Friday, December 30, 2005

The Latchkey Project - Adventure Jewelry


The Latchkey Project 058
Originally uploaded by Avant Game.

Kiyash and I are thrilled to announce our new project: limited edition adventure jewelry. The Latchkey Project was inspired in part by all those lovely old text adventure games, in which picking up a random key early on always paid off.

Instructions:
1. Wear your vintage key around your neck.
2. Search for the lock your key opens.

Your search kit includes:
~ A vintage key
~ A satin cord, to wear your key latchkey style (33 inches in length, and you choose the color: purple, black, sandstone, pink, or magenta)
~ An envelope of secrets, with handwritten clues for finding the lock your key opens
~ Instructions for use

Optional Adventures:
~ Ask people you meet while wearing your key if they have any clues for you.
~ Let your friends touch it for good luck.
~ Sleep with it under your pillow to dream about its previous owner.
~ Make a list of exciting places where your lock might be waiting for you. Go there!

The vintage key necklace and search kit is $28 USD, with free priority shipping in the United States.

UPDATES:

You may wish to read our Latchkey Project FAQ.

We have sold out of our first series of keys; however, a limited edition second series is now available for pre-purchase at the project website. Second series keys will ship on January 16, 2006.

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

You're invited to Zombie Village Playtest

You've played Werewolf, or Mafia, or Witchhunt, or one of the many other variations of the classic "Sleep, Accuse, Debate and Lynch" (SADL) circle games. (Yes, I just made up that acronym.)

Now it's time for Zombie Village. What, you ask, is Zombie Village? It's a tournament-style structure for SADL circle games. Because don't you really want to have a formal system for crowning a World Champion of this kind of game? Well, I do. I dream of starting local, say crowning a Bay Area champion, and working our way up to the big global finale. Yes, I'm serious. And you are coming to my apartment to playtest it.

(Never played this type of game before? Worry not. It's simple to learn on the spot. Come play anyway!)

Also, as a design challenge, it's pretty juicy. How do you award points for performance in a game so that no matter what part is randomly assigned to each player, all players have an equal chance of scoring and advancing in the tournament? It's some tricky math, involving lots of fun probabilities and game theory. Way more complicated than Deal or No Deal.

Here, for example, is one potential tournament scoring system. Imagine that multiple games are played simultaneously in different circle; points awarded after each game; and players begin being eliminated after a certain number of games (say, 2 or 3) based on their total points across all games. You work your way up to a final table of Grand Master players, a game everyone will surely want to watch because, DAMN! Those are some wiley werewolf-mafia-vampire-zombie gamers.

Game circles

  • 10 -16 villagers
  • 2-3 zombies
  • 1 caretaker
  • 1 non-playing moderator
  • 1 non-playing scorer

Scoring

Villagers

  • If the villagers win, a dead villager receives 2 points.
  • If the villagers win, a surviving villager receives 5 points.
  • A villager who nominates a zombie, resulting in the zombie’s lynching at the time of the nomination, receives 3 points (points awarded at the conclusion of the game.)
  • A villager who nominates an innocent villager, resulting in the villager’s lynching at the time of the nomination, loses 1 point (points subtracted at the conclusion of the game.

Zombies

  • If the zombies win, a dead zombie receives 2 points.
  • If the zombies win, a surviving zombie receives 5 points.
  • Each time a zombie is nominated and successfully avoids lynching, he or she receives 3 points (points awarded at the conclusion of the game.)

Caretaker

  • The caretaker is scored according to villager point system, plus:
  • The caretaker receives 2 points for each Zombie discovered, denounced to the group and successfully lynched anytime thereafter.
  • The caretaker loses 1 point for each living, undiscovered Zombie at the time of the caretaker’s death.

So, when are you coming to my apartment in Berkeley to playtest Zombie Village? That's a great question. The answer is: As soon as I can get 15 or so other people to my apartment to playtest Zombie Village. Proposed date: Friday, January 13th, evening. ARE YOU GAME?

If you are in the Bay Area and can come to my Berkeley apartment (street parking available, and we are 3 blocks from a BART stop) on the evening of Friday January 13, email me at zombie at avantgame dot com. We're about halfway to a quorum for the 13th, so climb aboard the train to Zombie Village! (OR If you would like to playtest on a DIFFERENT date, let me know. We may do it again, or reschedule as necessary.)

Sunday, December 25, 2005

20 exquisite rules. Play along at home!

We've compiled and organized the 20 exquisite rules submitted to our last-minute, new Xmas tradition, game design challenge.

As we work out the kinks in our official Exquisite Corpse Game, which has a working title of "I'm the alpha dog!", we thought we'd shared the 20 rules with you. Feel free to post any ideas or common themes you notice in the comments. You get a bit of an advantage-- we've already sorted them into a decent working order. Of course, we have a bit of an advantage too-- we were drinking Chandon champagne while brainstorming with Kiyash's parents at Xmas brunch today. You'd be amazed what parents can help you think up when they're in a festive bubbly-buzz.

So: We'll post our game rules and playtesting photos as soon as we figure the damn thing out. But it looks promising! Really!

20 Exquisite Rules (and who to blame for each)

1. The announcement of the game's start is given by a very loud alarm clock. -Nicholas

2. Players must be nude for the duration of the game. E.Go
3. Players may only have one ear visible during play. –Amber-Joy
4. Only one person can have their eyes open at a time. –Robin
5. You must not touch any furniture while lights are on. –Corvus
6. If you're touching a wall, everything counts for double. –Dev

7. You may take up to two turns in a row, provided that you are not wearing pants. –Mike
8. You may forfeit your turn by performing a "judged" cartwheel. – Zach
9. Everything spoken must contain at least two words that rhyme; otherwise, lose your next turn. –Paul
10. No more than three post-it notes per turn may be added to or removed from the other player's body. –Jason

11. Up to four kitchen utensils can be placed, thrown (underhanded) or dropped, however no two of the same utensil may be in play at the same time. –Ian
12. You may not touch, move, or move past any kitchen implement placed by the opposing player. –Cory
13. If an alert sound (such as a phone chime or doorbell) begins, the player that first grabs an opponent's game object gains possession of that object. –Ken

14. Each round, the trump cards alternate between photographs containing dogs and those containing cats. –Brian
15. If you correctly guess what your opponent has in their mouth, you get to be the alpha dog. –Elan
16. If you have the chicken, you can't play until you draw a club. -Ariock.
17. If a cloud suddenly shadows the apartment each player may suspend one rule for the duration of the shadow. –Dan

18. Should the challenger succeed in stumping his/her opponent, the challenger will gain 100 points and all rights to the last piece of chocolate. – Liz
19. The game is extended for 10 minutes if uneaten chocolate is found. –Madstorm

20. At the end of the game, the loser will take their shirt and hold it in front of themselves, somewhat stretched out, as shown by the picture; the other person will then take all their change in their wallet, purse, etc. and will attempt to fling the change across the room into the loser's shirt. – Caleb

Friday, December 23, 2005

Help us! The Xmas Eve Exquisite Corpse Email Game Design Challenge


1120052237a.jpg
Originally uploaded by Avant Game.

Help!

Kiyash and I have no Xmas or Xmas Eve traditions, and now that we're married, we think we oughta. So here's our idea for this year: We are going to design a game.

The parameters: A game for two players, that you can play in an apartment.

Here's the thing. We need YOUR rules.

It's going to be exquisite corpse style. Anyone can submit a rule, any rule, but only one rule, and you don't get to see anyone else's. (That's why you have to EMAIL the rule instead of putting it in the comments.) Then, Kiyash and I have to design and play a game that includes all of the rules you submit and still makes sense!

For example, you could send a rule like the following: "No one can leave the circle until the peanut is found." or "Cheating is allowed, but only while you are holding your breath." or "The game ends when one player has both of the other player's shoes."

If you're reading this post and it's not Christmas Day yet, PLEASE send us a rule! Email us at the following address: rules at avantgame dot com.

Oh, the fine print: Rules should not include extraoardinary props that we are unlikely to have in our apartment. Rules should not induce severe physical pain while being implemented. If two or more rules conflict and cannot be reconciled, the first rule received will stand and the latter rule(s) will not be implemented.

(Pictured above: Kiyash at the Hex168 Game Tree. Who needs a Xmas tree when you have an XBox-green game tree? Woo!)

Monday, December 19, 2005

dissertation watch

UPDATE: I have a title. I think. It is:

Ubiquitous Gaming: A Performance Theory of Pervasive Play Networks.

That's right, ubiqutious gaming. Because the vast majority of pervasive games to date have no connection with the original design philosophy of ubiquitous computing, from which pervasive computing and pervasive game design flow. SOME projects do represent and develop that philosophy, and manifest what Mark Weiser and Rich Gold wanted for computing for gaming. Those are the projects I find most interesting, most exciting, most socially benevolent, most progressive. So, yes, ubiquitous gaming. It's networked. It's calm. It's persisent. It maximizes human awareness of the physical environment and the network. So it's time to get old-school with pervasive gaming. Taking it back to the first ubicomp theorists. So stick that in your 'this is not a pipe' and smoke it!

*

The Dissertation Watch is on.

Page count updated daily (I hope) in the righthand sidebar.

Please check in frequently and hold me accountable for making that number grow.

The plan is to write 1-2 pages every single day (weekdays, weekends, travel days, Christmas, New Year's...) Specifically, I'm holding myself to 2 pages a day until I get one chapter done, just to prove to myself that I can write something. After that, 1 page a day or more when I can swing it.

I'm treating this very much like an AA thing. I am still overwhelmed by the prospect of doing the entire dissertation, while continuing to make good stuff for 42 and galavant around the world on the lecture and conference circuit. BUT somehow I managed to convince myself that I could wake up and handle writing 2 pages that day. And I convinced myself that I could probably wake up the next day and write 2 pages, but really I am just taking it one day at a time.

So I have 2 pages to write today. I'm not sure what I'll be writing about, probably more on Rich Gold and Magritte's magical ubi-pipe...

Saturday, December 10, 2005

Invented! Chicken Soccer Bowling


ChickenBowling10
Originally uploaded by Avant Game.

Chicken soccer bowling is just like regular bowling, only it's played in a hallway, with a goalie, you bowl both balls at once, and there is a stuffed chicken involved.

How to play Chicken Soccer Bowling:
1. Find hallway.
2. Obtain children's plastic bowling set.
3. Recruit "goalie."
4. Give goalie stuffed chicken to hold between his or her knees.
5. Bowler hurls 2 plastic bowling balls at the pins, consecutively or simultaneously. Bouncing off walls allowed, but no throwing!
6. Goalie stands behind pins and attempts to block balls from knocking pins over.
7. Goalie must not drop stuffed chicken from between legs.

For finer points of gameplay, including strategies for both bowler and goalie, click through annotated Flickr photos here.

Invented by Jane and Kiyash at a birthday party on 12.3.05. Welder's mask optional.

Sunday, December 04, 2005

no such thing as the perfect play

Pervasive game designers, take note.

It has not yet been widely recognized, but I believe it to be true: We have much to learn from coaches of large sports teams. Directing live gamers in a pervasive play experience is a skill and art that has much in common with the practice of coaching live sports.

This thought has been simmering in my head for awhile, but a NYT Magazine article about a maverick, extremely playful college football coach, brought it to a boil today.
"There's no such thing as a perfect game in football," Leach says. "I don't even think there's such a thing as the perfect play. You have 11 guys between the ages of 18 and 22 trying to do something violent and fast together, usually in pain. Someone is going to blow an assignment or do something that's not quite right."

Putting literal differences aside, metaphorically this passage speaks volumes to me as a pervasive designer. The Leach's pragmatic mindset is just one example of the benefits of a coach mentality for pervasive game designers. There's no such thing as a perfect play, especially when you get a lot of gamers together, excited, adrenaline rushing over playing in such an unlikely and public space, and the emergent factors associated with Big pervasive games... so how do you prepare the players, and build the live gaming system, to adapt? How do you design for imperfect play?

*

Last night Kiyash and I went to our friend Zach's birthday party and invented a game called Chicken Soccer Bowling. Designed to be played in hallways. It was a blast. A full report, with photos, rule sets and a starter mod list coming in the next blog post.

Friday, December 02, 2005

Subliminal Twinkeez vs. Night of the Living Dead


November 2005 039
Originally uploaded by Avant Game.
Kiyash's new music video had dropped... here!

It features the Subliminal Twinkeez, an amazing underground Bay Area hip hop duo, and public domain footage from George Romero's Night of the Living Dead. If you look very closely, you'll also spot me in braids and a pink backpack as part of the zombie flashmob that comprises the first half of the video.

Behold the rhyming zombie goodness.

Thursday, December 01, 2005

Graveyards are the new payphones


Phonestone
Originally uploaded by misuba.

Tombstone Hold 'Em player-created art has arrived!

I am stuffing EVERYONE's holiday stockings with these genius shirts. Thanks, Cortana and Misuba!

FYI: The line "Graveyards are the new payphones" was coined by a Tombstone Hold 'Em player in our Last Call Poker puppet master chat last night. For those of you curious for some behind-the-scenes game design chatter, the complete transcript is here.

Also, if you missed it, one of my favorite articles on the graveyard games: "Last Call Poker Celebrates Cemeteries" from CNET's Daniel Terdiman.

In all of the high-profile drama about the big city live events, you may also have missed the subtler, modular game missions that were sending players to historic and local graveyards anywhere and everywhere. A dozen live-action puzzles and 20 persistent real-world missions (completed over 500 times by players all over the world) made up the other two arms of the pervasive campaign for Last Call.

Designing the "anytime puzzles" in specific locations and "anywhere missions" that could be accomplished in any culture's local cemeteries was as challenging as creating and executing the Tombstone Hold 'Em supergames, and in some ways even more satisying. During the design process, I got to work most closely with the game's lead writer (Sean Stewart) on the anywhere missions; I designed the actual gameplay action, and Sean found game characters whose personalities, psychologies and backstories best suited each mission. And during the game itself, the modular missions, especially, gave players more creative freedom to interpret and game the whole notion of cemetery play. I love the personal risks they took as a result-- the inteventions they made, and the way they touched the serious spaces with heartfelt play.

You can still see both the anytime puzzles and anywhere missions, along with player submitted photos and documentation of their gameplay, here. Just click on the cemetery name for the puzzle, or the mission name for the instructions and player-submitted solutions.

Thursday, November 24, 2005

Meche, our new best friend


Meche, our new best friend
Originally uploaded by Avant Game.

"This deck of cards is a little frayed around the edges, but so am I, and I've got fewer suits." -Manny Calavera

Meche, who is curled up in my lap as I type this, is the new best friend Kiyash and I made last night. We named her Meche after a certain noirish heroine from one of the greatest games of all time. After a fall of playing with the dead, it seemed appropriate to name our new love for a character inspired by El Dia de Los Muertos. Also, Kiyash and I spent one of the first months we were dating (back in 2000) holed up in my Upper West Side apartment playing the game. It was the perfect way to bond and get to know each other.

"Love is for the living." -Manny, again

Meche is 11 weeks old, born just a few days before Kiyash and I eloped to City Hall. She is a purebred Shetland Sheepdog who seems to have gotten (maybe) a bit too much of the blue merle gene. She has a very unusual amount of white fur, a half-pink/half-black nose, and one blue eye and one brown eye. She looks just like a panda from the front and just like a kitty from behind. I've never seen a sheltie that looked like this sweet girl before.

She is incredibly sweet, trusting and calm. She slept quietly and peacefully all through the night in her crate, and this morning woke up excited to play with us. We love her so much and are so happy our new lease allows us to have a friend like Meche!

With bony hands I hold my partner/ On soulless feet we cross the floor/ The music stops as if to answer/ An empty knocking at the door/ It seems his skin was sweet as mango/ When last I held him to my breast/ But now we dance this grim fandango/ And will for years before we rest.

My Erdos Number

Today I finally got around to tracking down definitive proof of my Erdos Number.

It is 3.
1. Cutting a Graph Into Two Dissimilar Halves. Paul Erdos, Janos Pach, Mark Goldberg, Joel Spencer. 1986. 2. XY Interpolation Algorithms, K. Goldberg and M. Goldberg, Robotics Age, May/June, 1983. 3. Unsupervised Scoring for Internet-based Collaborative Tele-operation, Ken Goldberg, Dezhen Song, In Yong Song, Jane McGonigal, Wei Zheng, and Dana Plautz, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), April 2004.

Not bad for a girl in a performance studies program! Now: where is the Cafe Press store for "My Erdos # is _" merchandise?

Sunday, November 20, 2005

Burning Man, meet E3


Sign of Hex168
Originally uploaded by Avant Game.

I'm in the Mojave desert this weekend for the gamer festival that marks the launch of the XBox 360. Think: Burning Man meets E3.

While I'm playing GUN at 2 am in the desert with thousands of other gamers, you can watch me on MTV and MTV2 all week on A Gamer's Paradise, which is a special 1/2-hour show all about the Hex168 game that 42 Entertainment produced as a lead-up to the desert festival.

My role on the Hex168 project was to design an experience that would get hard-core videogamers out into the real world doing playful things with their friends. Over 2500 stunts across the U.S. later... well, you'll see: The show premieres tonight on MTV at midnight, again at 6:30 on Monday, and repeats 1o more times across the two networks throughout the week.

Monday, November 14, 2005

Graveyard Games Finale, LOS ANGELES


Graveyard Games OAKLAND 009
Originally uploaded by Avant Game.

Play now, or forever hold your R.I.P.

Tombstone Hold Em will continue to live on in grassroots tourneys at cemeteries around the world, but Saturday November 19th is your last chance to play your respects with me at an official Graveyard Games event.

Rumor has it that first-time players and experienced tourney vets are flying in from all over the country for this one. You definitely want to be there.

*

GRAVEYARD GAMES. You're never too dead to play.

On Saturday November 19, 2005, Graveyard Games will be in Los Angeles so you can meet the living and play with the dead.

You're invited to sunny Hollywood Forever Cemetery, “resting place of Hollywood’s immortals”, to get to know your local dearly departed, pay your respects, and learn Tombstone Hold 'Em — the secret poker game you can only play in a cemetery.

(See photos from previous games in San Francisco, Washington D.C., Kansas City, New York City, Atlanta, and more. For a little backstory and other playful things to do in a cemetery, visit Last Call Poker’s ALL IN page.)

Instructions

1. Arrive at the front gates of the Hollywood Forever Cemetery (directions and map for 6000 Santa Monica Blvd.) between 1:30 PM and 2 PM local time.

2. Look for the tournament's host. She'll be holding a deck of cards and will have further instructions and supplies for you.

3. Bring a single flower to place on a grave to show some respect, and to signal that you're one of us.

4. Take a few minutes to explore your section of the cemetery. Look for any poker chips left on tombstones. You'll need these to play.

5. Be sure to look for the grave of someone you can prove died on your birthday. You can use that tombstone as a Joker during the game.

6. Tournament begins at 2 PM. Learn the rules before you come if you're serious about winning. We’ll have extra instructions on hands for any friends you bring along.

7. The winner is crowned at 3 PM. No fancy prizes, but lots of respect and maybe a special memento from Lucky's estate. And everyone can keep the chips they earn as a souvenir.

8. Afterwards, you’re invited to nearby Sharky's Mexican Grill (map and directions to 1716 N Cahuenga Blvd) to raise a glass to the players you’re leaving underground at Hollywood Forever.

Being Dead is No Excuse


Graveyard Games ATLANTA 101
Originally uploaded by Avant Game.

Pictured here: Robogriff, the winner of Saturday's Tombstone Hold Em tourney in Atlanta's historic Oakland Cemetery. Taken at the very moment he was declared the winner. Have you ever seen such a beautiful, all-out smile in a graveyard? Charming, I love it.

With a senior historian, a board member and the director of the cemetery on hand to welcome our 25-odd Graveyard Game players, Oakland cemetery showed us the true meaning of Southern hospitality.

Speaking of which: Before the tourament, I ducked into the cemetery's gift shop to buy the charming "Being Dead is No Excuse: The Official Southern Ladies Guide to Hosting the Perfect Funeral". I just couldn't help myself; the guide seemed so utterly aligned with the ethos and spirit of the Tombstone Hold Em project's own motto: "You're never too dead to play."

Full photo coverage of the Atlanta game here.

Monday, November 07, 2005

Invitation to Play: Graveyard Games ATLANTA

On Saturday November 12, 2005, Graveyard Games will be in Atlanta so you can meet the living and play with the dead.

You're invited rain or shine to historic Oakland Cemetery’s "most tangible link to the past" to get to know your local dearly departed, pay your respects, and learn Tombstone Hold 'Em — the secret poker game you can only play in a cemetery.

(See photos from previous games in San Francisco, Washington D.C., Kansas City, New York City, and more. And for a little backstory, visit Last Call Poker’s Atlanta page.)

Instructions

1. Arrive at the front gates of the Oakland Cemetery (directions and map for 248 Oakland Avenue, SE, Atlanta) between 2 PM and 2:30 PM local time.

2. Look for the tournament's host. She'll be holding a deck of cards and will have further instructions and supplies for you.

3. Bring a single flower to place on a grave to show some respect, and to signal that you're one of us.

4. Take a few minutes to explore your section of the cemetery. Look for any poker chips left on tombstones. You'll need these to play.

5. Be sure to look for the grave of someone you can prove died on your birthday. You can use that tombstone as a Joker during the game.

6. Tournament begins at 2:30 PM. Learn the rules before you come if you're serious about winning. We’ll have extra instructions on hands for any friends you bring along.

7. The winner is crowned at 3:30 PM. No fancy prizes, but lots of respect and maybe a special memento from Lucky's estate. And everyone can keep the chips they earn as a souvenir.

8. Afterwards, you’re invited to nearby Six Feet Under to raise a glass to the players you’re leaving underground at Oakland Cemetery.

Sunday, November 06, 2005

a full house for New York City graveyard games

Over 50 Tombstone Hold Em players gathered in Brooklyn's Cypress Hills Cemetery this weekend on the most gorgeous fall day I've seen in years. Some of the best Tombstone Hold 'Em players I've met anywhere in the country, too.

A 10-block walk across the Brooklyn-Queens border down Jamaica Ave took us to Mike's Pub for a post-tourney meetup. It will never make a top 10 city hotspot list, but Mike's Pub is a definitively Cypress Hills experience.

The estate photographer's photos of the New York City graveyard games are here!

Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Behold: My slides from the Austin Game Conference


mcgonigal_AGC_slides
Originally uploaded by Avant Game.
Back from the Austin Game Conference, where I gave a design-track lecture called "Alternate Reality Gaming: Experimental Social Structures for MMOs." The unofficial title of the talk was "Too weird for GDC." Also, the culmination of the talk was a lively 100-person game of massively multiplayer thumb wrestling. The slides are now posted here.

If you are interested in experiencing firsthand any of these lovely experimental social structures, might I suggest you get your gamer self to one of the following upcoming experimental games? I will be there to play with you at the November 5 Graveyard Game in New York City, the November 12 Graveyard Game in Atlanta, or the November 19 Graveyard Game in Los Angeles...

Monday, October 31, 2005

Graveyard Games NEW YORK CITY

On Saturday November 5, 2005, Graveyard Games will be in New York City so you can meet the living and play with the dead.

You're invited rain or shine to Brooklyn’s own Cypress Hills Cemetery to get to know your local dearly departed, pay your respects, and learn Tombstone Hold 'Em — the secret poker game you can only play in a cemetery.

(See photos from previous games in San Francisco, Washington D.C., Kansas City, and more.

Instructions

1. Arrive at the Main Gate of the Cypress Hills Cemetery (833 Jamaica Ave), near where Jamaica Ave meets Cypress Hills Street, between 2 PM and 2:30 PM local time.

2. Look for the tournament's host. She'll be holding a deck of cards and will have further instructions and supplies for you.

3. Bring a single flower to place on a grave to show some respect, and to signal that you're one of us.

4. Take a few minutes to explore your section of the cemetery. Look for any poker chips left on tombstones. You'll need these to play.

5. Be sure to look for the grave of someone you can prove died on your birthday. You can use that tombstone as a Joker during the game.

6. Tournament begins at 2:30 PM. Learn the rules before you come if you're serious about winning. We’ll have extra instructions on hands for any friends you bring along.

7. The winner is crowned at 3:30 PM. No fancy prizes, but lots of respect and maybe a special memento from Lucky's estate. And everyone can keep the chips they earn as a souvenir.

8. Afterwards, you’re invited to nearby Mike’s Pub (7919 Jamaica Ave) to raise a glass to the players you’re leaving underground at Cypress Hills.

The Cypress tree, they say, is a symbol of sorrow. I won’t argue that. But let’s meet here, even in the cold of fall, and push back a little on the winter coming in.

One time in New York, I was out strolling with this girl. It was cold enough our breath was smoking in the air, you know, and every time I made her laugh I would cup my hands around the little puff of steam and say, “I caught a laugh!” and breathe it in, and she would laugh some more, and maybe punch me in the arm.

Of all the breaths I ever took, those are some of the ones I remember best. The damp cold, grey concrete, traffic going by and the smell of her laughter in my lungs, like fog and old leaves…

For more information on cemetery gaming: http://www.lastcallpoker.com/allin/rules.aspx

a cemetery is like a long-running poker game...

The Tombstone Hold 'Em tourney in Kansas City's Historic Elmwood Cemetery was a beautiful way to spend a Halloween weekend. You can see my photos from the KC game here.

In the morning, Kiyash and I ran the annual 5K Graveyard Run through the cemetery, and finished with respectable times for the very hilly course: just under 28 minutes. The cemetery was actually a pretty inspiring setting for a race. When I got frustrated with the hills, I'd just look around me and think, "Look, would you rather be running up this damn hill, or be dead?" Right. Morbid, but effective.

By the way, for those of you who haven't heard Lucky's thoughts about cemeteries and poker games yet, I thought I'd post 'em here. Also pretty inspiring stuff.

A cemetery is like a long-running poker game. Same fellas at the table, by and large; a new kid dropping in from time to time. As a rule the dead play tight, and they hate to lose. Tombstones have tells too, you know. Not just what’s carved into them, either. There’s a hundred little things: the plot they chose in life, and the way the grass grows around it; whether the visitors leave fake flowers or real ones. Whether there are visitors at all. Humor an old man, and get to know a few of the better cemeteries. Think about the people there. They cussed and dreamed and drank like you do now. To love and lose is what it means to be human. We haven’t all of us loved as much as we should. —Lucky Brown

Tuesday, October 25, 2005

Graveyard Games KANSAS CITY

Won't you come play your respects this Halloween weekend?

On Saturday October 29, 2005, Graveyard Games will be in Kansas City, MO so you can meet the living and play with the dead.

You're invited to the Historic Elmwood Cemetery to get to know your local dearly departed, pay your respects, and learn Tombstone Hold 'Em — the secret poker game you can only play in a cemetery.

Instructions

1. Arrive at the main entrance to the Historic Elmwood cemetery at 4900 Truman Road between 1:30 PM and 2 PM Central time.

2. Look for the tournament's host near the main gate, off E Street. She'll be holding a deck of cards. She will have further instructions and supplies for you.

3. Bring a single flower to place on a grave to show some respect, and to signal that you're one of us.

4. Take a few minutes to explore your section of the cemetery. Look for any poker chips left on tombstones. You'll need these to play.

5. Be sure to look for the grave of someone you can prove died on your birthday. You can use that tombstone as a Joker during the game.

6. Tournament begins at 2 PM. Learn the rules before you come if you're serious about winning. We’ll have extra instructions on hands for any friends you bring along.

7. The winner is crowned at 3 PM. No fancy prizes, but lots of respect and maybe a special memento from Lucky's estate. And everyone can keep the chips they earn as a souvenir.

8. Stick around and join us after 3 PM at the Eastsiders Bar and Grill ( 7321 E Truman Rd) to raise a glass to the players you’re leaving underground.

See photos from San Francisco’s October 15 Graveyard Games and Washington D.C.’s October 22 Graveyard Games.

"The most alive dead place in town"

It was cold and rainy and extraordinarily wet, but that didn't stop 25 of Washington D.C.'s finest gamers from coming out to Historic Congressional Cemetery for a Tombstone Hold 'Em tourney last Saturday.

Linda Harper, the chairman of the board of the cemetery, was there, as well, to welcome our players and tell them a bit about the cemetery's history and mission. "We're the most alive dead place in town," she said, encouraging the players to have fun and enjoy the historic space. The cemetery's goal? To become, again, the kind of public social and recreation space that cemeteries in the U.S. used to be, before the 20th century. "Before there was Central Park, there was Mt. Auburn Cemetery," she said, reminding us that cemeteries were the original parks and recreation centers in the U.S. It was like being welcomed home again. Linda was so pleased with our game and players that she invited 'em back to come play Hold 'Em any time they want.

Rumor has it that, besides the six official Graveyard Games in honor of Lucky Brown, grassroots Tombstone Hold 'Em games are popping up in cities all over. I just rain into someone in the airport last night who was on his way to Seattle, where he suggested a THE game is on its way. Also this week, Austin and Oakland are having grassroots games... I'm not involved in organizing them, so all I can say is keep your eyes and ears open for more info...

See you in Kansas City next.

Flickr photos are here.

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

Play with me: Graveyard Games, Washington D.C.

RAIN OR SHINE! Saturday afternoon October 22, 2005

You're never too dead to play.

On Saturday October 22, 2005, Graveyard Games will be in Washington, DC so you can meet the living and play with the dead. You're invited to the Historic Congressional Cemetery to get to know your local dearly departed, pay your respects, and learn Tombstone Hold 'Em — the secret poker game you can only play in a cemetery.

1. Arrive at the Historic Congressional Cemetery (1801 E Street Southeast) in D.C. between 2:00 PM and 2:30 PM.

2. Look for the tournament’s host near the main gate, off E Street. She’ll be holding a deck of cards. She will have further instructions and supplies for you.

3. Bring a single flower to place on a grave to show some respect, and to signal that you’re one of us.

4. Take a few minutes to explore your section of the cemetery. Look for any poker chips left on tombstones. You’ll need these to play.

5. Be sure to look for the grave of someone you can prove died on your birthday. You can use that tombstone as a Joker during the game.

6. Tournament begins at 2:30 PM. Learn the rules before you come if you’re serious about winning.

7. The winner is crowned at 3:30 PM. No fancy prizes, but lots of respect and maybe a special memento from Lucky's estate. And everyone can keep the chips they earn as a souvenir.

8. Stick around. You’re invited to Trusty’s Full Service just down the block (1420 Pennsylvania Ave. SE, Washington, DC 20003). Doors open at 4 PM, so raise a glass to the players you’re leaving underground at the Historic Congressional Cemetery.

See photos from San Francisco's Graveyard Games.

Monday, October 17, 2005

A full house at the Italian Cemetery

Over 100 playful folks showed up for the first Tombstone Hold 'Em tourney, here in San Francisco. Flickr photos abound, with the tags "graveyard games", "Tombstone Hold Em" and "Last Call Poker". Here's my set of favorites from the unforgettable afternoon, all taken by our "estate photographer", Kiyash. Lucky would be proud.

Thursday, October 06, 2005

Play with me: Graveyard Games, October 15th


Playing Tombstone Hold 'Em
Originally uploaded by Avant Game.
On Saturday October 15, 2005, Graveyard Games will be in Colma, San Francisco’s very own City of the Dead, so you can meet the living and play with the dead.

You’re invited to the Italian Cemetery to get to know your local dearly departed, pay your respects, and learn Tombstone Hold ‘Em—the secret poker game you can only play in a cemetery.

Instructions

1. Arrive at the Italian Cemetery (540 F Street, Colma, CA 94014, 2 blocks from Colma BART station) on Saturday October 15 between 1:30 PM and 2:00 PM.
2. Look for your host near the main entrance, under the white arch. She’ll be holding a deck of cards. She will have further instructions and supplies for you.
3. Bring a single flower to place on a grave to show some respect, and to signal that you’re one of us.
4. Take a few minutes to explore the cemetery. Look for any poker chips left on tombs. You’ll need these to play.
5. Be sure to look for the grave of someone you can prove died on your birthday. You can use that tombstone as a Joker during the game.
6. Tombstone Hold ‘Em Tournament begins at 2 PM. Here’s a tip: learn the rules before you come. We’ll have instructions on hand for any friends you bring along.
7. For non-poker players, there will be other creative, playful things to do. And expect a few surprises.
8. The winner is crowned at 3 PM. No fancy prizes, but lots of respect, and maybe a special memento from beyond the grave. Plus, everyone can keep the chips they earn as a souvenir.
9. After 3 PM, you’re invited to nearby Globe Tavern (7379 Mission St) to raise a glass to the players you’re leaving underground at the Italian Cemetery.

By the way, if anyone asks--you’re here for the last call.

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

The old man had a brilliant idea


cemeterypokertourneycrop
Originally uploaded by Avant Game.

WWII veteran and genius poker player Lionel "Lucky" Brown died a rich man, with some very playful ideas about the legacy he wanted to leave behind.

I'm honored to be a part of how his final wishes are carried out.

Besides, you know me. Can't help but get really excited about a benevolent mob of gamers playing together in an unexpected, public space.

So graveyard games, it is.

When was the last time you played games in a cemetery? When is the first time you play games in a cemetery?

Come play your respects:

October 15 San Francisco/Colma
October 22 Washington, D.C.
October 29 Kansas City
November 5 New York City
November 12 Atlanta
November 29 Los Angeles

You’re never too dead to play.

Hope to see you there.

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

a very civil ceremony

We did it!

Here is ELOPE!, a Flickr photo set with some memorable moments and people we met that day.

Thursday, September 15, 2005

I do!


how_INTJ_people_elope
Originally uploaded by Avant Game.

On Friday September 16, 2005, one day shy of the fifth anniversary of our first date, Kiyash and I are eloping to City Hall in San Francisco.

There will be a cupcake picnic in City Hall Plaza... a "first dance" made possible by portable speakers for my iPod... a champagne toast at the Ritz Carlton...

then, a series of daily 10 - 15 mile city hikes around San Francisco... and extreme culinary debauchery at our favorite restaurants (The Cosmopolitan Cafe, Le Colonial, and brunch at the Palace's Garden Court)...

there will be theater (The Overcoat at ATC)... and movies (Whatever Happened to Baby Jane at the Castro)... and music (a jazz set at Biscuit and Blues)...

Then we will hop into a Jaguar X-type and drive down the coast to a luxury camping lodge... for two nights on the beach, with more hiking, wine tasting, picnicking, sunrises and sunsets.

Our wedding bands are engraved with the GPS coordinates (to the sixth decimal place) of the Chow Bar in New York City, where we met on September 17, 2000. My ring has the latitude, and Kiyash's ring has the longitude.

I love you, Kiyash.

Sunday, August 21, 2005

Bart laments his role in the Ministry of Reshelving.

I will not incite grassroots play and commentary anarchy in the fiction section of bookstores. I will not incite grassroots play and commentary anarchy in the fiction section of bookstores. I will not incite grassroots play and commentary anarchy in the fiction section of bookstores. I will not incite grassroots play and commentary anarchy in the fiction section of bookstores. I will not incite grassroots play and commentary anarchy in the fiction section of bookstores. I will not incite grassroots play and commentary anarchy in the fiction section of bookstores. I will not incite grassroots play and commentary anarchy in the fiction section of bookstores. I will not incite grassroots play and commentary anarchy in the fiction section of bookstores. I will not incite grassroots play and commentary anarchy in the fiction section of bookstores. I will not incite grassroots play and commentary anarchy in the fiction section of bookstores.

I'm not a werewolf


It's you! It's SO you!
Originally uploaded by PavelCurtis.

"I'm a villager! I swear! " (No, Zach was a totally a werewolf. Meanwhile, I was lynched by an angry mob, the entire circle pounding the tables and chanting "Kill! Kill! Kill!" Sigh.) Saturday night, we played Werewolf 'til 4:30 AM. So basically, there is a proposition on the table to officially rename FOOcamp 2006 WEREWOLFcamp 2006.

Also on the FOOcamp Gameplay scene: earlier in the evening I organized a Zen Scavenger Hunt. danah boyd conspired with me to create a FOO-cific scavenger hunt list worth of the genius minds gathered up here at O'Reilly's for the weekend. For those of you who haven't experienced the experience of my ZSH project, here's how it works: You collect your objects and THEN we give you the list. You have to creatively hack and mod your objects and design clever demo's and performances to persuade the judges that the objects you already have is a perfect match for our list. Here are the rules and the list from last night... How would you have done?

Social Play & SuperGaming!
The Zen Scavenger Hunt / FOOcamp 2005

Please find the following objects:

A problem (2 points)
A non-scalable solution to object #1 (3 points)
A scalable solution to object #1 (6 points)
A new mobile Web 2.0 platform (demo, please) (3 points)
An experiment in nanotech bioengineering gone bad (3 points)
A self-replicating machine (demo, please) (7 points)
A passenger amenity from the first commercial space flight shuttle (2 points)
A working tele-operated object (demo, please) (7 points)
A tool for collaboration (3 points)
A relic from the battle between the monkeys and the robots. (P.S. Who won?) (3 points
Edible computing (demo, please) (6 points)
FOObarred TM Anti-Surveillance Device (4 points)

Rules:
You have 45 minutes to find these objects.
You can only use the objects your team already has—no trading, no substitutions.
You can hack and mod your objects any way you want.
Your success in finding these objects will be judged by other teams, based on your live demonstrations and explanations.
In the case of any judging disputes, puppetmasters have the final vote.
In the case of a tie, teams will play a 60-second death-defying, single-object tiebreaker round.

(In this case, we did have a tiebreaker: "a thing of exquisite beauty.")

Coming soon: A flickr set from the ZSH...

Saturday, August 20, 2005

no sleep til sebastopol


Jane
Originally uploaded by jeffreymcmanus.

FOOcamp rules.

Highlights so far include Segway rides, non-scalable introduction ceremonies, brainstorming sessions and improvised talks on biomimetic design, open source biology, "You are the platfom-- functional body modification", gaming as ecologically sustainable decadence (that was me, of course), meeting and hanging with my favorite Technorati and Flickr and boingboing masterminds, Are You a Werewolf? games until 5 AM, my first night sleeping outdoors in a tent (not that much sleep though--see aforementioned Werewolf games!), learning more about what O'Reilly Media does and wants to do more of(love it), and making smores with many more wicked smart folks. Still to come: danah boyd and I lead the first (annual?) FooCamp Zen Scavenger hunt...

Thursday, August 18, 2005

a minor statement on avant gaming


PlaceStorming continues...
Originally uploaded by Avant Game.

I believe:

Games are the dominant art form of the 21st century. Not just videogames (but those too). All games.

We should make benevolent games for all spaces and all technologies.

There should be more benevolent gameplay in public spaces.

Many people find public gameplay threatening. This is not a reason not to play games. It is a reason to play more. It is also a reason to make gameplay transparent, so others will not be confused or alarmed by what you are doing.

Games are serious. Some people dismiss them as “pointless,” but they are blind to the power of pointlessness. The power of games is in their intrinsic pleasure. The nature of games is not to point. The nature of games it to experience. And experiences can be extraordinarily powerful things.

Games are a persuasive platform. Games are a self-expressive platform.

Collective gameplay helps us gather the collective wisdom of crowds.

Collective gameplay can mobilize and harness the benevolent power of the public.

There should be more bottom-up decision-making in public spaces. Massively multiplayer collaborative gameplay may help achieve this.

There should be more folksonomy in public spaces. Massively multiplayer collaborative gameplay may help achieve this, as well.

We should define public spaces as the spaces where you can find the public. Rarely will you find the public in public plazas.

We should treat privatized spaces that open their doors to the public, make money off the public, and serve for better or for worse as the primary public and social spheres of our society, more like public spaces.

When powerful and benevolent phenomena emerge online, we should conduct experiments to see if they can be translated into a real-world power, as well.

Just in case anyone was wondering.

Sunday, August 14, 2005

the ministry of reshelving


Our uniform
Originally uploaded by Avant Game.

This week, we launched the Ministry of Reshelving project. My partners in crime as founding members of the ministry: George, Kiyash, and Monica.

This weekend we relocated 19 copies of George Orwell's 1984 in four different bookstores in Palo Alto, San Francisco, and Berkeley. It was high stealth adventure.

You are invited to join our efforts.

How to Serve the Ministry of Reshelving

1. Select a local bookstore to carry out your reshelving activities.

2. Download and print "This book has been relocated by the Ministry of Reshelving" bookmarks and "All copies of 1984 have been relocated" notecards to take with you to the bookstore. Or make your own. We recommend bringing a notecard and 5-10 bookmarks to each store.

3. Go to the bookstore and locate its copies of George Orwell's 1984. Unless the Ministry of Reshelving has already visited this bookstore, it is probably currently incorrectly classified as "Fiction" or "Literature."

4. Discreetly move all copies of 1984 to a more suitable section, such as "Current Events", "Politics", "History", "True Crime", or "New Non-Fiction."

5. Insert a Ministry of Reshelving bookmark into each copy of any book you have moved. Leave a notecard in the empty space the books once occupied.

6. If you spot other incorrectly classified books, feel free to relocate them.

7. Please report all reshelving efforts to the Ministry. Email your store name, location, # of 1984 copies reshelved, and any other reshelving activities conducted, to reshelving @ avantgame.com. Photos of your mission can be uploaded to Flickr, tagged as "reshelving", and submitted to the Ministry of Reshelving group.

Our goal is to relocate one thousand nine hundred and eighty-four copies, and to complete successful reshelving of 1984 in all 50 United States. Global contributions are welcome.

Note: this project is not a critique of bookstore culture, the state of the shelving industry, or even of pervasive government surveillance. It is merely an observation that 2 + 2 = 5, and 5 is no longer fiction.

UPDATE:

Many thanks to everyone for their feedback on this project.

We at the Ministry of Reshelving support all efforts to properly classify fiction and nonfiction texts. So here are some alternative (or complementary) tactics.

*Ask to speak to a bookstore manager, perhaps a time when the bookstore is not busy. Introduce yourself as a representative of the Ministry and simply suggest the relocation. Do not relocate any books. Simply have a friendly conversation. Perhaps have a card referring the manager to the Ministry of Reshelving Flickr group.

*Mod the current Ministry bookmarks to SUGGEST relocation of the books. Insert these in all copies. Do not actually relocate the books.

*Stage a photo of the relocation, and then return the books to their original location. This might not be revolution, but it is a rehearsal for the revolution.

*Create a notecard to leave at the bookstore in the section you think 1984 should be properly shelved. The notecard could say "Sorry! There are no more copies of George Orwell's 1984 in the __________ section. Additional copies are located in the fiction and literature section."

*Before you conduct your 1984 reshelving, look around the store for a few books left out by other customers and put them back where they belong. Do a bit of 'traditional' reshelving on behalf of the employees. Then do your 1984 reshelving.

These mods are designed to address people's concerns with the impact of the project on customers and bookstore employees and owners. I'm 100% committed to making these kinds of experiments as sociable as possible, while still confronting the issues of: Where is it appropriate for the public to play, to intervene, to suggest alternatives, to tag, to reclassify, to be expressive? It is clear to me that many people do not feel that bookstores are a proper location for such play and intervention. I very much disagree, but I am learning much from their comments and reactions.

Update: Bart Simpson laments his role in the Ministry of Reshelving.

Update: If you would like to understand the motivations of this project better, why not read a minor statement on avant gaming?

Update: Comments have been suspended on this blog in accordance with Godwin's law. The Ministry of Reshelving, however, continues its work.

Update: Comments reopened. A further statement on the reshelving project appears here.

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

the puppet master problem


the_puppet_master_problem
Originally uploaded by Avant Game.

Earlier this summer, I stumbled upon an elegant, and wisely captioned, drawing in the August issue of the San Francisco Bay Area Puppeteer's Guild newsletter. It is the perfect expression of the tricky, collaborative relationship between puppet masters and players of a puppet mastered game.

I'm currently working on an essay called "The Puppet Master Problem: Design for Mission-Based, Real-World Gaming." It has much revising and editing ahead before it (hopefully) is published in a new MIT Press collection this spring. So ignore the sometimes clunky prose. But I wanted to post an excerpt here, to get some of these thoughts into the collective consciousness of my fellow gamers.

*

(...)

I made my debut as a puppet master (PM) on January 19, 2002 as the lead writer and mission designer for an 80-player Go Game in the North Beach neighborhood of San Francisco—a year and a half before I started organizing flash mobs and two and a half years before I took my place behind the curtain of I Love Bees. That day, on the winter-green lawn of a public city park, I experienced a spontaneous rupture in what I had imagined would be a smooth and uncomplicated PM-player dynamic: We tell the players what to do, and they do it. Since that day, the same little Go Game kink has emerged again and again in many different genres and contexts. It is a pattern I now recognize as the highly complex, and consistinently collaborative, texture of a puppet mastered game.

A bit of background: The Go Game is an afternoon-long urban adventure in which competing teams receive clues over their cell phones to specific locations around their city. When players arrive at each location, they download a superhero-themed performance mission: assemble undercover disguises using whatever you can find at a nearby thrift store; make a secret agent waiting for you on the #30 bus laugh by any means necessary (not that you have any idea which of the dozens of people on the bus the secret agent is); conduct a séance on the floor of a crowded café to improve the psychic atmosphere; figure out how to get onto a luxury hotel rooftop and attract as much attention as you can; get a whole barful of strangers singing and dancing along with you to any song you want to play on the jukebox.

That day, we were putting up only the second Go Game ever—Wink Back, Inc. has produced hundreds of games for over 20,000 players across the U.S. since—so as puppet masters, we were still experimenting and making last-minute tweaks to our scripts. Just before the game started, another Go Game writer decided to revise the opening text message I had prepared. My text was a bit dry: “Welcome, superheroes! Press GO when you’re ready to start the game.” We both agreed it would be better to set a more playful mood, so she added a colorful interjection to the welcome message: “Howdy superheroes—hold onto your hats, it’s time to drop your pants and dance! Press GO when you’re ready to start the game.”

I had already forgotten about this minor text change when the teams assembled in Washington Square Park to receive their first set of instructions. I hid in a group of park-goers and watched as the players huddled in small groups, switched on their phones, and downloaded our welcome message. I was waiting for the teams to scatter and hit the streets—once they pressed “GO,” the first round of clues would send each team off in a different direction. But that didn't happen.

Instead, half a dozen players began unbuckling their belts, unzipping their jeans, and showing off their underwear while waving their arms in the air. This caught the attention of other players, who quickly realized—A ha! ‘Drop your pants and dance’—this is our first mission! So they, too, dropped their pants and started dancing. Before long, most of the players were dancing merrily in their underwear. And they were busy taking photos of each other to ‘prove’ their success in completing the mission.

Of course, the opening message “drop your pants and dance” wasn’t a mission at all. But by the time the park was full of pantless performers, my fellow puppet masters and I were already behind our curtain. There was nothing we could do to intervene. We just watched from a distance, with our mouths hanging open.

The first time I told this story at a lecture, an audience member challenged me: “You puppet masters must really get a kick out of manipulating these players to do whatever you want. That must be such a power trip.” But in fact, the opposite was true. We didn’t get a rush of power when the players misinterpreted our simple welcome message. We actually felt completely out of control. We had worked so carefully to craft just the right text for our mission scripts, and yet from the very first moment of gameplay, our actual, effective authority was stripped away. Yes, we could give the players a set of instructions—but clearly we could not predict or dictate how they would read and embody those instructions. We were absolutely not in control of our players’ creative instincts.

In Washington Square Park that day, as the players danced in their underwear, I turned to another puppet master and said, “It’s their game now.” He nodded, and that’s when I realized: No matter what it looked like to outsiders, we were not pulling these players’ strings. Yes, the players were following our commands, but their interpretation of the commands left them fully in charge of their own experience. The scripts had been delivered; the actors were putting on the show. In that moment I realized that the players in a puppet mastered game are not performing objects; they are performing subjects. And that performing subjectivity is never ceded, even in submission to a puppet master’s orders.

The willful subjectivity of a performer is in its own way a kind of self-determination, a co-authorship with the writers. Media critic Thomas De Zengotita acknowledges this when he discusses the flash mob phenomenon as a kind of middle ground between reality and optionality. In the middle of "so many flash mobs… you were being the phenomenon as you were seeing it represented, in real time, unfolding before you. You could see the impact of your role on the national stage in essentially the same way you can see the impact of your button-pressing in a videogame. You were the agent, you were the star" (152). As De Zengotita points out, performing in the public eye gives players an expressive visibility and an audience that provides the same quality of feedback a digital game offers. The audience reaction becomes the new metric, equally capable of giving players a sense of responsibility for a given outcome.

(...)

Tuesday, August 09, 2005

Place Stormers, UNITE!


PS_magazine_1
Originally uploaded by Avant Game.

This is a call to gaming action.

We are collecting and investigating superhero manifestos, and we need your help.

Our focus is on a very unusual kind of superhero, a group of highly advanced thinkers and researchers who are leaving behind cryptic documents that explain their strange missions, superpowers and supertools. We're not sure what these manifestos mean, and we need your help figuring it out.

You are invited to create geocaches for these superhero manifesto in public locations, so that others can find the manifestos and learn more about the superheroes.

You are also invited to choose your favorite manifesto and take on the superhero mission it describes. You can take photographs and show us your superhero interventions.

Of course, if YOU happen to be one of these strange superheroes and you want to share your manifesto with us, you can create one here.

*

The Place Storming database is now live. You are invited to visit the site and download a superhero manifesto.

There are two things you can do with a manifesto:

1) Print it and geocache it in a public location, with the prop of your choosing. (And choose wisely! This prop will become the supertool for superheroes who attempt to accomplish the mission you are geocaching.)

2) Print the manifesto and take it to a public location of your choosing, where you will perform the mission described in the superhero manifesto. Don't forget to bring a prop for your supertool, and

Of course, you also can do both-- perform, and then geocache!

*

No GPS devices? No worries. We have free tools on the Place Stormer site to help you out. You don't need any special technology to join us.

You can play any time, anywhere in the world.

Go Place Storm!

Monday, August 01, 2005

Undead Jane


Undead Jane
Originally uploaded by Avant Game.

On Saturday, after photo mobbing One Bush Street, I decided there really ought to be more mobbing. So I showed up ready to be bloodied and shredded as part of a lovely humanitarian effort to Zombify downtown San Francisco.

It was an "under-engineered, self-generating Zombie mob" organized by the brilliant minds of Eat Brains.

Four minutes of hysterical, I mean horrifying San Francisco Zombie footage can be watched through your fingers here... if you dare! Thanks, Kiyash, for the amazing footage.

P.S. You can see also more of the Zombie mob in the upcoming Night of the Living Dead public domain-inspired music video for the ridicul ously amazing Subliminal Twinkeez, featuring hip hop front man Ramiz (Kiyash's bro). Stay tuned...

Saturday, July 30, 2005

revoking your right to pass


SF Photo Flash Mob 041
Originally uploaded by Avant Game.

Today I met up with 20 other photographers at One Bush Street, the site of much blogger controversy this week, for a small photomobbing adventure. We were there to exercise our rights to photograph interesting buildings from public spaces -- for example, from the sidewalk or the street.

As we non-confrontationally took photos of each other and the local architecture, we were asked many times to leave certain areas of seemingly "public plazas." Tiny little plaques in the ground confirmed that our right to pass could be revoked by the private landowner of the so-called public space.

We each carried a print-out of "Your Rights and Remedies When Stopped or Confronted for Photography", an excellent guide prepared by a civil rights attorney. We had some... challenging conversations with security guards along the way about this document.

CBS News saw fit to cover our photomobbing, and I met some very cool folks. Better still, I discovered a few new interesting corners and crevices in an area of San Francisco I've always loved most for supergaming. My favorite: a tiny abandoned back ally, with rights to pass fully revokable, with an old-school security camera, and seemingly nothing to surveil and no space to be revoked out of.

UPDATE: My Flickr set from the One Bush Street photo-mob was Boing Boing'd! Now, more than 20,000 people have viewed my photostream. Thanks, Cory, for the shout-out! Also, yay: 6 of my One Bush Street photos made the top 100 most interesting photos on Flickr for August 30. I'm a big fan of Flickr's new "interestingness" metric. Always fun to coin new words to describe emergent social network hive mind massively parallel interest!

Thursday, July 21, 2005

"Jane -- KEEP AWAY!"


dsc00464
Originally uploaded by Avant Game.
When I arrived at Sandia National Laboratories Wednesday morning, the day after an eventful cookie rolling session at Albuquerque International Airport, I discovered a special message waiting for me at the continental breakfast station.

Several members of the Advanced Concepts Group (where I've been participating in a really intense and productive workshop on the public's role in security practices, and the relationship between face-to-face community and security) had set me up!

The note on the plate of scones, oh so round and with perfect rolling affordance, read; "Jane-- Keep Away. These are for EATING only." Taped above the plate, a printout of a color photo they had grabbed of me installing my cookies at the airport.

I swear, this is the closest I've ever come to fraternity hazing. Love it.

roll bizcochitos roll!


img_4319
Originally uploaded by Avant Game.
I cookie rolled somewhere I never thought I would get away with it: an international airport.

At Albuquerque Sunport, I installed the word "up." Directly, and helpfully I thought, in front of the up elevators. On your way to ticketing and check-in, please help yourself to a bizcochito, the official state cookie (yes, really) of New Mexico.

More stories and links later tonight from Oakland.

Sunday, July 17, 2005

imagine Sisyphus happy

In the immortal words of Helium... For you! The first 10 words. And the new home of the cookie rolling project.

Speaking of which: this week, I'll be rolling cookies in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Philadelphia, PA; and Moorestown, New Jersey.

Mo'town, as we called it in high school, is my childhood hometown, and much to my twin sister's horror ("GAG ME!!!" was how she put it in her email, I believe), it was recently named The Best Place to Live in America. Well, some people might like the, um, "tree-lined oasis, dotted with gingerbread homes and million-dollar mansions," but urban it ain't. No regrets about the first 17 years, but these days... I'll take Manhattan. Or Berkeley.

Saturday, July 16, 2005

My cellphone trebuchet


My cellphone trebuchet
Originally uploaded by Avant Game.

Today I experienced the experience of catapulting my cell phone down the historic mint alley in SOMA. It was part of a pervasive play experience designed by the prankish Austrian art collective monochrom. I was thrilled to hear they were going to be conducting local mischief here in San Francisco. I have loved monochrom ever since they invented massively multiplayer thumb wrestling. I am probably the most hard-core MMTW gamer in the world, since I frequently require students and audiences to play it. Yes, no doubt soon my Node Runner world championship status will be superceded by my MMTW global domination.

Alas, my phone did not survive the trip, which consisted of a rather dramatic arc 30 feet in the air and a fatal crash landing 60 feet down the pavement. The damage inflicted: a smashed LCD screen with leaking crystal, a detached battery, a broken hinge, and exposed innards.

If I don't return your calls for a few days, you know why.

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

I am wearing a secret message.


I am wearing a secret message.
Originally uploaded by Avant Game.
You are reading the secret message.

Is it for you?

Speculate now.

Tuesday, July 05, 2005

ice cold playtest

Met at Cesar's for ice tea and playtesting today. The waitress seemed annoyed that we were too busy playing our first flash mockup to order food. Just couldn't take our attention away from Greg's laptop long enough to explain what we were up to. We probably seemed like a bunch of Cal techies not suitably socialized for midday bar outings. Maybe Cesar needs a tool to wake up Wi-Fi zombies like us. (Sean, you reading this?)

What I couldn't tell the waitress at Cesar's, I can tell you. We're bringing together four members from the design teams for Organum and Demonstrate to collaborate on a new Alpha Lab project... a kind of social software gaming system for, shall we say, an unexpected population. (No, it's nothing like Dogster.) We're calling the system Generation.

No more public statements for now, but feel free to ping me if you'd like to help playtest. Long distance playtesting is a-ok. All you need is access to a phone of any kind.

Today's playtest generated the following poem as one of its outcomes:

Woman, skipped, skipped, rip things up!
Guinea pig, I repeat myself. Tomatoes.
Pinatas, make oatmeal, to do list.

Your interpretation invited.

Sunday, July 03, 2005

salty burning numb (yum!)

I went hiking in Claremont Canyon yesterday to clear my head. Three hours, six miles, and 1000 ft elevation change later, I was sweaty, sunburnt and still fixated on the bug and its countdown. While up there, didn't pay enough attention to the trail... scratched my palms slipping on loose gravel, more than once. Now it hurts to type. (July 20 2004)
I went hiking in Claremont Canyon yesterday. It was just me and Kiyash. He was on the Claremont hike last year, too, but I didn't mention him back then because damsels in distress need to be single. I didn't scratch up my palms this time, because we did the loop backwards. We've done that trail maybe a dozen times since we moved to Berkeley in Summer 2001, and every time we've gone up one way and down the other. This time, we reversed it. Amazing what a difference that made. Both the ascent and descent were markedly more difficult, but felt exactly right. The ascent should be up the narrow, scrambly hillside path, the path I scratched my hands up on last year. And the descent should be down the shaded woodsy widecut swath. Sort of like we were hiking in reverse all these years, but of course those hikes were good, too, and memorable--two New Year's Day hikes, for instance.

Today we went to stomp around the salt ponds by the Dumbarton Bridge. That bridge is a lovely firmament which until today I had experienced only peripherally, furiously powerpointing across it in the passenger seat on my way to the PARC forum last spring. Getting to know the Dumbarton Bridge a little better, we did a mash-up of the Tidelands Trail and the Newark Slough Loop Trail. Salt flies everywhere. Chaotic flocking behavior of bird overhead. Funny... last night we watched the Rolling Stones documentary Gimme Shelter. Mick Jagger kept imploring the violent Altamont crowd to "get it together, can't we all just get it together?" The birds overhead for awhile really seemed like they were just not going to get it together. Not going to do that emergent self-organizing bottom-up woo-ha everybody writes about these days. Watching Gimme Shelter was research, although I didn't know it when we started the DVD. (At first, it was just an attempt to clear out a Netflix that has been lingering around the apartment while we plowed our way through all five discs of Season 3 of Six Feet Under.) But those of us who ask people to assemble in large groups in public for festive and playful occasions have a responsibility to understand why it occasionally goes wrong. Also, I'm interested these days in how non-festive crowds might get it together. Spontaneous community in public spaces. Working on it. More. Soon.

We also experienced the salty burning numbness of a barely sweet Cucumber Chile popsicle today.