Saturday, July 19, 2008

Title Colon Vaguely Menacing Subtitle

This really seems like something that should be Photoshop Friday topic, but such is beyond my skills, I fear; so a riff it is.

The other day I heard the kids at the computer, looking for a game called Button Hunt. And I thought, for a second, that someone had adapted the venerable parlor game Button, Button, Who’s Got the Button? into a videogame. Now, I don’t really play video or computer games—I’ve got way too many other, more efficient methods for time-suckage, thanks—but I keep a casual eye on the industry, and I’m mildly fascinated by the peculiar poetry of game titles. And I started thinking about old-timey children’s games and pastimes, and how they’d be marketed in a videogame world...

Hoop III: All Downhill from Here
Hyperskittles—Legends of the Crystal Pin
Blind Man’s Buff: Triple Stage Darkness
Mad Libs Unlimited—Noun of the Adjective Noun
Chinese Whispers IV: Echoes of the Forbidden City
Exquisite Corpse Unearthed
Wink Murder 2: A Dark Adapted Eye
Mornington Crescent (Goin’ Underground Edition)
Musical Chairs III—When the Music’s Over
Mumblety-Peg: The Jagged Edge
Snakes and Ladders: The Serpent Strikes!
Tops 2—The No-Spin Zone
Jacks: Threesie Easy Pieces
Tito Francona Celebrity Cribbage
Charades Interactive: Vow of Silence
Fifty (II) Pickup: Oops, I Did It Again
Yours?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your typo in Blind Man's Bluff makes it a much, much more interesting game concept: buff-naked and blind folded...oh, the possibilities!

I do enjoy your blog, Jack. Found it at the bottom of a search engine rabbit hole while I was looking for a Jason Fear. Now I'm a regular visitor.

Jody

Jack Feerick said...

No typo, Jody - buff is the original name, and still used in Britain. I used it here precisely because it sounds fusty and archaic. (Not that I don't make a shedload of typos...!)

Welcome aboard, BTW. I'll be trying to update a little more regularly, come September or so.

Anonymous said...

Yow...my history-of-parlor-games ignorance is showing - how embarrassing! Thanks for the educational link.

Truth be told, I was second-guessing myself as to if it was a typo. Despite your humble admission to making "shedloads of typos" my obsessive internal editor hasn't detected any in what I've perused of your site so far. Your thoughtful and considered posts have me assuming that you re-read and make any needed corrections before posting.

Looking forward to reading more.

John Newman said...

How about:

Marbles III: Circle of Doom
Jacks: Smash and Grab edition
Red Rover: Run for your life
Kick the Can: Hiding Behind Enemy Lines
Password: Black Ops
Checkers 2: Red's Turn.

Anonymous said...

To really get the impact of all of these, of course, you have to read them out loud in your deepest "announcer guy" voice, like you're ending the commercial! :-)