Last week my company graciously flew my back to Albuquerque to participate in the company Christmas party. I decided to stay a whole week so I would have time to visit my friends. Continue reading →
All posts in House of Whack
Emergent Game Play in House of Whack
Last night I had some friends over to play House of Whack. Most of them had played the version that comes in the box, but I wanted to show them the version that comes *outside* the box. This was the version I had always wanted to play. It’s not something that can easily be explained in a manual as you really have to experience it firsthand due to its emergent, organic game play. Continue reading →
Had to share this
House of Whack was printed by BoardGameDesign.com and the project rep for the job was Lisa Marie. She had to deal with all my weird requests for the game, changes in mid-stream, the whole tri-fold fiasco, etc. So, now that the game is done, I thought the least I could do would be to thank her for putting up with me. I think I made her day.
Dear ANDRE,
OH MY GAWD!
As I sit at my desk taking the next call from a complaining customer, there arrived a HUGE box marked with the words FTD and GODIVA!!! I sat and tried to imagine who in the world could possibly be sending me such a wonderful surprise marked with FTD and Godiva…. hmmm….
YOU…it was from YOU! Andre Monserrat, I screamed so loudly that I think the windows shook! LOL
There inside was a beautiful bouquet of ONE DOZEN of the most beautiful roses that I have ever seen. Not to mention the GODIVA chocolates that I was able to savor slowly while opening the box! (who am I kidding…I gulped 2 right down!) This is a wonderful surprise! I’m so elated and so appreciative that I’m leaving work early so I can go place them inside of one of my nicest vases so I can then place them on my table so I can adore them all weekend…. this is sweet…..real sweet! They are all different colors and each one is a perfect rose shape. They are perfect and absolutely beautiful and they smell so yummy rose flower good!
You are thanked more than you could ever imagine…. thank you from the bottom of my heart. Glad I could do my job and help make your game a reality. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
It’s Full of Whack!
This is what a storage locker filled with 162 shipping boxes looks like. Each one contains 6 House of Whack games. It is a sight I find simultaneously exciting and terrifying.
BGG Photos
Action shot of Nukes attacking the House.
My display at the flea market, in the calm before the storm.
HoW spotted in the wild! Total strangers own my game.
BGG.con
I was in Dallas this past Thursday through Sunday for BoardGameGeek.con, a fantastic board gaming convention. It was a smaller, more laid back type of con than your GenCon or ComicCon, with perhaps only 700 attendees.
I cajoled Cory into going at the very last minute, so he, Nukes, Majcher and I headed up there Thursday morning. The con was at the Westin near the airport. The only thing nearby was a Denny’s and a Shell station. That Denny’s must make bank as it was the only source of reasonably priced “food” within several miles, as we found out.
The con itself was spread out between a large ballroom, a smaller ballroom and an overflow room. Plus there was a foyer area and a games library. The games library was this heavenly wonderland where you could find every game you had ever heard of, no matter how rare or out of print. Games that would cost you $300 on eBay could be checked out and played, even taken up to your room overnight. That right there should tell you about the top shelf quality of people at this convention.
I got to see Mischa again! Mischa is a gaming dynamo. I came down one morning, at what I thought was an early time (maybe 7:30 or 8AM) to find Mischa embroiled in a game of Galaxy Trucker. He had gamed through the night with no signs of stopping. Later that afternoon, I began to suspect the use of illegal stimulants, or, at the very least, a clone. How could someone do this? The secret to his staying power was revealed a few days later, but I shall take it to my grave.
I had the most fun playing obscure games, out of print games or games designed by my friends. Kapitan Wackelpudding left a deep impression. Shipping a stack of coffins and video games to Dracula land is no easy task. Tales of the Arabian Nights stole my heart. It is a game I should have been playing during my childhood at the same time as Talisman or Cosmic Encounter. It is essentially a Choose Your Own Adventure board game with role-playing elements. Thankfully, Z-Man is coming out with a new version next June. I learned the ferocity of soccer moms vying for the best looking garden in Garden Competition.
I played Dan’s Monkey Lab again, outwitting my opponents. I also had a chance to play Majcher’s Honeypot, which is a brilliant abstract strategy game. I was also delighted by his prototype of Fluffy Bunny Tea Party. It involves bunnies sitting around eating cakes, drinking tea and being horrifically polite to each other. Dan sold out of Chains of Fenrir, Majcher sold out of Honeypot and Ian sold out of Taktika. We were all really happy for Ian. He walked around in this kind of daze, unprepared for how well his game would be received.
I brought 12 units of House of Whack and managed to sell 6 of them! At first I was really overwhelmed. I felt kind of stunned by what it was I was trying to do and a deep terror grabbed hold of me. I didn’t think anyone was going to like my game. I wanted to give up and run far away. But on the morning of the flea market, I went down to the show room, claimed half a table, and set up a display for House of Whack. When the browsers flooded in like a Zerg rush, I kept my head and hyped the game to everyone who came by. My very first sale was to Aldie, one of the guys in charge of the convention. That was cool.
Friedemann Friese, a famous game designer was there as the guest of honor. He hung out and played games with everyone like a regular guy. You could always spot him in the room due to his shock of bright green hair. He always looked like he was searching for something, entering a room, head craning about, trying to spot something just out of view. I talked with him about what it was like when he had finished his first game and he said that he felt like he had no idea what he was doing, but, after the first game, nothing else quite gives you the same feeling. I get that.
Sunday morning found us packing up our massive hauls of treasure gleaned from the math trade and the flea market. If I had an extra $100 (and more trunk space), I would have matched Jake and Jen’s impressive finds. I think they got Arkham Horror and Descent for $40 total. Nice.
And then we came back to Austin.
The End.
Flywheel
I think I mentioned this before, but I want to reiterate how cool the Flywheel game design group is and how grateful I am for them. Ostensibly we meet every Tuesday night (I try to go as often as I can) and playtest each other’s designs, offer critiques and talk about game design in general.
Mischa originally turned me on to the group. Even though he’s back in NOLA, he remains a font of useful info and insight via email. He teaches us the deep magic hidden below the surface of the boardgamegeek.com web site!
We meet at Dan’s house. Since there are at least two of every name in our larger gaming group, he has been dubbed “Monkeyman” Dan, presumably from his Monkey Lab game rather than any simian proclivities. Dan has a wide range of games in the works and I’m always impressed when he pulls out a new prototype. I can characterize his designs as elegant. The games are straightforward and easy to learn, yet have deep strategy and well thought out game mechanics. This is really hard to do and he makes it look easy. He has released Chains of Fenrir as a self-published venture and is shopping Monkey Lab around. Monkey Lab is brilliant and is as fun as it sounds.
Ian’s games tend to have wizards and/or space ships, which is awesome. His current labor of love is Taktika, which is a game combining strategy and dexterity, as you have to flick wooden disks around the playing surface. The game looks fantastic and it is super fun.
I’ve only seen a few of Marc’s games, but they exude polish and fun. In Rocket Yard, players compete to build rockets with components of varying quality and be the first to launch. His Honeypot game has been out for a while. I bought a copy, but haven’t had a chance to play it. It comes in this sweet tube and is printed on a handkerchief, evoking old school classics like Cosmic Wimpout.
There is another Mark who I haven’t met yet as he is usually entwined in Bunco Night, which also falls on Tuesday night.
John is a new addition and is certainly the most prolific of the group. He has been creating one game a month and releasing it on his web site for quite a while!
Most of us are going to BoardGameGeek.con next weekend and it has been fun discussing various strategies to get more exposure for our games. Dan had the idea of using the stones from Chains of Fenrir as markers in House of Whack and I thought that was pure genius. Hooray for cross-promotion!
It Multiplies
It is weird to be looking at twelve copies of House of Whack, all shrink-wrapped. The shipping boxes say “DreamPunk Productions, LLC” on the side. It’s kind of like it’s a real game or something.
I wonder if seeing the other 988 boxes will make it even more real.
House of Whack Now Available for Pre-Order
I have waited years to say this:
House of Whack is now available for pre-order! The game will ship out in mid-November.
I encourage you not to wait, but to go ahead and order your copy right away. This will provide me with a real world test of the ordering system. Please consider buying more than one copy as it will make a cool holiday gift!
Visit www.houseofwhack.net to place your order.
While there have been many contributors to the game over the years (they are credited in the manual), I would like to take a moment to acknowledge some of those people (in chronological order, if you must know):
Besides me, stavros has put more time and energy into play testing House of Whack than anyone else. I brought one of the first prototypes over to his apartment and we played for hours and hours. stavros is an accomplished film maker and artist. Check out his site www.dogonepictures.com to find out more. He recently completed the film Committing Poetry in Times of War. Some of stavros’ photography appears in the game. You can see more of his work at Model Mayhem.
My father, Alfredo Monserrat, has always encouraged an entrepreneurial spirit in me. He is working on a book about surviving in America as in immigrant. Visit his site at www.monserrat.com.
Deborah Reese is a really fantastic and dynamic person. She owns Seventh Goddess, a boutique which sells world-class lingerie. She is also the lead singer of Black T-Shirt Monday. They give a performance that is not to be missed. Also, she introduced me to the Landmark Forum, which has transformed my life in ways I could not have imagined. I can never thank her enough.
Dave Glowacki has been one of my best friends since college. He has been doing some really impressive work in the mobile entertainment arena, bringing many popular titles to cell phones. He is now a Mobile Producer for Electronic Arts, one of the giants in the video game industry.
Cory Williamson is an industrial designer and board game aficionado. His designs include complex devices for the medical industry. I met Cory shortly after moving to Austin and he’s turned out to be a great friend and a fellow geek.
Arvind and Becky Raichur have been the best bosses I’ve ever had. I’ve developed a friendship as well as a great employee relationship over the past eight years. If you need a lawyer or legal information, please visit our two flagship sites: www.attorneylocate.com and www.alllaw.com.
Thank you everyone for your encouragement over the past few years. This is a big deal for me and I’m glad I have you in my life to share this moment.
Drey
State of the Game
An update on House of Whack…
No matter how many times I brought up the fact that the printer was able to create nice glossy, tri-fold cards that didn’t fall apart, they would not acknowledge it. They either would completely ignore the message or say ridiculous things like the nice glossy cards were identical to the horrible cards that fell apart.
Their final solution was to laminate the cards. This initially looked okay, but then the laminate started to blister and wrinkle. Also, they wanted an extra $950.
Since all the other cards they have done look great, I decided to just redesign the entire Guest deck as non-folding cards about 2/3rds the size of the current cards. One of my original designs involved a card that could be rotated one way or the other, like some Magic cards I had seen. Mischa reminded me of this design when he suggested it himself. I had been so enamored with the cleverness of the trifold concept that I had abandoned this rotating card idea.
So now I am almost done recreating the Guest cards in the new format. This has also given me an opportunity to tweak a few abilities and make some edits. Since the manual, box and quick start guide make reference to tri-fold cards, I will have to include an errata sheet explaining the change. This will also be an opportunity to get people to go to the web site and download the latest version of the manual. There have been some significant changes to the play mechanics. Or rather, I have a collection of house rules I recommend that people use.
I’ve designed the game so that it can be “patched,” updated, and modded pretty easily, which is coming in handy now.