is pretty standard and thus far no interesting changes of perspective!
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07/24/02 03:31:41 PM  
Name: Sorin
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Good job Ben! Are you still retired? There are currently 5 players with a total of 72 in the top 20. Interesting... My spped seems to come back but i'm busy programming. See u soon
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07/24/02 01:17:18 PM  
Name: James
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Congrats Ben. At this rate there may be a dozen sub-50 players by this time next year.
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07/24/02 10:34:31 AM  
Name: Ben
Best expert: 56!!!!!!!!!!
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: yessssssssss
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07/23/02 12:46:43 PM  
Name: Matt
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Wish I could participate Scott, but I am with family now and cant stay up. I have gone for 4 days in the past and I felt terrible afterwards, but it was a bang while I was up...everything felt so weird...
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07/23/02 12:39:54 AM  
Name: Scott Storm
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: The mind numbing boredom of my locality is slowly killing me but I have devised a plan, an experiment of sorts! I propose that I and any members of this boatd who feel likewise enter into a sleep deprivation marathon! This marathon will commence in precisely 24hrs and 20minutes from the posting of this message! I wish any of you brave enough to take my challenge the best of luck, and Godspeed be with you all!
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07/22/02 11:59:10 PM  
Name: Ben
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Six months after my last sub60, I got a 58 this morning
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07/22/02 05:00:33 PM  
Name: damien
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: fantastic, vincent. got a 49 and my 70th 2 last night. owen, matt and vincent will all be sub-50 by summer's end, although i hope you guys hold off jsut a bit longer so i get to tag lasse. got to suck not breaking your expert rec for over a year...he's close and definetly deserves to but i think his girlfriend is stealing his attention..somebody took the penalty last week.
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07/22/02 02:42:02 PM  
Name: Vincent Yeh
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Well, not really quite a while to see you guys again, cause I just got 1 sec closer to my goal during a short break from my research. http://www.public.iastate.edu/~vyeh/mines/50-1.png By the way, I found this PNG format pretty economic for storing minesweeper screenshopts (not good for photo images, though). Just compare the size of the file in the link above to your JPG format screenshot and you will see.
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07/22/02 10:31:29 AM  
Name: Vincent Yeh
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Thanks to Mike for his comment and to Stephan for his list and the explanation of 3BV things. Mike, currently the best video I have is 54, which can be found at http://www.public.iastate.edu/~vyeh/mines/54-1.avi I stopped making videos after my last hard drive crash a few months ago. Camtasia was not the reason of the crash but I just do not want to use demo version and cracked version programs any more. James, thanks for the comment. I do believe the same as you. Theoretically one can get as fast as one can when having a fast board. However, the chances of having a fast board are not quite big. Plus the chances of getting it right done every time one gets a fast board are also small. These factors will set a practical limit for no-markers, I believe. Going back to my research. See you in a while (and I mean a while).
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07/21/02 11:01:31 PM  
Name: James
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Stephen: thanks for the 3BV site, I think I am on the fringe of understanding now. Vince: GL on your PhD, and I do belive that sub-50 is definetly possible with a no-flaging style, especially on a 100 3BV board. All: We need to find more slow players for the AR so that when I beat my best AR time by 5 seconds my ranking changes!. James
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07/21/02 01:23:37 AM  
Name: Stephan
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Mike, I think the non-flagging world ranking is as follows: 1. Vincent Yeh 51 2. Mike Lowder 53 3. Stephan Bechtel 55 4. Eduardo Cros 56, Lasse Nyholm 56 But I don't know if there are other fast nf players!
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07/20/02 08:20:11 PM  
Name: mike lowder
Best expert: 53
Best intermediate: 17
Best beginner: 2
Comments: Hi Vincent and everyone, No Vincent, I don't believe that there is a limit to "no-marking" times. I do believe that some boards lend themselves to the no-marking style better than other boards. I think the arragement of the bombs is key as to which style would work best on any given board. And since we don't know that up front you just have to use the style your use to. I think Damien has said it well when he talked about a mix of the "marking" and "no-marking" styles is probably the fastest way to play. After reading this on his web site it kind of made sense to me. So is the fastest "no-marking" time yours at 51 or is there a faster one? I've tried for another week to get a sub 60 video but have failed to do so. Hopefully someone out there will contribute a no-marking video on expert in 50 sec or faster range. If some one has one please send it to me I would like to see others using the no-marking style I did send Damien a 60 second expert video I made. After viewing it though, I really don't like it. It doesn't truly represent how fast the no-marking style can get. You will easily see I guessed quite a few times on this board and got lucky. Well I think this is it for me. I came back and played for a couple of weeks and reconfirmed to myself why I retired from playing in the first place. I guess I have just gotten tired of playing. Maybe that means I'm not truly addicted to the game. (Although I think I was truly addicted when I play for 8 hours straight one time.) I wish you all luck with your minesweeper times. As fast as everyone is getting I'm sure none of my times will be in the top 50 in the next few years. I've had a blast playing but it is time to move on. I've joined a table tennis club about three years back and I find myself wanting to play table tennis more than playing minesweeper. May the minesweeper gods smile on all of you. May all of you get sub 40 expert times, sub 10 int times, and a 1 sec beginner tim
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07/20/02 09:08:56 AM  
Name: Ben
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: The last two days, I missed a 58 and a 60 on the last click. I hope my speed is back where it was in January
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07/20/02 03:53:07 AM  
Name: Stephan
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: As there is actually an enormous 3BV discussion, I created a website to help everyone who might not know what 3BV is and what you can use it for. Follow the "website" link.
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07/19/02 11:13:24 PM  
Name: Sorin
Best expert: 49
Best intermediate: 15
Best beginner: 2
Comments: I got a new version of my program. Now the timer and counters stop when the game is lost or won and the yellow face can be clicked to reset the scores. I haven't tested it on the XP version -because I don't have it. Does anyone know if it works on Win98? If it does please send it to me. Or someone could try the program and send me some data I need to make it work good on XP too. Number 3, wow...
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07/19/02 07:34:54 PM  
Name: Matt
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Hey Vincent, take a look at the screenshot on my page to see how close I was to breaking the no-marking barrier.
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07/19/02 05:49:15 PM  
Name: Joe Nuss
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: PARTY ON STORM dude i wish my weekend was looking as prosperous. no alcohol on the horizon. oh well, im sure itll still be tight.
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07/19/02 05:23:19 PM  
Name: Dan
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: I just rechecked the expert board on my web site and if that game had been finished it would be a 100 using the 3BV method.
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07/19/02 05:10:30 PM  
Name: Scott Storm
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: REASONS WHY THE WEEKEND IS LOOKING GOOD! 1. I beset my duvet with flames as I successfully ignited a fart! (it rocked) 2. Tomorrow a friend is loaning me a bitch for the night! 3. I have got some Primo Hash! (1 ounce of) 4. Weekend party venue sorted out!
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07/19/02 03:33:53 PM  
Name: Active Ranking
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: The list has been updated for period 14.
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07/19/02 12:24:11 PM  
Name: Roelof Smit
Best expert:
Best intermediate:
Best beginner:
Comments: Matt, could you update my profile? (that 62 and my 4th sub 20 - another 19) thanks
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07/19/02 11:58:20 AM  
Name: Roelof Smit
Best expert: 62
Best intermediate: 17
Best beginner: 1
Comments: 3 minutes before the deadline I got a new expert record: a 62. Shouldn't take long to break the 1 minute barrier now Hey Vincent, good to hear from you!
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07/19/02 09:57:14 AM  
Name: Vincent Yeh
Best expert: 51
Best intermediate: 14
Best beginner: 2
Comments: Hello Mike, it's so good to hear from you (hope you are still here with us ) We have very close scores on playing no-marking games and I haven't seen any one better yet. (Has Lasse broken my record?) Did you stop playing because you think this is the limit of no-marking or of other reason? Personally I think this is very close to the limit, yet I am still trying to break it. I will feel much happier if there is someone else doing it with me, either in a competing or cooperating manner. You are 40, I am 33, kind of old in this community. There are some younger people out there playing very good no-marking games, I hope someday they can push the limit down even more. By the way, what is 3BV? What can I do with it? I've been out of this community for a while and missed a lot of communications here. I am working hard on my research project and hoping to get my PhD in December (or next May), I won't be visiting this site often before the big day. Happy sweeping and good luck to everybody.
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