Entertaining: Movies & Games

Remaining on the subject of my recent Halloween-themed birthday party:
There's no sense in getting too attached to your agenda. Things happen and the evening might not go as planned. Guests show up late, have car trouble, and might need a ride to an auto parts store. People might just end up really getting into the conversation and you don't necessarily want to interrupt it to start a movie.

We had planned on a "double feature" as the central part of the evening, but it didn't go off quite as planned. We had video games set up in another room, and the targeted audience of the first movie were not in the "theater room" (or left early). We got started much later than usual, but again, not necessarily a bad thing: people really seemed to enjoy the food and there was a lot of animated conversation going on, so we just went with the flow.

The big surprise for the evening (for some of the guests anyway) was my birthday gift from John. He got me a very late-model HD projector and build a HUGE screen for it (102"). We've been using it for the better part of a month to watch DVDs (Dr. Who on a screen that big? Fantastic.) If you've been reading the blog, you might remember that we even made up tickets to go with the invitations.

When there was a lull in the conversation and a lot of the food was gone, we announced the start of the movie. After two families left and another arrived, we stopped the first movie and had a brief intermission, then started the feature film of the night.

In Sunday's post, I mentioned a contest. Here it is: Images from the two movies we showed at the party are below. If anyone can name them both, they're guaranteed a prize: some of the drink charms and a copy of the music mix party favor. Put your guess in the comments -- make sure there's a way for me to reach you (blog link, email address, something.) If you only know one, guess anyway. If no one gets them both right, I'll go to a single correct guess. (Guests who were at the party are exempt. Besides, they already have the CD and I'll give them drink charms if they want.)

Movie #1
Hint: This might not be what you think it is. This was a movie for the kids, so it would be classified as a comedy. (That's a really big hint.)

Movie #2
Hint: There might be a bit of a hint on the ticket.

If you know, or think you know, what either movie is, please comment! I'll give it to the weekend. If there ends up being only one correct guess, for either film, that person will win the CD and drink charms. If there is actually more than one correct guess, then I'll do a drawing on Saturday or Sunday.

Games
After almost everyone had gone home, a couple of the guests (Melanie & her 8-year-old daughter) hunkered down on the floor and played a round of Zombie Dice. It went really fast because the 8-y.o. got 12 brains on her first turn (you need 13 to win the game). I joined them for a round of Cthulhu dice (same link), and then Melanie's husband joined us for a second round. That game also went fairly quickly, as it was designed to, but I was right: it's way better with more people.

We decided that we would have to have a Cthulhu/zombie game night in a few weeks. (Melanie & Richard got me the Zombies!!! game, not realizing that I already had it. Now they own a copy, too!)

Games: Alan Wake

This is a quick drive-by posting. I don't think I qualify as a gamer, per se, because my interests and skills are very limited. I tried Ghostbusters 3 (PC) and couldn't do it. I managed Dragon Age: Origins (PC) and World of Warcraft okay, but couldn't hack the controls for the newest Resident Evil (console). (I have hand/eye coordination issues and first-person shooters trigger massive dizzy spells. (I'm still sad I couldn't play Portal.)) I got pretty good at Viva Piñata...I SO fail at being a gamer.)

I don't think I can play Alan Wake, either (haven't tried the controls yet). But whoa, is it cool! It's actually a game I'll sit down and watch someone else play. It's reminiscent of Twin Peaks (which I loved), and I'd have a hard time believing it's not intentional. There's a bit of Steven King thrown in as well (he's actually quoted at the beginning).

We got through episode 1 yesterday (there are 7 currently, with more promised as future downloadable content) and I was kind of sad that I was so drowsy I couldn't keep watching. (I've watched bits and pieces of games while others played, but never more than a couple of minutes.)

Alan Wake is a best-selling writer who has hit a slump and travels with his wife, Alice, to Bright Falls, WA for a change of scenery. He's not there long before things turn truly bizarre and pretty freaking scary.

Games: Zombie Dice & Cthulhu Dice

We stopped in a comic shop recently (because I needed sleeves for my Buckaroo Banzai comics - the originals sleeves were a little dingy and I want those comics to stay pristine) and spent some time looking through the game section.

We didn't buy anything else that day, because the prices seemed a tad high, but after we got home, my husband looked up one of the games online and found that they were available for a much better price directly through the company (Zombie Dice, at the comic store: $24.99; direct from Steve Jackson games: $13.13, plus shipping). I'm all for buying locally, when it's sane. The local shop's price, however, was not sane.

What we got, for around $20: Zombie Dice and Cthulhu Dice, directly from Steve Jackson Games. Pictured above is the die from the Cthulhu set (more on that in a bit). Both games are fun, fairly quick to play, and very portable.

Zombie Dice
With just two people playing, this game went pretty quickly; like all games of this type, it's certainly more fun with three or more players.

In this game, you're the zombie. Each die represents a potential human victim, color-coded to indicate the strength of your opponent. (The green dice have more brains, the red have more shotgun blasts.) You roll three dice at a time, hoping for brains (obviously, since you're a zombie). Setting aside the brains and the shotgun blasts (feet = escape), you keep rolling three at a time until you have three shotgun blasts, then tally up how many brains you got. The first player to get thirteen brains wins the round.

Cthulhu Dice
Technically, it's just Cthulhu Die, because there is only one 12-sided die, but that sounds a little funny. (You can also get extra dice.) This game went crazy-fast.

For about $5 plus shipping, this was a great buy. The game comes with the custom die, instructions and a handful of sanity tokens* (flat glass marbles). It went way too fast with just two people -- you would need at least three for it to be a challenge -- but it's meant to be a fast game.

Your goal in this game is to stay sane. Depending on the results of the roll, you can take a token from your target, take one from the center (if there are any) or force one or all players to put a token in the center. After you run out of tokens, you've gone mad, but you can still finish another round and hope for a chance to steal a sanity token from Cthulhu and stay in the game. The winner is the last sane player (the only one with at least one token left).

*The mat pictured here does not come with the game. It's a one-of-a-kind piece, put together by my hubby, because we're geeks that way. He printed it onto the same Printable Fabric from Avery that I used for the skull pillow, and I ironed it onto the back of the shaded green fabric pictured above. I think I have just enough fabric left to make a small bag for the die and sanity tokens.

Fun: Para Abnormal Comics

I love Dave Lowe's work. He is a real Halloween fan, and I'll probably be pointing you to some of his other online antics. Today, though, check out his Para Abnormal web comic. This is a slightly older one (April), but I'm on a zombie kick, for reasons which will be made clear to you soon enough.