Extreme PE [Monday, Period 3]

[doubleohblonde]

Today the Danger Shop resembled a large cave grotto, a pool of water off to one side.

"Good afternoon," Bond greeted them. "Now, before we begin, if any of you suffer from claustrophobia you may take this as a free period, otherwise, let's continue. Today we're going to take something of an opposite tack to the last two weeks by looking at something which involves going under ground instead of up into the air, namely cave diving, which is exactly what it sounds like, and while the Danger Shop removes the danger, it still requires a bit of skill to pull off properly. So let's gear up and get going."

Beat The Heat: Indoor Activities 101, Wednesday, Period 3

[geniuswithasmartphone]

Class was not in the Danger Shop this week. In fact, it wasn't even in the school. A message had handwavily gone out to the members of class the night before, telling them to meet up in town, at Fast Eddie's. When they came in, Hardison was lining up a shot. "Six, corner pocket," he called. A second later, the six ball sunk into the specified pocket and Hardison was turning around to greet his class.

"Not every indoor activity has to involve your own home," he said. "Sometimes, you gotta brave the outside world long enough to get somewhere even better. Findin' places to hang out durin' the summer is especially good if your house ain't got air conditionin' or is full of other people. Most public places can't kick you out so long as you ain't disruptive an' make a show of givin' 'em money every so often. In a restaurant, you can do that by orderin' another beverage, which you can also do here--" He jerked his thumb towards the tiny cafe inside Fast Eddie's "--or by playin' a game every coupla hours. Gotta be careful, though. When the place is busy, the staff might come an' kick you out if you're just takin' up a table or a lane in favor of other customers who are gonna pay more. At the same time, a crowd is good while you're in the arcade portion--it's easy to get lost in the crowd. Conversely, it also ain't great when you're the only person there. It's easy to keep tabs on you an' how much you're spendin'. On days when the place is empty, you gotta be real good at makin' sure you're spendin' money at the proper interval to keep folks from botherin' you. Of course, how much money is enough an' how long the 'proper interval' is varies from place to place. A good rule of thumb is to never go longer than an hour before spendin' money on somethin', whether it's a meal or a game or whatever."

Those instructions relayed, Hardison started handing out money; each student got five dollars in quarters. "Now, if you want, you can just settle in for today an' have fun. This place has an arcade, a bowling alley, pool tables. Beat the heat an' have a good time for the next hour. Hit me up if you need more money for stuff." Yes, it would have been easier and cheaper to just program this into the Danger Shop, but this way, Hardison had to walk less. Bonus! "For those of you who want a challenge, I talked to the staff before y'all showed up. They're gonna keep an eye on you an' toss you out if they don't think you're playin' enough. The trick is, you only get to spend your five dollars I gave you. Once it's gone, it's gone--no more. So you got to figure out how to spend a whole hour hangin' out under the nose of the staff with only five bucks to use to keep them from kickin' you out for loiterin'. Good luck!"

Off The Grid: Laying Low for Beginners, Tuesday, Period Two

[uncertain_dume]

This week, they were back in the classroom, Kanan looking only slightly disappointed by that fact. Practical experience was all the better to learn by, in his opinion, but it only went so far if people didn't have a chance to actually do the exercise. So! Lecture class it was!

He crossed his arms over his chest as he stood at the front of the room.

( Talking About Tells )

[OOC: Open!]

Working the Long Con, Tuesday, First Period

[talentforlying]

They kept coming back. John was starting to get weird-ed out by this.

Class met in the Danger Shop today, which was modified to resemble a pool hall. "Welcome to the unofficial Land of the Hustle," he proclaimed, spreading his arms wide. "Today, we're learning how to shoot pool and take the money of idiots and college kids with more money than sense."

"Pool hustlers use deception and misdirection in order to win cash from inexperienced players -- or from skilled players inexperienced with the world of hustling. Now, there's a few different options for a skilled hustler, and some things to watch out for if you don't want to end up the wrong side of the bet."

"A hustler will usually play with a low-quality "house" cue stick provided by the pool hall, or an unadorned but high-quality personal cue that looks like one, known as a "sneaky pete." Or, with the nascence of local competitive league play in recent years, may play with a flashy-looking but evidently low-end personal cue, to give the impression that the hustler is a beginning league player. They will typically play a game or two for "fun" or for low bets -- a beer or equivalent amount of cash -- in order to check out the opponent and give the impression that money can easily be won, often losing on purpose with the intent of winning a much larger wager later against a predictably overconfident opponent. This is known as "sandbagging" or "dumping.""

"They will pocket some difficult and impressive shots or make surprisingly secure safety shots, the ones crucial for winning, while missing many simple ones, thus making early victories appear to be sheer luck and may pretend to be intoxicated, unintelligent, or otherwise impaired. When betting on trick shots, they may intentionally miss the first or several times and lose a small amount, then raise the bet to an amount well beyond the loss and succeed at the well-practiced feat."

"Many of these ploys can easily be mistaken for the honest faults of a less-than-exceptional player. The engendered doubt and uncertainty is what allows hustling to succeed, with the "faults" being dropped when a significant amount of money is at stake."

"Americans are partial to Eight-ball, so we'll start with that," he said, handwavily going over the rules. "So grab a partner, and work on your game."