I’ve been to the game 3000. Not much has changed, but I play underwater.

One of the things that I have learned in playing 3000 FUMBBL games is: Never start a blog with a pretty obscure joke most of your audience probably won’t get. I think I’ve proven my point. That might be where the wisdom ends, but we’ll see. Maybe I’ve learned something else useful? The correct dance to do before fouling a Wardancer to ensure a kill? The hack for the admin client? The point of Humerus Carpal? None of that, sadly, but maybe the odd thing.

3000 isn’t that big a number in these times of BillBrasky playing 300 games in a day (slight exaggeration, but not by much), however it still feels like an awful lot to me; a proper milestone at which I should probably take stock. I joined FUMBBL in 2006, almost entirely due to a chance conversation and Google (or was it Ask Jeeves then? In the before Siri times, it’s tough to remember. I’ll ask Siri and let you know). I got involved in the White Isle League early, and it was the best FUMBBL decision I ever made. Getting stuck into [L], I still believe FUMBBL’s greatest triumph, ‘meeting’ like-minded people, getting a taste for helping with admin duties, eventually being dragged to a tabletop weekend, it was all part of the addiction and culture that surrounds the site outside of actually playing. Whilst I have played 3000 games, I dread to think how many more hours have been poured into Gamefinder, into adminning, posting on the forum into shooting the breeze in IRC. I think 10,000 hours is a conservative estimate, more than a year (I bet it’s more than that really). If FUMBBL were just transactional BB, I’d not have clocked that up.

Some things I may or may not have learned along the way over these 9 years and 3000 games (feel free to add yours in the comments below):

- You’re never perfect. You can always play better. Blame that first when you don’t win
- Lemon curd is not a performance enhancing drug
- JimmyFantastic is always right, unless he’s posting in the forum. Ignore that
- Summoning the Waambulance never, ever makes anything better for anyone. Although…
- …talking about dice is acceptable, sometimes
- A good forum ruckus once in a while will put hairs on your chest. It’s good for the place too
- Playing drunk, tired or under the influence of Chilli Heatwave Doritos will only lead you to be annoyed at yourself later
- Manchester is wonderful. Oh Manchester is wonderful. It’s full of…
- Christer is some sort of saint. 9 years is a lot of “suggestions” to read. I would have killed us all by now (I’m sure he could program that. Maybe I’ll suggest it in the forum)
- I don’t donate enough (note to self)
- I’ve written a sequel to Pride and Prejudice based on the 2009 FUMBBL Cup. It’s bloody rubbish
- Wearing your FUMBBL T-Shirt in public makes you 18 % more attractive to women. But also to dogs, so watch that
- Doing stuff around the place (updating Wikis, running a league, writing for the GLN…) is pretty rewarding. Try it
- Marshmallows are the official foodstuff of shadow46x2
- It's all about the bass. And by the bass, I mean positioning. It's all about positioning
- Going for it ‘under the posts’ is looked upon favourably by the RNG. So is zig-zagging before blitzing
- Wearing a cape whilst playing (when no-one else knows) makes you really cool (it doesn’t)
- Justin Bieber is only ‘making music’ to cope with the financial burden of his grandfather’s banana addiction
- The NAF and FUMBBL co-operation is an absolutely wonderful thing. If you are not optimising both of these forms of the game, you are missing out. Certainly my last 9 years would have been much less fun without these two unstoppable forces for good

And with that, to game 3000.

The scene was apt: A league game (hooray) against a tabletop Gent (hooray) coaxed to FUMBBL’s warm embrace (hooray) with the promise of playing online Blood Bowl in a safe place. Since, he has gone forth and played elsewhere on site (hooray), and has been subsumed into our FUMBBL family good and proper. Games with Lycos are infamously ‘funny old games’; I won, but all results were possible, and many good times were had. It pleases me to have ticked so many boxes with my 3000th game, and to still be here.

I’ve no doubt I’ll reach year 18, I still love it too much. I may play less than I have historically at the moment, but it’ll be more later (I do need to up my work rate), and then less, and my activity graph will peak, trough and eventually twirl to 6000. Good on you FUMBBL, I’ll put a few quid in now I remember (so should you, if you're able).

3000 not out, may all of your rolls be +ST, and may you all ask in the forum if you should take it.