Brain Teasers Melbourne

Tricky Tuesday @ The Peacock Inn

Welcome to the **Tricky Tuesday** Meet Up! This is a smaller event but still the same sized fun! Come join us to play and explore modern card games (especially trick-takers and climbing/shedding games)! It's a great chance to learn a new game and meet some new people. You can usually find us at the tables in the side room! * *This event is made possible (and kept free for all members) via the support of [Pretty Tricky Games](http://prettytrickygames.com.au). An Australian online store for niche and unique imported and indie board and card games. Some of these you will be able to experience at our events!* Bring some games to this event if you can. There are none available at the venue. I will always have some packed - feel free to search for the rules and prepare yourself to play! These regular suspects include: Skull King, Farm Hand, The Crew, Space Dragons, VIVO, and Inside Job. Please consider others when coming and in the lead up to the event. We want as many people there as possible. If you are unable to attend mark yourself as such as soon as you can so others can be notified and attend. There's an FAQ below but if you have any questions please don't hesitate to reach out. Your tricky friend, Dave **FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS** **What is a trick taking game? Good question you handsome person.** * Generally speaking, a trick taking game is a card game which is played in a series of rounds known as ***tricks***. * Each trick is evaluated to determine a winner or ***taker*** of that trick and then will usually start - or ***lead*** *-* the next trick. * The goal is usually tied to either winning or losing a number of tricks. This may also come in the form of you guessing how many tricks you will win - known as a ***bid***. * Some games may have a suit that always wins - known as a ***trump***. * Most trick taking games are **competitive** needing between 3-5 players, others are **cooperative**, there are also solo and two-player trick taking games as well! * Popular trick taking/trick taking adjacent games you may have heard of: [The Crew](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/324856/the-crew-mission-deep-sea), [Skull King](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/150145/skull-king), [Cat in the Box](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/345972/cat-in-the-box-deluxe-edition), [Scout](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/291453/scout), [Fox in the Forest](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/221965/the-fox-in-the-forest), the classic games of [Spades](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/592/spades) and [Hearts](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/6887/hearts), **What makes a Trick Taking game fun?** * There's so much to trick taking games! They're generally quick to teach, quick to play, have interesting decision spaces, and a wide variety of novelty. Even the classics though can be played thousands of times without getting tiresome. Part of the fun is in the interaction with others, assessing their moves and countering them, and how to win (or lose) at the right times. You have to stay on your toes, adapt frequently, and keep tabs on the other players, what they have played, and what they may play next! **Do I need to know how to play/have played a trick taking game before?** * Not at all, but it is good to understand the basics and general terminology so you can pick things up a bit easier on the night. You can check out [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7O7QyhKmCsk) for a bit of a general breakdown . **Is this event free?** * Yes, but please support the venue by purchasing a drink or two. **I'm on the waitlist can I still come?** * Unfortunately, no. We have limited capacity and must abide by it. **I don't have a game to bring, is that okay?** * Generally it will be okay, but it is encouraged to bring and share a game where you can! You can always bring a standard deck of cards or tarot cards and learn a card game or two as well! **Can I bring a guest?** * Unfortunately, unless they have signed up too it won't be possible. We have a strict limit on guests and the event would fill up too quickly otherwise. **How do I get to the venue?** * The 86 Tram is your best bet and has a stop pretty much right outside of the venue. * There are two train stations (Westgarth and Northcote) which are within walking distance. * Parking is available in the area but can get busy. If you don't mind a little walk there is parking down the adjacent street. **Dave, I worry you will win all the games we play. Such an intelligent and beautiful man, you must be a master of the tricks, is this true?** * Firstly - thank-you for the kind words, but secondly - no. I suck at trick taking games and lose more than I win. Yet, I enjoy them for their variety, high interaction, and quick nature regardless. You will be fine if you don't take things too seriously. It's about fun and meeting people... (but if you do beat me too often I will ban you from the group and venue...).

Thursday night Rainbow Boardgames - Marché Board Games Cafe

Join your fellow LGBTQIA+ folks for a social evening of board games at Marché Board Games Cafe. We have access to the games library at the cafe. If you have a game that you want to share, please feel free to bring it along. We play all sorts of games - card games, party games, strategy games - and we're happy to teach new players. Groups for games usually form between 6:30-6:45, so it's important to try arrive on time to ensure you're allocated to a game/group. Anyone arriving late may have to wait for a game if all groups have started. The cafe has drinks and food available. Check out their menu here: https://mbgcafe.com.au/menu.pdf We only accept payment at the time of booking to reserve your spot. This means you will need to pay the booking amount via PayPal at the time of booking to confirm your spot. If you can't make it to the event, please ensure you get in touch by messaging the event hosts or emailing rainbowbg.melbourne@gmail.com at least one day before the event, and we can reverse your payment via PayPal. The cafe does NOT have a liquor licence. Consuming alcohol on the premises is illegal, and will result in any members being banned from future events. See you on Thursday!

August MathsJam

Come talk maths over a drink or two and maybe a meal. If you have any mathsy puzzles, games or toys, bring 'em along. There'll be a puzzle sheet to solve if you wish, but it's not competitive. No maths background necessary, all welcome. Email melbourne@mathsjam.com to join our mailing list for monthly puzzle sheets. The event is very informal so don't worry if you can't arrive exactly at 7:30pm or have forgotten to RSVP (but please do RSVP if you can!).

Fundraiser - Masquerade Ball - ticketed 50 SOLD

Rainbow Social Melbourne and UBQ are teaming up for the MASQUERADE BALL of your dreams to help raise funds to keep Rainbow Social's Melbourne events free and accessible to all! I am back to host as well!! **Tickets here:** [Masquerade Ball TICKETS](https://events.humanitix.com/rainbowmasquerade?c=ubweb) **Doors open: 9:30pm** Raffle and giveaways on the night Catch amazing drag shows, dance the night away to our fabulous DJs, make some new friends and maybe even score yourself a great giveaway prize 🏆 All net proceeds from the event go towards helping Rainbow Social Melbourne run more events throughout the year and keeping them accessible for all of our community. Masks are available on the night if needed. Otherwise, get your creative juices flowing

It’s not Chicken but Trivia!

Castlemaine to Maldon – Return by Steam Train (18km, M )

Thought Experiment: A What-if Scenario Event

## **THOUGHT EXPERIMENT: Colony** **Keywords:** Space Colonisation, Survival, Identity, Morality, Responsibility, Power, Fear For thirty-seven years, **Tau Ceti f** has waited for Earth. The colony continues to transmit. Births. Deaths. Medical requests. Proof that humanity still survives beneath an alien sky. Nothing returns. Generations have now lived and died without seeing Earth. The colony has adapted. Its people have changed. And whatever connection once remained to humanity’s birthplace is beginning to feel more like a memory than a home. Then, one night, the observatory detects something entering the system. Human design. Earth identification codes. For the first time in decades, the colony prepares to receive visitors. But something is wrong. The vessel does not answer. Its trajectory makes no sense. And as new information emerges, the colony must decide what it is willing to protect, what it still owes to Earth and whether survival can change a people so completely that home begins to fear what it created. Every decision will shape what happens next. Every argument will reveal something about who the colony has become. And by the time the truth is clear, it may already be too late. Welcome to **Thought Experiment**, a meetup where we explore large “What if…?” scenarios through discussion, role-play and difficult decisions. Each session places the group inside one unfolding story. New information is revealed in phases, forcing participants to reconsider what they believe about morality, responsibility, power, identity and human nature. Some people bring research. Others bring instinct, imagination and personal values. There are no perfect answers. The aim is curiosity, disagreement and the uncomfortable moment when a simple answer stops feeling simple. This event is for curious minds of all kinds: students, professionals, creatives, science-fiction fans, political-thriller fans, philosophy lovers or anyone who enjoys thinking differently. ## Event Details 📍 **Melbourne Central Lion Hotel** 🕒 **3 PM start** 👥 **Small-group event: 6–14 people** 🎟 **Free for the first 14 people, then $6 plus booking fee** 🌐 **Tickets:** [https://thoughtexperiment.au](https://thoughtexperiment.au/) ⌛ **Find the table with the hourglass.** Please RSVP, as places are limited. We ask everyone to purchase a drink from the venue. Conversational English is required to get the most from the discussion. ## Format * Introduction and private roles * An unfolding science-fiction scenario * Moral and ethical decisions * Small-group discussion * Hidden information * Final reveal * Debrief and optional post-event drinks * No right answers, just curiosity, debate and the unsettling possibility that humanity may fear its future more than it fears extinction.

Thoughtstorm® Session Topic: Intl Day of Friendship, Yarraville

Would you like to enhance your creativity, confidence and increase your awareness? We’d love you to join us to Thoughtstorm® the topic International Day of Friendship in the warm, friendly environment of the Yarraville Community Centre. How Thoughtstorm came about Thoughtstorm is a technique developed from a seed of speculation: are there more effective (rational, cooperative, compassionate) ways of thinking? Methods whose long-term consequences will not lead to oblivion. This is the genesis of Thoughtstorm. What is it? For anyone with an interest in leadership, deeper conversations or creative problem solving, something much more than a group discussion occurs. What is experienced in Thoughtstorm is a forgotten sensory ability - mind-linking. An evolution in human thinking and learning. The direction moves from a narrow range of possibility into discovering corecepts, when individual minds merge into a much more powerful collective awareness and experience a deeper, more compassionate comprehension of reality. Corecepts trigger intuitive recognition and agreement by the group, a ‘Why, of course!’ reaction. New insights guaranteed! Because this process taps into abilities already present in the human mind and into aggregates of consciousness straining to express themselves, very little practice is required. Would you like to see and understand things in a way that is new for all of us? Would you like to develop your consciousness and your creative intelligence? Would you like to be inspired to create positive change? Then come and join us to Thoughtstorm together. If it’s your first time to Thoughtstorm, please RSVP early to give plenty of time to arrange a brief prep call on Zoom to go over the Thoughtstorm procedures so we can all get started on time together. **Agenda:** 2pm - Arrive, meet and greet, read over Thoughtstorm instructions 2.15pm - Begin the Thoughtstorm 3.15pm - Finish When you RSVP we will be in touch with the details. We look forward to seeing you there! Thoughtstorm® is a registered trademark of Star's Edge, Inc. All rights reserved.

AI and the Limits of Human Judgement

**Skeptics Café will be held in the Function Room at [The Stolberg Hotel](https://stolberg.com.au), 197 Plenty Road Preston. The 86 tram route is close, and Bell train station – situated on the Epping line – is a short walk away. It will also be a virtual event accessible via Zoom, as per the details [here](https://vicskeptics.wordpress.com/events/).** **Start Time:** 6:00pm for dinner and a chat. Talk and Zoom session starts at 7.30pm. We aim to wrap up after 9:00pm. **More Moral Than Us?** *Why the question matters for alignment, moral progress, and long-term flourishing* **TL;DR:** On some measurable moral tasks, today's AI already looks competitive with humans, or better, and the alignment community is oddly quiet about it. But moral capability is not the same as moral motivation: a system can compute the right answer without being moved by it. Pulling apart knowledge, reasoning, judgement and motivation is what makes the question tractable, and what makes the honest answer uncomfortable. Caveats attached, in quantity. Almost nobody working on AI alignment wants to say this out loud, at least not about current systems. So let's say it: AI might already be [more moral than us](https://www.scifuture.org/more-moral-than-us/), in some measurable respects. Two questions fall straight out of that: * Why does it feel like a dangerous thing to claim? * And is human moral reasoning really a standard worth bragging about as an alignment target? The provocation isn't idle. In a modified Moral Turing Test, people rated a large language model's moral reasoning as better than other humans' on almost all measured dimensions - see [paper Attributions toward artificial agents in a modified Moral Turing Test](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-58087-7) + associated [interview](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quNwpv0zhtM) and [talk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuLmzDUPhVo) with lead author Eyal Aharoni.[1] Findings like that are easy to over-read and easy to wave away, which is most of the problem. Provocative questions? Yes, and they are backed by empirical research. In a modified Moral Turing Test, people rated GPT-4's moral evaluations as better than other humans' on almost every dimension, though they could still tell which was the machine ([Aharoni et al. 2024](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-58087-7); I [interviewed](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quNwpv0zhtM) and [hosted a talk by](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuLmzDUPhVo) lead author Eyal Aharoni).[1] The result has since been [contested](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-25046-9) and [defended](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-25047-8), which is exactly the kind of thing this evening is for. Findings like that are easy to over-read and easy to wave away, which is a problem that may obscure appropriate interpretations. The claim gets tabooed for reasons that aren't stupid. Premises do get smuggled in unnoticed. Morality is bound up with identity and tribe, so "AI is more moral" can land as an attack rather than a hypothesis. And it sits close to AI-worship, or to motivated reasoning looking for an excuse to defer to the machine, and deferring to AI on moral questions is genuinely epistemically risky. So the caution is understandable. The trouble is that it has hardened into a taboo, and the taboo now costs more than it protects. Most of the bad arguments, on both sides, come from running four different things together: * Moral knowledge: knowing the facts that bear on a decision. * Moral reasoning: drawing sound inferences from values to conclusions. * Moral judgement: applying principles well in a messy particular case. * Moral motivation: actually being moved by moral considerations, not merely computing them. Group the first three as epistemic competence: marshalling the relevant knowledge, drawing sound inferences, judging the particular case. Now grant, purely for argument, that AI already does all three better than we do. Notice what happens to the alignment problem. It doesn't dissolve. It relocates, wholesale, onto the fourth thing: whether the system is actually moved by any of it. Concede every epistemic point and the hard question is untouched. That gap, between knowing and caring, is where alignment actually lives. A system could plausibly beat humans on the first three while having nothing resembling the fourth. Keep them apart and the conversation becomes tractable. Collapse them and you get overclaiming and underclaiming in the same breath, which is roughly what the current debate produces. There's also a real risk in how the framing gets used. Point it one way and it justifies handing AI authority over human decisions. Point it the other and it's ammunition for painting alignment researchers as unhinged techno-utopians. Both feed motivated reasoning. Worth naming out loud, not a reason to stop. None of this settles the answer, and the evening won't pretend to. The narrower claim is enough: once a serious community stops itself from asking whether AI could have better-grounded moral reasoning than humans, the taboo has become the expensive thing. It's a question worth putting on the table, with every caveat attached. Come and help pull it apart. Also see: **- [More Moral than Us](https://www.scifuture.org/more-moral-than-us/)** **- [Why Are We Afraid to Ask Whether AI Could Be More Moral Than Humans?](https://www.scifuture.org/why-are-we-afraid-to-ask-whether-ai-could-be-more-moral-than-humans/)** [1] AI didn't pass as human, it was rated as better than human. The same study found that when participants were then asked to identify which evaluation came from a machine, people performed significantly above chance levels. So GPT-4 didn't fool anyone. The authors' reading is that people could pick the AI out not because it reasoned worse but because it seemed to reason better, i.e. its perceived superiority was the tell.

2x Talks: The Truth Paradox, and Secure MCPs by design

We are excited to host Kirtika and Randi this month. Kirtika will show us how we can be confident our AI is telling the truth, and Randi is going to show us all the ways we can build secure MCPs! **Live Stream:** We're going LIVE on YouTube. If you haven't been able to join us in-person, you can still jump on now to watch (link will be published on the night). **Agenda:** * 5:30pm arrival - Food and drinks provided in-person * 6pm kickoff - Welcome & Introduction and few words from our Sponsors - 10 min * 6:10pm - Session 1 * 6.45pm - Session 2 **Session 1:** The Truth Paradox: Why Your AI Might Be Confidently Wrong (And What To Do About It) by [Kirtika Sharma](https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirtikasharma05/) AI gives you answers with total confidence — but confidence isn't the same as correctness. In this interactive session, I'll open with a live "gotcha" that tricks the room into almost believing a fabricated fact, then unpack exactly why AI does the same thing to all of us, every day. We'll play a quick prediction game to demystify how AI actually generates answers, tour a "Hallucination Gallery" of real AI failure patterns, and walk away with 3 simple, memorable rules for using AI safely — whether you're shipping code, writing docs, or just asking it questions at work. Practical, a little provocative, and genuinely interactive — bring your voice, you'll be shouting out answers. **Session 2:** Secure by Design: Building Production-Ready MCP Servers by [Randi Ratnayake](https://www.linkedin.com/in/randiratnayake/) Building an MCP server is easy. Building one that is secure, production ready, and designed for enterprise applications is a very different challenge. In this session, we'll start by looking under the hood to understand how the Model Context Protocol actually works. We'll unpack the protocol, explore what the client libraries abstract away, and see how tools are discovered, invoked, and secured. Understanding these fundamentals is key to building MCP servers that are secure by design. From there, we'll implement authentication using OAuth 2.0, Microsoft Entra ID, and the On-Behalf-Of flow, while covering common security pitfalls and production best practices. Although the concepts and architecture are language agnostic, all demonstrations and code examples will be implemented in .NET. Whether you're building AI agents for internal tools or enterprise platforms, you'll leave with a solid understanding of MCP under the hood and the practical knowledge to build secure, production-ready MCP servers with confidence. **Hosts:** * [William Liebenberg](https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-liebenberg/) \- Microsoft \.NET MVP \| Consultant at Arinco * [Bron Thulke](https://www.linkedin.com/in/bronthulke/) \- Microsoft \.NET MVP \| CTO / Co\-Founder at YouLi * [Bill Chesnut](https://www.linkedin.com/in/billchesnut/) \- Microsoft Azure MVP \| Consultant at SixPivot **Sponsors:** We have some amazing sponsors that help make this event possible: * [Arinco](https://arinco.com.au/) \- Venue\, Food and Drinks **Location:** In-Person at Arinco Melbourne. Level 6 / 440 Collins Street, Melbourne CBD 🗣 Apply to speak now: [https://bit.ly/melb-dotnet-cfp](https://bit.ly/melb-dotnet-cfp)

Sunday Gamers Meetup & Social by Respawn Gaming

Welcome to Respawn’s Gamers Citadel! 🛡️ Come hang out, meet fellow gamers, and enjoy a chill vibe with great food and drinks. 🥤 Entry is $4 or buy yourself a drink or food. 🍲 At the “Gamers Citadel”, we provide the consoles for you and have two multiplayer (2-4 player) game stations (A, B, C and D). For our board games area you are allowed to BYO! 😯 ♟️ Currently available are: Switch, PS1, PS2, SNES, N64, Cardfight!! Vanguard, Yu-Gi-Oh! and more! If you’re bringing anything, please DM us so we can accommodate. ❤️ Conditions of entry are to either purchase any food or drink of your choice and we will provide you a reusable badge to show that you’re one of us! ✌️ Whether you’re a casual player or a hardcore fan, this is the place to be. Don’t miss out on the fun! 🤩 Our games list is below! 👇 Game Station A - PS3 - Abaan: 1st Game: UFC Undisputed 2nd Game: Mortal Kombat 9 Game Station B - Emulator N64 + Super NES - Dean: 1st Game: Super Mario Kart 64 - 4 player 2nd Game: Mortal Kombat Ultimate 3 Game Station C - Steam Deck - Michael 1st Game: Sonic Crossworlds 2nd Game: Overcooked 2 Game Station D - TCG + Board Games: Pokémon TCG YU-Gi-OH! TCG UNO JENGA BYO available! You can bring your own board games, controllers, equipment etc. 👍 Follow us on Instagram: @respawn.social 📱 Join us on Discord: https://discord.gg/phscMtBqpW 🎧 Find Respawn on Facebook: https://facebook.com/events/s/respawn-gaming-social-club-lau/940165205164472/ 🔗 Visit our website for all info: https://intermingle.au/respawn/ 👩‍💻

Bentleigh Social Trivia Night

Trivia night at the Bentleigh social!