The Traipse of the Redivider

The Procession of Entropy, which began on October 15th, ends tonight at...

Official 2022 Geranium Lake Properties Calendar

Yuletide Folderol: Reindeer Games

Most jackalopes follow the tradition of ending Advent on...

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The Utilapu Benison

No well-brought-up jackalope would dream of beginning a quest without formal permission for departure from their loved ones. This set of paglakaw nga mga papel was drawn up by Jack's fiancée, Alice Aroumbeyski.

Tiamat's Gutboard

Four years after Jack Loki first met the Friendly Neighborhood Haruspices, Wm. Yost began a series about Jack's prophetic journey through the Valley of Gheionnim. The series began with a haruspication made by an entity named Tiamat Choureau, who used a kiGamnch gutboard.

Geranium Lake Properties, kiGamnch Dart-and-Tile Boards

Today's comic is a kiGamnch Dart-and-Tile Board, used for various tabletop games that are a popular form of kiGamnch.

The "darts" are not sharp, they are shaped like lima beans, with six short rubber spikes. They are more like jacks than darts. Some people play kiGamnch with jacks instead of kiGamnch darts, but if you have an expensive inlaid kiGamnch table, metal jacks would marr the finish. You can slide, roll and toss the darts across the board. Your opponent has the option of using his darts to displace yours.

The tiles are similiar to mah jongg tiles, and there is even a form of kiGamnch you can play with mah jongg tiles. The most familiar kiGamnch tile is made of Catalin (a plastic similiar to Bakelite), but some players prefer bone, ivory or wood. For me, nothing else has that most satisfying "clack" of a Catalin kiGamnch tile. The tiles can also be triangular or pentagonal.

kiGamnch tiles made of scented soap are a popular gift among game enthusiasts, but they don't use them in play. They are most often seen as a decorative item for the bathroom, packaged in attractive glass jars.

Bottom image: A double kiGamanch gameboard inlay for a tabletop, 36" X 60". This kind of table can be found in bars, diners and coffeehouses frequented by jackalopes.

Asemic comics are supposed to be published here three times a week, on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, but I missed last Thursday because of minor life issues. My ISP has been having connection problems, and we're having a heat-wave that is so out-of-proportion to our usual weather I find myself inclined to the attitude of "It's too darn hot, I can't be bothered" for even the slightest challenge.

Geranium Lake Properties, Three-Card Doubt, the Geoma Placard

Yost also described Three-Card Doubt as "a combination of fortune telling, soap opera, choose-your-own-adventure, origami, geometry, and Solitaire. Also can be played professionally in groups of five contestants for large amounts of material wealth."

Geranium Lake Properties, Three-Card Doubt, the Ayteb Placard

Three-Card Doubt is one of the more popular forms of kiGamnch. In desert towns near jackalope country, you can find it in packs of 36 placards, in grocery chains and convenience stores, next to the crossword and Sudoku books. Wm. Yost said of Three-Card Doubt: "Jack Loki on several occasions tried to explain the three-card form of kiGamanch to me, but it is something that takes years to understand, and even longer to master. Of course, jackalopes start learning kiGamnch when they're kits barely out of the nest. By the time they're five years old they can play intermediate level Three-Card Doubt with ease."

Geranium Lake Properties, Three-Card Doubt, the Phaal Placard

I will be posting three variations of today's GLP panel. Each one can be seen as an illustration of a placard from a kiGamnch set. If you print out each of these panels, get a pair of dice, a teetotum, a 1929 edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, and at least thirty American nickels for wagers, you are ready to play Three-Card Doubt. Optional accessories are fingerless gloves and/or a Ouija board.

Other forms of kiGamnch are expressed in ceremonies, music, dance, several forms of literature (including comic books), diets, fashion (especially shoes), pinball machines, metallurgy, ceramics, and architecture (most often for cathedrals and bowling alleys).

Geranium Lake Properties, florid template

"Jack Loki, like all jackalopes, was mad for all forms, modes and manifestations of kiGamnch."

Top: GLP panel showing a kiGamnch diagram.
Bottom: Martian artifact