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Dear Readers,
The original owner of the blog, Ricky, has moved on to his other commitments in family etc and I will be taking over this blog, as well as the e-shop at www.sino-games.com. I'd like to thank Ricky again on behalf of all the readers that has benefitted from his experience and effort to share the many stories that he has and to grow the community.
We have plans to continue to grow the community and if you have any ideas/suggestions, we would like to hear them.
As for those who have sent queries and/or posted orders,...
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Friday, April 12, 2013
Card description:
I never got the hang of this! Despite it being brainlessly easy to learn, i never got my head around being comfortable on a skateboard! Maybe that explains why I was never really cool growing up! I got a lot of respect for kids who can do all sorts of insane tricks on a skateboard, simply because I know i can't do what they can ...
Card description:
In the era where ABBA dominated the radio and John Travolta was actually desirable, rollerskates were the bomb. Credits to whoever invented rollerskates, as it really did give millions around the world a fantastic new form of entertainment.
In fact, it's probably not an exaggeration to say that a whole generation of children were born because their parents met each other having fun on skat...
Card description:
If you were a merchant in China between 1970 to 2000 and you were looking for a product to sell, you cannot go wrong with selling or maintaining these 28-inch wheels bicycles. They probably transported more people to-and-fro in China than any other form of man-made transport in history.
Even today, you would still see elderly folk riding around town with one of these, with its signature C-shaped handlebars with a little bell on...
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"An accident under your feet". That's what in-line skates are if you use them to get to school everyday. Sooner or later you're going to get into an accident or a near miss. Don't get me wrong, I love in-line skating too and i ride a motorcycle everyday, so i know the probably of an accident isn't any higher than on a bike. But since in-line skating is popular among teens, doesn't need a license, and has a lot less protection,...
Card description:
You know you're going to get your bicycle stolen if you ride this to school everyday. It's just a bloody show-off item, just like having an iPhone, only less glamorous and a lot easier to nick!
Still, it doesn't stop students from riding to school, especially in a country like China where riding a bicycle is as common as eating innar...
Card description:
Not everyone can afford one, and for those that can, they usually get a car instead. But for the student population in China, a scooter is a very common form of transport. There are no licenses to worry about if the engine capacity is tiny, and there is also little law enforcement on helmets and carrying capacity.
Seriously speaking, this is probably the BEST form of transport in any ci...
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Eight Trigrams Formation 八卦阵
Card description:
The most legal and above board way of being absent from class... get a medical certificate from a doctor! Yes we all know you are fit as a fiddle since everyone heard you and your partner shagging loudly in the dorm. But hey, if you can fake a cough and claim a headache, the doctor probably wouldn't deny you immunity from your most-hated teacher.
Armour ability:
When you need to...
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Ren Wang Shield 仁王盾
Card description:
This is something quite unheard of at the university level in Singapore, but something that all China undergrads are familiar with. To be qualified for direct-entry into a Master's program means that the student is already offered a Master's program slot even before he has graduated from his undergrad studies. What this means is that this student does not need to undergo interviews or entrance...
Sunday, April 7, 2013
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Rock Cleaving Axe 贯石斧
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Ahh!! The good old days! Long before students are slowly poisoned day by day through Xylene fumes from felt markers, students were slowly asphyxiated by chalk dust with every scrape of chalk on the blackboard. I'm not sure which is the lesser evil, though i'm still surprised till this day how teachers manage not to die of cancer by 40.
Chalk has a more sinister advantage for the teachers:...
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Nil. This is a new weapon. This weapon has the same ability as Zhao Yun 赵云's "Dragon Heart 龙胆" ability.
Card description:
The first thing that came to my mind when I first saw this card was this line of song lyrics from Bon Jovi:
"Your clothes are still scattered all over our room,
This whole place still smells like your cheap perfume."
I guess if the perfume was cheap enough, it'd smell so bad that skunks would faint. But otherwise,...
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Heaven Scorcher Halberd 方天画戟
Card description:
This, I don't understand. There must be some sort of colloquial meaning behind this... or maybe they just decided to put up something that students can relate to as a weapon. In other societies (and i suspect this is also true in China), having an authentic iPhone while you are still schooling is almost a social status passport. It immediately brands the student as being part of the...
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Nil. This is a new weapon. It is vaguely similar to Gender Double Swords 雌雄双股剑.
Card description:
I'm a sucker for ladies in high heels. There's just something about the whole elegance and sex appeal that drives me crazy. I'm probably not alone, as evolutionary theory would say that if high heels didn't work, they wouldn't have stayed around so long. Of course, the perspective might be completely different from the other side....
Saturday, April 6, 2013
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Serpent Halberd 丈八蛇矛
Card description:
It's tough enough simply keeping up with tutorials and just scraping by to graduate. Then there are those repulsive smarties who somehow find the time to do double majors and graduate with double degrees. Don't you just hate those show offs?! Gahh!!!!
Weapon ability:
When equipped, you can use any 2 on-hand cards as ROLL CALL 点名.
Footnote:
"While others are in misery matching their specialization...
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Nil. This is a new weapon. It is vaguely similar to Gender Double Swords 雌雄双股剑.
Card description:
This was the EASIEST way to get a girl's attention. Not everyone has a good voice to sing, not everyone can run 100m under 12 seconds, but with a decent amount of effort, any pimply bum-of-a-teenage-male can play the guitar.
Of course, that's when they realize that the really hot girls are just after their wallets, the mildly hot...
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Nil. This is a new weapon. It is somewhat similar to Feathered Fan 朱雀羽扇.
Card description:
We don't use this very often in Singapore, but I hear that this is a very common item in China. The heating coil I am familiar with is buried deep inside an electric kettle, and that's it, but the heating coil that this card is referring to is easily portable and you can stick it into a pot of milk or coffee. I wonder if the folks reading...
Friday, April 5, 2013
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Blue Steel Blade 青釭剑
Card description:
Bearing in mind that this game was created in a country where English is the 3rd most spoken language (1st is common Mandarin, followed by geographical dialects), getting a "Grade 6" certificate in English is something that is done only at the university level.
Think of it as getting taking a Japanese language elective, then finish beginner through to advance courses. You get the idea....
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Zhuge Crossbow 诸葛连弩
Card description:
This is a tough one to translate. In my schooling days, i've never needed a bloody certificate for the use of a computer. Apparently this is the case in China if you were an arts major. Getting a computer certificate certifies that... well... you know how to use a goddamned computer.
In terms of game mechanics, they decided to use this to replace the Zhuge Crossbow because the calculator...
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ACEDIA 乐不思蜀
Card description:
If there is one Singlish (Singaporean colloquial english) expression that I would like proliferate around the world, it would be "CHOPE!" (pronounced "ch"-"oh"-"p"). It's our way of saying "this seat is reserved", though it has evolved into a uniquely Singaporean phenomenon when used in conjunction with a packet of tissue paper. More on that in the Trivia section!
Now back to Seat-hoggers... I GODDAMN...
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Nil. This is a new card ability. It has the opposite effect of RATIONS DEPLETED 兵粮寸断.
Card description:
Well, well, well! What do we have here! By sheer luck you stumble upon a ball of waste paper that happens to be the answer script for the upcoming exams! This is way better than striking the lottery... ok perhaps not. Still, this would put you and your friends way ahead of everyone else, and that is just what this card is all...
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LIGHTNING 闪电, however the judgement criteria is different.
Card description:
Caught stealing? Public caning for you! Caught upskirting that incredibly hot new female teacher with your camera phone? The headmaster confiscates your phone first THEN public caning for you! Probably the scariest thing to happen in school is public caning, however the disincentive used to also include "public humiliation and embarrassment". Nowadays...
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DRAW2 无中生有
Card description:
A source of pride among the smartie pants, an object of endless bragging on the parents part, and a title of envy for the rest of us. Not everyone is cut out for scholarships, and only the rare few who put in the effort get them in the end. The media loves to make a story of the hardworking kid from a broken and penniless home who worked his slippers off to make the scholarship. Good for them! But...
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Nil. This is a new card ability, although it is vaguely similar to Sun Shangxiang 孙尚香's "Marriage 结姻" ability.
Card description:
The BIGGEST event in school life! Whether you are the school belle who has dated over 30 different guys in school, or you are the social-zero who stalks your crush from afar, everyone has had memorable (but preferably forgettable) romances during our school days. It's cool that High School Sha put this...
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Nil. However this ability is similar to Da Qiao 大乔's "Displacement 流离" ability.
Card description:
Aah... the old "Bros before Hoes" ethic that lasts only as long as her clothes stay on. Men, we've been there before. On one hand cursing your childhood buddy for skipping your weekly SanGuoSha session to take his new girlfriend shopping for knitting material. On the other hand proclaiming how little your bros understand your situation...
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PEACH GARDEN 桃园结义
Card description:
The most "useful" lecture of the entire semester is usually that very last lecture before the self-study break. That's when lecturers will pretty much do a summary of the entire module and, whether on purpose or by accident, the lecturer drops hints as to what might appear in the exams. It is also during these last lectures that many students come out of hibernation and you suddenly realize...
Thursday, April 4, 2013
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NEGATE 无懈可击
Card description:
Just the very thought of such people is enough to infuriate! He robbed you of you iPhone in brought daylight, slapped the teacher in front of her students, and pee-ed on the principal's car. He knows no fear, simply because he's got his back covered.
Nobody dares to mess with him, not even the principal, because his dad has the power to make things very difficult for the school, even shut it down!
Card...
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BARBARIANS 南蛮入侵
Card description:
Clean up the campus! Put up the welcome banners! Rehearse your welcoming drills again and again... and again... and again! Someone very important is coming, and the school's highest management wants to give that VIP a gleaming impression that everything is under control... which is, of course, utter bullshit.
It is exactly because there has been little control that the management is taking extreme...
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STEAL 顺手牵羊
Card description:
Probably one of the most common exclamations you will hear in class after "That lecturer sucks!" is probably "Who took my ________ !" Fill in the blank with an item that you've probably had stolen, or as some would say "grew legs and took a hike". Pencils, rulers, water bottles, iPhones, underwear, sanitory pads, lunch sandwiches... you name it, someone would probably steal it. Goddamned desperados!
Card...
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DUEL 决斗
Card description:
Don't you just HATE that little snitch? So what if I was smoking in the toilet? So what if I spread wasabi all over your lipstick? How the heck is that your goddamned business?
So you want to go tattle-tale on me, huh? Then you ought to be prepared for the consequences! You, me, outside, right now!
Card ability:
Used during your action phase on any player other than yourself. Starting from your target...
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
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DISMANTLE 过河拆桥
Card description:
"SPOT CHECK! What's that magazine you got there?! Aha!!!! Playboy Magazine!! Don't you know this isn't allowed? I'm confiscating this!" Then he sniggers away and heads directly to the washroom with a packet of tissue. Be prepared for your favorite belongings to be taken from you forcefully!
Card ability:
Used during your action phase on any player except yourself. Discard 1 card from your target...
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HARVEST 五谷丰登
Card description:
Pick and choose the modules you want to take. It's as simple as that! The "pick and choose" mechanism is probably why this card is chosen to replace the old "HARVEST" card in SGS. But game mechanisms aside, the module selection process brings back tons of bad memories! Read about it in the Trivia section.
Card ability:
Used during your action phase. Display as many cards from the deck as there are...
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RAINING ARROWS 万箭齐发
Card description:
This card sounds a little odd to me, because the roll calls i'm used to always involve the entire class' name list anyways. The literal translation of this card is "Roll call for the whole class", which is pretty redundant if you ask me. Oh well, since they are putting this in for game mechanisms sake, let's just play along.
Card ability:
Used during your action phase. Everyone, except you,...
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Nil. This is a new card ability.
Card description:
Your dad is a good-for-nothing drunkard and your mum is needs to stay home to take care of your 4 younger siblings. You don't have a choice!! Between books and survival for your family, the choice is obvious... albeit painful!
Skipping class to go to work shouldn't be encouraged, but it's a sad reality for some. The consequences are poor attendance and, ultimately, poor grades....
