100 Hobbies

Hobby #14: Competitive Gaming

2008-10-14T20:45:00.002-04:00

Competitive gaming is something very obscure. Competitive gaming, in simple terms, is playing games against a very large scoreboard. There are tournaments and records for nearly every video game published, and not to mention it's actually very fun.

There is competitive gaming of many sorts. Multiplayer, scoreboard, speed run, the list goes on. On one hand, you could use Battle.net to play multiplayer Diablo or Warcraft. You could try your hand at a Galaga High-score at Twingalaxies.com. You could play Super Smash Brothers Brawl in the Major League Gaming online tournament. You could beat Super Mario Brothers 3 in the fastest time and beat the record on Speeddemosarchive.com The list goes on.

But this is definitely not for the faint hearted. The Pac-Man record is unbeatable: It is a perfect score. You can only hope to tie it after painful training. The Super Mario Brothers record can only possibly be improved by frames, Hundredths of a second. If you don't believe me, take a look at this.

Just a small example of what intensity this can bring. This is not something for the weak. If you think you can do it, good luck. If you can't, well, you can always admire.

Hobby #13: Quarter Bouncing

2008-10-12T13:06:00.005-04:00

Quarter Bouncing, also called quarters, is a game often played in bars. The object of the game is to bounce the quarters on the table into the glass. Easier said than done.

Quarters is a popular drinking game. In quarters, you bounce a coin into a glass of an alcoholic beverage. For every sucessful bounce into the glass, your opponent needs to drink the entire cup. The game ends when one player cannot drink anymore.

Quarters is a very enjoyable game, and it isn't necesarry to involve beer or alcohol. You could simply play it as a fun game or an interesting skill.

Hobby #12: The Game of Amazons

2008-10-11T19:38:00.004-04:00

The Game of Amazons, often called Amazons, is a board game with hybrid qualities of chess and go. It is a very interesting game and is not very difficult to learn.

Amazons is played on a 10x10 board, and has very simple rules. First you set up the pieces as shown in the image below.

You have 4 amazons, each of which move exactly like the queen in chess. They cannot capture other amazons. On the first turn, the white player moves one amazon and then fires an arrow. Arrow firing works like this: after you move, you can fire an arrow in a queen-like move from your resulting position. Amazons cannot move through arrows, and arrows cannot travel over arrows. The first person to run out of moves is the loser.

The Game of Amazons was first called "El Huego de las Amazonas", and was first published in an argentine puzzle magazine, "El Acertijo" in 1992. A man by the name of Michael Keller released an english translation, and published it in NOST-algia, a chess magazine. The game picked up a small following and took off from there.

Math time! Amazons is currently listed as the 4th most complicated board game recognized by wikipedia. It's game tree complexity remains unclear. It is within the range of 10^162 to 10^226.

Amazons is a very fun game that shouldn't take more than 10 minutes to learn. It's a deep strategy game, and there aren't any big openings or complicated theories to study. Just a fun, casual game for all to enjoy.

Hobby #11: Shogi

2008-10-11T15:38:00.006-04:00

Shogi is another board game that has it's origins in japan. It is much more difficult to learn and play than western chess, and is just under 2 times as complex. Shogi is the 3rd most complex board game officially recognized, having a 10^226 game tree complexity. In comparison, chess has 10^123 and go has 10^360.

Shogi is the most popular strategy board game in japan. In a 1995 study, 70% of japanese boys ages 16-19 play shogi, and 61% of girls own a shogi set as well. Western chess is played by 15% of the population, and go only 7%.

Shogi is played on a 9x9 board, and if I could compare it to anything, it would be bughouse chess. If you've never heard of it, bughouse chess is a variant of chess that is popular among clubs for killing time. bughouse chess is different than regular chess in that you play in pairs and when a piece is captured you hand it to your partner. Your partner can then place the piece anywhere on the board with a few ristrictions. Shogi is very similar. If a piece is captured in shogi, you keep it for later use, and you can place it when necessary.

Shogi is a very difficult game to learn completely. There are many terms and rules to learn, and you also need to memorize certain japanese characters. It is immensely complex. However, if you DO learn this game, you can brag about how you play a game more complex than chess and checkers combined! (Seriously. 10^123 + 10^54 < 10^226.)

Hobby #10: Programming

2008-10-07T17:48:00.002-04:00

Screen 13. Gosub 10. ?"Hello World!". Did you recognize any of these commands? If you did, then you probably have some experience in the field of programming.

Programming is the using of code to create computer applications. On the earliest computers, there were no bundled applications, no text editors, no graphical interfaces, not even any operating system! They usually came with nothing but a programming language.

A good example of this is the Atari 800, as seen above. This was the 80's equivalent of a desktop computer. You use a cartridge with BASIC loaded on it (Did I mention there were no CD's either?), and coded your application. Using a peripheral, you could burn your application to a blank cartridge. This was a very neat feature, but was ultimately the downfall of the system. It was so easy to code for the system that the market became flooded with mediocre products, and no one could tell the good from the bad.

There are many ways to get started with programming. First, I recommend you start with QBASIC or BASIC. After you get used to that, try using Visual Basic. Finally, You can learn C or C++, which is the modern programming language.

Hobby #9: Coin Stacking

2008-10-06T19:28:00.005-04:00

Coin stacking is a hobby that was brought to my attention by the website of Mitch Fincher, a Civil engineering student. This hobby involves using coins to build structures. Believe me, it's less boring than it sounds.

Coin stacking is probably something you've already done, indirectly. You stack coins on top of each other to create a structure. There are techniques for creating domes, pillars, spirals, and other things in addition to making the ever-so common pyramid.

For instance: the technique for creating bridges. The following structure illustrates what is needed.

You see, the bridge looks pretty flimsy. This is because there is an 8 penny span from one support to the other. This is very difficult to achieve, and as you can see, the builder needed to weigh down the top significantly for the pennies to have enough support to span that distance.

In conclusion, Coin stacking is a very interesting, time consuming, entertaining little hobby that is certainly offbeat. Best of all: It's practically free! You don't actually lose any money, because you can just spend the money in the structure later.

Hobby #8: Anime and Manga

2008-10-04T19:22:00.009-04:00

Anime is a very interesting piece of Japan's culture. Because of the lack of western-looking live actors, storytellers needed a way to create stories set in places other than Japan itself, such as Europe. Because of this, Anime was born.

Anime is one of the most popular forms of art and animation. It appeared in the 1930's, but surged in popularity in the 70's. It took off in the western world in the 80's. People like Osamu Tezuka, Go Nagai, and Hayao Miyazaki are often associated with anime.

Manga is the Japanese form of comic books. It has roots in ancient Japan, but in it's modern form it surfaced after world war II. A funny thing about manga is that the pages are read from right to left. The industry of manga is worth about 481 billion yen (4.4 Billion dollars).

It may seem a little strange to put a style of animation as a hobby, but it really is. Anime isn't like american cartoons in which they are mainly aimed at children. Anime covers all genres, from machine to racing to paranormal to even the board game, Go. Hobbyists even have their own name - Otakus. Children may be attracted to anime like "Yugioh!" and "Pokemon", while teens may be attracted to anime like "Yu Yu Hakusho" or "Death Note". Young Girls may be attracted to "Fruits Basket" or "Air". There is virtually no end to the types of anime in existance.

Hobby #7: Go

2008-10-01T17:14:00.002-04:00

A few articles back, I wrote an article on chess. I mentioned that Chess is the 9th most complicated game ever. It just so happens that the most complicated game is go.

Go was invented a very long time ago, Roughly 2237 BC. It was really a slower patient game that was unpopular with children for a long time, until "Hakaru no Go", an anime and manga centered around the world of Go, was published. Once this happened, Japanese children began to seek out classes.

Go is very simple to learn. Don't be intimidated by the complications, Go has very simple rules. Go promotes patience, and makes you think ahead. Go is a great game to pick up as a hobby.

Hobby #6: Science Olympiad

2008-10-01T08:09:00.002-04:00

Science olympiad. Ever hear of it? Its a national school science competition in which you specialize and compete for medals and trophies. Out of high school? No problem! Just volunteer for one of the events. You can be a referee of sorts.

The competition is open to middle and high school students. You generally progress from regionals to states, and if your team is full of prodigies, to nationals. You choose from one to six events from about 25. You study science concepts that are usually exceptionally advanced, and go to a tournament to test your knowledge.

Why this can count as a hobby is that the range of topics is very large. You can study biology, physics, and geology. You can try your hand as an engineer and build a tower out of balsa wood. There are so many options, and chances are there is some remote corner of science you will enjoy

Hobby #5: Hardware Hacking

2008-09-29T21:55:00.003-04:00

Hardware hacking: No, it's not illegal. (Except for modchips. Shhhh). Hardware hacking is taking apart a piece of hardware and improving it. This hobby takes many forms. You can Circuit bend, modchip (shh!), and my favourite: Portablizing.

Can you see what that is? It's a PS2. It's handheld. It runs on batteries. Impressive. It's things like this that have made Benjamin Heckeldorn internet famous. It has also landed him a nice payroll.

This kind of thing isn't really hard. Just find the necessary voltage and amperage, solder on a battery that meets the requirements, hook a screen to the video out port, and slap a case on it.

Confused? This probably isn't for you then. Just learn some amateur electronics, get some supplies and try out your great new hobby!

Hobby #4: Coin Collecting

2008-09-29T21:26:00.002-04:00

Numismatists. Ever hear of them? They're followers of a hobby commonly referred to as coin collecting. Collecting coins is a large following for a few reasons, One being that it can be done for fun, profit, and is good at making memories.

Coin collecting has become a popular pastime for many people, and for every aspiring hobbyist there is a person who collects coins as a business. There is a story of a couple who bought a bunch of coins when their daughter was born, and stuffed the coins in a cigar box. Years later they gave it to the girl as a wedding present. To everyones surprise, the coins' value had gone from a few dollars to thousands!

There is another story of a man who found a coin on the bottom of his closet and found it interesting. He eventually learned that the coin was a rare one-in-three illegally printed coin that was worth upwords to one million dollars! As you can see, this isn't just a hobby, it's an investment.

Hobby #3: Chess

2008-09-29T20:28:00.002-04:00

Chess isn't just a board game: it's THE board game. Chess was invented thousands of years ago, possibly before 200 BC. It is the most recognized board game in existance.

Chess is the one of the most complicated and deep games ever. The 9th most complicated, to be exact. In fact, there are more possible sequence of moves than atoms in the universe (Chess having 10^123 and the universe having 4x10^79 atoms).

Chess has had it's fair share of icons. Boris Spassky, Garry Kasparov, Anatoly Karpov, Wilhelm Steintz, and the infamous Bobby Fischer. All of whom are well known and have made a living out of this great game.

It isn't hard to pick up chess, And it can significantly boost your life expectancy. Look around your town for a chess club. Look online for directions on how to play. Play on the internet. Play in a tournament or two. Try it. You may just end up enjoying it.

Hobby #2: Dice Stacking

2008-09-27T14:02:00.003-04:00

Dice stacking is a very new and not very known hobby. It is the art of scooping up 4 dice in a cup and stacking them to from a vertical column.

Dice stacking surfaced around late 2006, and has been pioneered by people such as Dennis Schleussner, Todd Strong, and Thomas Fischbach. It's been featured on Japanese and German TV, and has taken Germany by storm.

Despite attracting thousands of youtube hits, It remains unpopular in the United States. This may be because it is very, very hard. Personally it took me a couple of hours, A few lost dice, and a near broken window to stack 2 dice, Let alone 4.

To those wondering, This is a legit trick. It works off of the scientific principle, Inertia. (This is very good for impressing your physics teacher. Pay attention.) The dice stay in the cup the same way a roller coaster loops, and because of the linear movement of the cup, you can predict the motion of the dice within the cup. Because of this, When the dice are picked up, they stack within the cup. By sliding the cup along a surface like a table similar to the linear movement of the cup, the dice stop in the cup and remain stacked.

If you are looking for a hobby to impress and to amaze, then dice stacking is probably your best bet. If you are looking for something easy and simple, then I suggest you just admire.

Hobby #1: Rubik's Cube

2008-09-27T14:01:00.003-04:00

The Rubik's Cube was invented by Erno Rubik, A professor of architecture, in 1974. It has since become the Worlds best selling toy ever made, with roughly 300,000,000 sold.

The Rubik's cube has exactly 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 possibilities. It is advertised as having "Billions" of combinations, but that's because it'd confuse people if they said "43 quintillion". It is solvable in any position, so long as the cube's stickers aren't tampered with, in twenty four moves or less.

There are several different ways to solve the cube. From optimized intuitive methods, like the Heise and the Petrus, to rote memorization, like the Fridrich and the legendary Zboroski-Bruchem method. In fact, solving the cube has become so easy that people have solved it blindfolded!

The Rubik's cube may seem difficult at first, But give it a shot. If you try hard enough, it becomes rediculously easy.

Solving the cube:
Beginner's Solution
The Lar's Method
The Fridrich System
The Heise Method
The ZB method

The Hobbies

2008-09-26T21:57:00.009-04:00

Hobby #1: Rubik's Cube
Hobby #2: Dice Stacking
Hobby #3: Chess
Hobby #4: Coin Collecting
Hobby #5: Hardware Hacking
Hobby #6: Science Olympiad
Hobby #7: Go
Hobby #8: Anime and Manga
Hobby #9: Coin Stacking
Hobby #10: Programming
Hobby #11: Shogi
Hobby #12: The Game of Amazons
Hobby #13: Quarter Bouncing
Hobby #14: Competitive Gaming