October 2009
21 posts
3 tags
Cheapass Games lives!
Compared to many who have been developing games for years, I am a newbie. I have my role models: I’ve discussed Jane McGonigal before, but one of the best traditional party game designers I’ve ever encountered is James Ernest, founder of Cheapass Games.
J.E. invented “Kill Dr. Lucky” which was the gateway for me into the world of the board gaming hobby, and he has...
2 tags
Font of wisdom
[What follows is not a proper example of Tumblr re-blogging, but I’m a non-traditionalist, and I don’t appreciate being judged.]
I love fonts. It’s a way to dress the alphabet up in a costume and make it look snappy. Greg will tell you, I never met a font I didn’t like. Look at our ClueArt card and you’ll see what I mean.
This web site is dedicated to...
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Questions and pantsers
Levi’s jeans is putting on an ambitious real-life game that requires players to solve audio puzzles on the web site and then seek out artifacts hidden in the real world. Games like this require an online community not just to solve with the combined ingenuity of the hive mind but also to get physical bodies where the clues were hidden.
Levi’s is really swinging for the fences with...
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Playing? Bridge? Must be SF0
When it comes to real life gaming, we must all bow down before SF0.
Calling it “game changing” is a little too apropos (or tautological) so let’s just say it’s an innovative, ground-breaking, successful, popular game where players earn points by doing tasks. The community of players makes up the tasks. Your score goes up with each task you complete, but the real currency...
7 tags
Winner winner, Chicken Dinner
PowerPoint Karaoke is the kind of silly competition that makes us Wise Guys get all swoony. Last night was the Santa Monica event at V Lounge. And who was the winner? I’ll give you a hint: he’s writing this blog post!
I walked away with this nifty little portable hard drive and a crack at winning the grand prize of five thousand clams. Not bad for 5 minutes of winging it, which is...
4 tags
Printer and Piemaker's Urban Adventures
No, that’s not a reference to “Pushing Daisies” (though I do love that show, especially the “Pete’s Dragon” episode). In the spirit of Wise Guys’s value on discovering your own neighborhood, we tip our hats to this great blog from my childhood friend Hannah. Look at the photographic evidence of her explorations and marvel at her energy and her unfailing...
4 tags
Haunted Hollywood rocks the (haunted) house!
You never know where you’ll find a clue!
Huge thanks to our fantastic crew of racers, solvers, video makers, and time savers who came out to play the Haunted Hollywood game at the Egyptian Theatre. We’ll have some more photos and videos to display from your fantastic efforts in the days to come. Suffice it to say, there were some mental powerhouses who ate up the challenge course,...
6 tags
Jason Reitman interview
This irreverent, obscene, and generally low-brow podcast is one of my guilty pleasures. I never miss it, and today I’m especially glad: director Jason Reitman has an inspirational story about his father’s career advice to him that makes me like him even more than I did after enjoying his wonderful movies “Thank You For Smoking” and “Juno.” Listen for yourself:
...
3 tags
Pervasive Gaming
Great SF article on the state of real-life play today. Greg and I hail from SF, the motherland of many of the best pervasive games. Anyone played any of these who wants to tell us about it? Shout-outs here to my role model Jane McGonigal and old friends Finn Kelly and Ian Fraser.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/11/PKNJ1A07O3.DTL
10 tags
Passive Aggressive Tutorial Part 2
This guy’s a on tear! Here’s more from the same dude. Is it wrong that I find these delightful and hilarious?
Hi Everyone. I’m sending out this message to you all in regards to participation, especially in regards to games, activities, events and so forth that involve a team(s) or a group (that I have to reserve for) to be able to actually play a game, activity and so forth....
Passive Aggressive Tutorial
Evites. Facebook events. Twitter. Goldstar. The list goes on and on. None of them solve the problem that haunts anyone who wants to do something fun:
How do I get people to show up?
This is certainly a problem that has plagued me professionally and personally as well. What is it that will get someone to attend an event? How do you give them enough advance notice and remind them when you get...
3 tags
SURVIVOR SAMOA: In Need of Team Building
Reality TV, though a young genre of TV compared to mainstays like medical dramas and game shows (of which it is an offshoot), has a well-established taxonomy. For further proof, check out Rich’s amazing montage of “I’m not here to make friends” sound bytes, which was featured on a recent episode of This American Life.
Tropes like elimination ceremonies, catchphrases, and...
4 tags
Pie for Monday!
In the interest of sharing the blogging love, and writing more about games of all varieties, here is the rundown on how my friend Hannah won a piemaking competition. A delicious contest from one of my very oldest and dearest friends.
Read all about it here: http://printerpiemaker.blogspot.com/2009/09/pie.html#links
She is also one of the best bloggers I know. You should read everything she...
Trick or Treat for Hobos →
Found this while making a candy-themed clue for our Oct 17th game. It’s hilarious!
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Friday love-fest
This blog is intended to be about all kinds of off-line gaming in Southern CA, and I recognize that up til now I’ve mostly been using it to promote Wise Guys games, which is also part of my mission statement, but not the whole story. I want this to be a well-rounded blog, not just a shilling platform. Note to self. Note taken.
I also recognize that you gotta give blog love to get blog love....
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Sweet revenge
Has anyone else seen this? Shopping at a CVS, I found a Halloween variety bag with a selection of Parker Bros game-themed candies. Monopoly candy, Operation candy (organ flavored?), and this tasty treat! These will factor into our upcoming game a week from tonight: keep your eyes peeled! You blog readers now have a hint. You are literally ahead of the game. Good work!
Get your tickets to play...
6 tags
"Haunted Hollywood" Clockwise game Oct 17th
Great news everyone! American Cinematheque and the Egyptian Theater are partnering with Wise Guys to put on a very special Haunted Hollywood Scavenger Hunt Game on Saturday October 17th.
Buy tickets here!
With your ticket, you’ll play our one-of-a-kind cell-phone scavenger hunt and find clues, puzzles, and challenges all over Hollywood. After a dinner break, you’ll return to the...
