Last night was Game Night, a invite only gathering of game designers and colleagues from the area NYC, which is organized by Eric Zimmerman and held at the gameLab offices. So what do people who make games do when they all get together? Play games, of course. Video games. No… Board games!
This was my first invite to the prestigious affair, and I had no idea what it would be like going on. I was pretty psyched going in, though to be honest, I did have visions of people in a circle, all in dark robes, and trying to finish their game of Risk (or maybe Monopoly?) so they can hurry up and call Illuminati HQ to pass along word of the what the next year in world events should be (and to sacrifice the baby).
But in reality, it was just a nice opportunity to chill out and enjoy some pizza, chips, beer, and an impressive selection of board games the general populace has never seen. It was small, yet eclectic gathering of minds. Among them, Greg Costikyan, who told me about some guy who got hassled on the NY Waterway ferry by security (with the Republican convention coming to town, security has been heightened, which means bag searches among other things) for having a pen and paper RPG book because it was deemed “inappropriate.” Outraged by such a ridiculous and ignorant abuse of power (especially since he creates pen and paper RPGs himself), Greg took it upon himself to get answers from the NY Waterway directly, which in turn has lead to an investigation. I’m eager to see how this goes…
Well as I said, there were tons of games to choose from. Most are titles that many people are probably not familiar with since the majority are independently produced and distributed (and trust me, there is indeed an “indie” board game scene out there, and it enjoys a pretty loyal). If you’re into games, especially creating them, and even if it’s “just” video games, it simply makes sense to be into board games as well. It’s the best way to put gameplay ideas to the test, hence why creating a working board game was one of my very first assignments for my game design class.
I tried a few out, some based on recommendations from Eric and others, but… and I’m embarrassed to admit this….. I simply had a very difficult time getting a grasp for any of them. I suppose I shouldn’t feel too bad since everyone I was playing with was having the same hard time, but still…. perhaps all those years of video games, which is a mostly pick up and play and ignore the instruction manual mindset has destroyed my ability to comprehend written instructions. At a certain point, I figured I’d tackling only games with cute, cartoony characters, but they weren’t any less complicated than the serious strategy and wars sims. But there was one game which I did find totally playable, and absolutely engrossing. Believe it or not, but Tetris as a board game totally works. Guess it goes to prove how rock solid and brilliant the play mechanics are.
Before I left for the night, I got a chance to check out all the different game boards that adorn the walls of gameLab. There were quite a few gems to admire, such as board game renditions of Double Dragon, Miami Vice, and the Flying Nun.
On a side note, and this has been the case for a while now, but there’s this belief that I have some sort of inside connection to the inner workings of Nintendo. It came up yet again this week as I was helping to spread the word of a Nintendo sponsored gaming tournament that took place in the city on Tuesday (which unfortunately I couldn’t attend since it sounded pretty cool; the games on hand spanned virtually every piece of hardware that Nintendo has ever produced). On that same exact day, a list of DS games that are being developed in the west was leaked to the public days in advance, and a few people believe I was the same source. And I can’t tell you how many people assume that I have a DS at home. Yes… yes I do… along with that air hockey tech demo I liked so much.
So anyway, I was up till 2 in the morning last night responding to IMs and replying to messages from forums in order to iron out the truth. The truth not only hurts, but also makes you sleep in and late for work.
EDIT:I forgot the quote of the day, as said by my co-worker Steve: “My fianc?e watches demon rape anime just for the plot.”
