Poker Night at the Inventory | |
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Poker Night at the Inventory cover. Characters (l–r): Tycho Brahe, Max, the Heavy Weapons Guy, Strong Bad | |
Developer(s) | Telltale Games |
Publisher(s) | Telltale Games |
Composer(s) | Jared Emerson-Johnson |
Engine | Telltale Tool |
Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows Mac OS X (10.5x to 10.7.x )[1] |
Release | November 22, 2010 |
Genre(s) | Adult's Card game |
Mode(s) | Single player |
Poker Night at the Inventory is a poker video game developed by Telltale Games. It features four characters: Tycho Brahe from the Penny Arcade webcomic, Max from the Sam & Max franchise, the RED Heavy from Team Fortress 2, and Strong Bad from the Homestar Runner web series. The game was released on November 22, 2010.[1] A sequel, Poker Night 2, was released in 2013. The game was delisted from Steam in May 2019.[2]
Nov 15, 2020 In the censored version of Team Fortress 2, the weapon is not bloodied after a kill. Even though the katana is a two-handed weapon, the Soldier wields it with only one hand. The design of the Half-Zatoichi seems to most resemble the ōdachi (大太刀) in its length and curvature, one of the many types of 'katana' and Japanese swords in general. In the censored version of Team Fortress 2, the weapon is not bloodied after a kill. Even though the katana is a two-handed weapon, the Soldier wields it with only one hand. The design of the Half-Zatoichi seems to most resemble the ōdachi (大太刀) in its length and curvature, one of the many types of 'katana' and Japanese swords in general. Poker Night at the Inventory. I'm buying this game for 3 tf2 keys or more. (add me if you wanna sell) Diso unusuals.tf 0 Nov 27 @ 2:36am.
The Inventory is a secret club built underneath a video game storage warehouse. It was established in 1919, after a first draft of the 18th Amendment was acquired by a group of connected gamblers. It was discovered that it could not only outlaw libations, but games and amusements that could decrease the productivity of the national workforce. Despite this never coming to pass, the club has existed since in secret, just in case Congress tried to set prohibition into law. As a newcomer, the player competes in a friendly game of Texas Hold'emPoker with Max of Sam & Max, Strong Bad from Homestar Runner, Tycho from Penny Arcade, and the Heavy from Team Fortress 2. The player is first greeted by Reginald Van Winslow, former captain of the Screaming Narwhal, and sidekick to Guybrush Threepwood in Tales of Monkey Island. He explains the back story of the Inventory, and raises the blinds in game. Other characters from Telltale's games make cameo appearances in the introduction sequence.
Poker Night is a computer-based Texas Hold 'Em poker simulation between the player as an unseen participant and the four characters, Max, Tycho, The Heavy, and Strong Bad. Each player starts with a $10,000 buy-in and stays in the game until they are broke, with the goal of the player being the last player standing. The game uses no-limit betting and a gradually-increasing blind bets over the course of several rounds. Randomly, one of the four non-playable characters will not be able to front the money but will offer one of their possessions as buy-in for the game. The player can win these items as Team Fortress 2 unlockable equipment only if they are the one to bust that non-player character out of the game. The game keeps track of the player's statistics over the course of several games, and by completing certain objects (such as number of hands or games won) can unlock different playing card or table artwork to customize the look of the game.[3]
On May 15, 2009, Telltale Games started a survey which was meant to gauge fan reaction to a sequel to Telltale Texas Hold'em.[4] While the team liked the deep conversations that the characters in the original game had, they decided to not go down the same path for the new game, using recognizable licensed characters rather than original 'generic' ones.[5]
Poker Night grew out of an idea from Telltale employees, wondering 'what video characters do when they're not 'on the clock' in the games we play', according to Telltale CEO Dan Conners.[6] From there, they pitched the idea to other companies in the industry and were able to work out which characters they would be able to include.[6] Telltale considered how the four characters would interact with each other, developing dialog, banter, and reactions to certain plays.[7] The characters, they decided, would be fully voiced, and would have distinctive tells and dynamic responses that would manifest themselves as the game progressed.[6] Conners stated that the goal was to create the experience of 'hanging out with their virtual buddies, shooting the breeze and playing a good game of poker'.[7] Telltale is considering a potential series based on this game using different characters in the future, but would need to see sales exceeding 100,000 to 200,000 units to make it feasible.[7]
Telltale Games have had previous experience working with several of the characters. Two of Telltale's episodic adventure series include three seasons of Sam & Max and Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People based on the Homestar Runner web series; both were developed in conjunction with the original creators, Steve Purcell[8] and The Brothers Chaps,[9] respectively. The appearance of Max and Strong Bad in Poker Night are based on the three-dimensional models from these games. The company's team were also fans of Valve's Team Fortress 2, including creating an informal team to participate in a competition between several game development studios; Telltale offered to create unique items based on Sam & Max to be given as a bonus gift for those who purchased the third season of Sam & Max through Steam, and formed a friendly working relationship with Valve as a result.[10]
Telltale aimed to make the game dialog-centric between the four featured characters. To that end, they created a large amount of dialog for each character and possible interactions between the characters; according to Jake Rodkin, Telltale's graphic designer, they wrote more lines of dialog for the game than a typical Sam & Max adventure episode.[3] Telltale always wanted to respect the original characters and worked with the individual creators and studios to improve the lines; they previously had gotten similar input from Matt Chapman for Strong Bad, while Jerry Holkins was extremely helpful to refine Tycho's character based on Telltale's draft dialog.[3][11] The developers also wanted to avoid any forced interactions, and instead developed what they felt were natural relationships: Tycho dislikes Strong Bad while getting along well with Max, while the Heavy looks upon Strong Bad as a tiny Heavy.[3] The characters are also written to be somewhat cognizant of their nature; according to Rodkin, Tycho and Strong Bad are aware of their video game nature, while Max is ambiguous and the Heavy remains blissfully unaware of his death-and-respawning cycle, simply attributing his memories of dying over and over again as dreams.[12]
Poker Night is the first game to include a voice artist for Tycho; provided by voice actor Andrew 'Kid Beyond' Chaikin. The other three characters are voiced by their current voice actors: Max by William Kasten, Heavy by Gary Schwartz, and Strong Bad by Matt Chapman. The game uses existing 3D models for Max, Heavy, and Strong Bad, while Tycho's is built from scratch; at the time of the game's announcement near the Penny Arcade Expo, Telltale was still working on refining Tycho's model, though it was briefly seen during their Make a Scene panel at PAX.[13][14]
The game was teased by Telltale Games a week prior to its official announcement through a short video on GameTrailers TV, showing the silhouettes of the four characters' official art.[15] The game was officially announced by Telltale Games on September 2, 2010, the eve of the 2010 Penny Arcade Expo.[7] Players who have also purchased Team Fortress 2 will be able to unlock unique items based on the four respective franchises within that game through progress in Poker Night; a special poker visor for Team Fortress 2 was also available for those that pre-ordered the game.[16]
The game received favorable reviews. Review aggregator website Metacritic gave the game a 71/100.[17] It has garnered praise for the memorable interactions between characters and their unique strategies, but received criticism for its relatively lacking animation quality and for numerous bugs, while having favorable praise for the game's sense of humor.
Reception | ||||||||||||||
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On April 1, 2013, Telltale officially announced a sequel, titled Poker Night 2, featuring Brock Samson from The Venture Bros., Claptrap from the Borderlands series, Ash Williams from The Evil Dead franchise, and Sam from Sam & Max as opponents. GLaDOS from the Portal series serves as the dealer. Other characters such as Max from Sam & Max, the Aperture Science turrets from Portal, and Mad Moxxi and Steve the Bandit from Borderlands make non-playable appearances.[19] The game was released on Steam, Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network in late April 2013.[20]
The following is a beginner-level guide describing all of the ways to earn weapons and cosmetic items in TF2. For details on items, gameplay, or anything else Team Fortress related, be sure to bookmark The Official TF2 Wiki.
So you’ve just started playing TF2, learned some maps, captured some points, and found a couple of nifty items. But other players are blowing you up with awesome weapons while wearing ridiculous hats. How can you get more weapons and cosmetic items? That’s what this guide is for, so read on!
Similar bloglinks useful to you:
0. Being Free-to-Play vs. Being Premium
1. Earn Items By Playing TF2
2. Crafting Items: What To Do with Metal, Crates, and Robot Parts
3. Buying Items From the Mann Co. Store or the Steam Market
4. Trading Items With Other Players
5. Free Unusuals!
6. What To Do If You Have Too Many Items
7. Helpful Links
There are two kinds of TF2 accounts: free-to-play accounts and premium accounts.
Why aren’t all accounts Premium? The reason is to reduce the number of spammers and cheaters on Steam by attaching a small monetary cost to each account, so that thousands of accounts cannot be used by a single person for these schemes.
So if you are free-to-play, you will not have full access to all of the kinds of items out there. There are a couple of simple ways to gain a premium account:
Why would someone give you a Premium Gift? Doing so grants the giver a Professor Speks accessory, or adds to the counter of their existing Professor Speks.
If you make a purchase that upgrades your account to premium, you are asked to refer one person on your friends list as someone who has helped you in the game. That is how a person is awarded a Professor Speks or ranks up its counter.
Now that you know your status, here are all of the ways that you can acquire new items:
There are hundreds of achievements to earn in Team Fortress 2. Just play the game, and if you complete a specific task, the achievement will unlock and announce it to everyone on the server. You can check which achievements you have or haven’t learned in your Steam Client.
If you earn enough class-specific achievements, you will earn one of three weapons available for each class. These items significantly change the role or options available for that class, such as a Sandvich healing item for the Heavy, or a Huntsman bow that replaces the Sniper’s rifle! Here is the full list of 27 achievement weapons in TF2.
Note: These achievement-reward items have the untradable trait, so you can’t trade them away later. And if you use them to craft metal or another item, the resulting item will carry that untradable trait, and the game will warn you that that will occur. This is to keep players from having dozens of separate Steam accounts just to farm for items. Only achievement-reward items will have the untradable trait.
There are “achievement servers” in the TF2 community, but TF2Newbs doesn’t have one; they’re frowned on by Valve.
As stated above, earn the Professor Speks all-class cosmetic by gifting someone an Upgrade to Premium Gift. It cannot be painted or traded.
Earn the Ghastly Gibus all-class hat by earning a domination on a player wearing their own Gibus. There are multiple, slightly different versions (the Ghastly, Ghastlier, Ghastlierest, Ghostly, and Galvanized), and dominated any player except for the Galvanized will earn you your own Ghastly Gibus (the other versions were awarded earlier). You can earn this achievement at any time, and it can be worn at all time, unlike many Halloween-themed items. It is paintable, but cannot be traded.
You can also get the Pyrovision Goggles by dominating a player that is wearing them. Pryovision items changes the scenery on most official maps so that you play in a pastel-painted world of balloons and laughter instead of the screams and gibs of your enemies. You can change its vision in your Advanced Options menu.
Earn a Mann Co. Cap all-class hat the first time you buy anything at the Mann Co. Store, regardless of amount spent. (You can only earn one.) It is paintable, but not tradable. You can also buy a real-life version from New Era. There is a second hat, the Mann Co. Online Cap, which you can earn by buying something from the Mann Co. Online store, which sells real-life Valve merchandise like posters, T-shirts, and hats!
Earn the all-class World Traveler’s Hat by buying your first Map Stamp, which is not an item, but a donation that goes directly to the author(s) of the Community-made map you choose. You can level it up by buying more Map Stamps. When you play on a map where you’ve purchased map stamps, you can give your hat unusual effects! This hat is paintable, but not tradable.
Other cosmetics you can earn by playing TF2:
Team Fortress 2 wants to reward you for playing, and does so by granting you periodic “item drops”. Approximately every hour you play in a week, up to roughly 10 hours a week, you will earn a random item, usually a weapon but rarely (perhaps a 3% chance) a cosmetic item such as a hat. Most, but not all, craftable weapons can drop via this system, and if you don’t play much one week, that extends the playing time where you can earn items in the next week only. “Weeks” for this purpose begin on Wednesdays at 7 PM Eastern Standard Time (which is also Thursdays at midnight Greenwich Standard Time; doesn’t change for Daylight Savings Time).
The list of possible weapons available is roughly the same as the craftable weapon list plus the achievement-reward weapon list (i.e. almost all non-stock weapons). “Stock” weapons are the default weapons and action-slot items of each class, which are also the only weapons that most computer-controller bots use, and they’re the only weapons you can access in those rare, unfortunate times when your server loses connection to the item server :( Stock weapons never drop, and you can’t lose access to them by crafting or trading.
By a similar but separate system, crates (and rarely, other tool items such as Name Tags instead) can drop for you as well, and they are NOT limited by your weekly playing time. Of course, you need keys to open crates; they are basically opportunities for Valve to make money by selling you keys. Crates always provide a random item out of a list, and the series number relates to the list of items available to drop; most crates drop Strange-quality weapons (with a 1% chance for a random Unusual item instead!).
Crate drops are rarer than in years past; players got annoyed by having too many crates. Sometimes, such as during the winter holiday, crate drops will occur more often. You may also get a crate once a week in your account just for logging in. They’re simply “opportunities” to spend money on keys for virtual items.
Many cosmetics can be earned just by buying certain games. Some were only available during pre-order, but many are still available if you buy the game today. Here is the current list of games that award TF2 items, maintained by the Official TF2 Wiki. Note that many of these items will be Genuine quality.
For example, the $4.99 game Poker Night at the Inventory features five unlockable items (some of which may be difficult to do so), as you play Texas Hold ‘Em against the Heavy, Strongbad and other characters. You need to get good at playing poker, but you can earn:
Its $4.99 sequel, Poker Night 2, features five more unlockable items, as you play Texas Hold ‘Em and Omaha Hold ‘Em with Claptrap, Ash Williams and others! Earn the following:
See this link to learn how to earn TF2 items by playing these free-to-play Steam games:
Mann vs. Machine, or “MvM”, is a horde mode where you and five other players form a RED team that defends against an onslaught of class-specific BLU robots. The free-to-play “Boot Camp” mode does NOT earn you items, but is good for practicing the game. The real rewards can be gained by completing “Mann Up” missions, which require a brown Tour of Duty ticket that costs US$0.99 in the Mann Co. Store (not to be confused with the white Surplus tickets). Tickets are used up and rewards are earned only when you successfully win an entire mission.
For more information on MvM and the items you can earn by playing in “Mann Up” Mode, please refer to the TF2 Newbs’ Guide to MvM Item Hunting.
You can take undesired items and turn them into metal, which is used to craft other weapons.
two weapons of same class —> one scrap
three scrap <—> one reclaimed
three reclaimed <—> one refined
What Can You Do with Metal?
Crafting Cosmetic Items
There are two ways to craft cosmetic items such as hats. Here is the first:
three refined —> one random cosmetic item
The above menu says the output is a “random headgear”, but in reality the output is some kind of cosmetic, such as a hat or an item that equips elsewhere on your person, and are never weapons. For instance, you might get a Football Helmet for a Heavy, or an Itsy-Bitsy Spyer that hangs on the hip of your Sniper, or a Big Mann on Campus sweater for a Scout. These items are always Unique quality; you’ll never get Stranges or the like. Almost every non-Limited cosmetic can be crafted, but of course, what you receive is randomized.
But if you want to ensure that you get an item that a specific character can use, consider the next formula:
four refined + class token —> random class-specific cosmetic item
With the above formula, you apply some extra metal and a token, but you ensure that you’ll get an item wearable by the token’s class (and possibly other classes also, depending on the item you receive). Use this formula if you really want more cosmetics for your favorite class.
See this page for a list of many other crafting recipes, which are also found in your Crafting menu.
Crafting Weapons
There is a list of craftable weapons under the second tab, “Common Items”. Simply follow the recipe to craft a desired weapon. If you lack the items, you can’t make the item, but you may be able to trade someone for the parts you need (or just buy it from the Mann Co. Store instead).
The top recipe reads, “Fabricate Class Weapons” with the following recipe:
scrap + class token + slot token –> random matching weapon
The above formula will generate one random weapon out of the possible craftable weapons that match both the class and weapon slot of the tokens. For example, following this recipe with a Pyro token and a Secondary token can generate a flare gun, detonator, reserve shooter, manmelter, scorch shot, or panic attack. See the “Crafting Weapon Classifications” heading in the the TF2 Wiki Crafting page for the full list.
Crates are opened with keys (usually Mann Co. Crate Keys, but special crates require special keys), and they can be purchased from the Mann Co. Store for US$2.49, traded, or bought and sold in the Steam Market. Opening a crate provides you one random item (usually Strange) from its short drop list, but rarely (about a 1% chance) grant you an Unusual hat!
Oh, if you have too many crates, you should probably just delete any duplicates you have. You’re unlikely to sell any on the Market, as you’d only get one cent, and there are thousands of them for sale already. You’ll always have more crates than you’ll ever open–they’re simply opportunites to buy a random Strange item.
If you have robot parts in your possession, you have probably been playing some Mann vs. Machine “Two Cities” missions. These are used for crafting certain Killstreak Kits. See this MvM Item FAQ for more information.
Access the Mann Co. Store within the TF2 game itself. You can’t while you’re playing in a server, however.
You can buy most Unique-quality items in the Mann Co. Store. Unique is the standard item quality that doesn’t do anything special, and signifies something that is probably not rare. Want a different kind of rocket launcher for your Soldier? It’s probably US$1 or less. Want a new community-designed hat? Snap one up for US$2 to $10. Just look at the catalog of items in the in-game menu, and purchase with your Steam Wallet funds.
Don’t want to bother with crafting or trading, but you want all the possible options available for your favorite class? You can buy a Starter Pack the gives you one of each Unique weapon for that class! They run between $2 and $7, depending on the class; some classes like the Soldier have more items, so they’re more expensive.
You can also buy (from either the in-game Store, or from the Market) an Unlocked Class Crate, which will drop you one random cosmetic equippable by that class. You could get just about anything. They’re $2.49 in the Mann Co. Store.
You can’t buy everything at the store, such as an Unusual hat… but there’s lots to buy on the Steam Market!
A Short Explanation of Item Qualities–and Rocket Launchers!
“Wait a minute. Why do I need an explanation of item qualities?” you ask.
Not all rocket launchers are created alike. (Set aside the Black Box and the Liberty Launcher and all those others; we’re talking just about the stock Rocket Launcher.) The stock Rocket Launchers are all alike, of course.
But there are many kind of reskinned rocket launchers. They’re all functionally the same. How they’re different is that they might be promotional items, have different colors on the weapon itself, or have a counter to track kills or other statistics. (The pictured Rocket Launcher is a Decorated weapon; scroll down to the next section to learn more about Decorated weapons.)
Here’s a comparison for the different rocket launchers out there, and the cheapest price for one on the Steam Market (as of this writing):
All of the above rocket launchers behave identically in play. But they’re also a show of status: players may assume that if you’re using the stock rocket launcher, that you haven’t been playing very long. Sure, it’s a silly game, but it stands out all the same.
Okay–here’s the different item qualities out there:
See my MvM Item FAQ for more information about Australium weapons and Killstreak Kits.
A decorated item is a weapon, cosmetic, or taunt that has been reskinned with different visual effects (and rarely, different sounds). Below is the Warbird, a rare decorated rocket launcher from the Tough Break season:
A ”season” is a period of weeks, directly after a major content patch such as the Tough Break Update, that allows players to complete missions/contracts in order to earn random items with randomly generated paint jobs. A decorated weapon or item includes the following:
How to earn Graded items:
How to Trade-Up Graded weapons:
Some items can be used in a trade-in, much like crafting, into another item.
How can you tell the difference between a Strange Graded Item, and a vanilla Graded Item with a Stat Clock attached? Look at the item name: one will be Strange, and the other will say “Stat Clock”.
Yes, there are gifters who play TF2 regularly. Very few players just go around looking for Newbs who need items. But there are plenty of players wiling to give a couple of weapons or an odd hat to someone who has none. The important thing is to be nice and civil. Spamming chat with demands for free items will annoy anyone who would have been willing, and that behavior can get you banned from the Newbs servers.
If you want people to trade or gift you, show some proper etiquette:
Trades do not involve the exchange of Steam Wallet funds (that’s what the Steam Market is for). So how do you trade items for other items and know one of you isn’t being cheated out of value? Over the years, players have established a de facto economy by using certain common and uncommon items as currencies, specifically metal, keys, and earbuds.
Metal is the crafting ingredient discussed above to create random cosmetics and weapons. Because of these uses, metal also has worth in the economy.
Common item prices are discussed in “ref”, an abbreviation for refined metal. A refined metal is 1.00 ref.
A reclaimed metal is .33 ref, since it takes three reclaimed to make a refined.
A scrap metal is worth .11 ref, since it takes three scrap to make a reclaimed (nine to make a refined).
For example: A hat worth 1.33 ref is worth a refined and three scrap.
If you play TF2 10 hours a week and smelt all of your non-cosmetic drops into metal, you’ll average one refined metal in three weeks.
Keys, or standard Mann Co. Crate Keys, cost US$2.49 in the Mann Co. Store. Since they’re tradable (after a week) and the price doesn’t change, they are good for trading valuable items. Popular, in-demand items that are not very rare are often measured in keys, such as taunts or popular hats.
How much ref a key is worth changes based on the demand in the economy (how bad people want keys, or metal). Refined metal is also useful for making “change”, since a key cannot be broken into smaller values. As of January 2016, a key is worth about 20 ref.
Buds, or Earbuds, are a somewhat rare, Limited cosmetic item. Buds were often used as currency for rare, high-demand items, such as Unusuals. They’re not used for trading much anymore.
The following is a list of phrases people enter into their search engines:
…and so on. I know this because the blog dashboard shows me certain search engine terms that bring readers to this blog. Lots and lots of TF2 players want free unusual hats, keys and items. New players beg for free items, and sometimes start raging when they don’t get what they want.
The TF2Newbs community, like many other public gaming communities out there, frown on begging. Repeatedly asking for items disrupts the game and can lead to a permanent ban on Newbs servers. Would you want your games interrupted by beggars?
My point is, earn or buy items yourself. Trading exists so that you can meet other players and swap items. It’s a metagame–a game within a game–to collect desirable items. Don’t disrupt a good game by begging; go to a trade server if you’re looking for something specific.
TF2Newbs’ Trade Servers (type these into your console to jump right in):
Well, that’s embarrassing: it is certainly possible to fill your backpack with so many crates, weapons, tools, and cosmetics that you cannot hold more. When this happens, you won’t receive more items from the item drop system; it “stops the clock”, so to speak. What do?
I hope this blogpost has helped you learn about the wide variety, and multiple functions, of the items of Team Fortress 2. The item-acquisition game within the “war-themed hat simulator” keeps players coming back. If I have helped you in your quest for mighty loot, feel free to say so in the comments, or post in the forums.
[N] Obey