Blogging From the East Coast

We just had a long post eaten by Blogger, so we're going to be a bit more brief this time around. We're typing this from our less event-filled home in Virginia, where we'll be for the next few days of our Turkey Day vacation. Last night we made a trip to Jillians and saw a couple of noteworthy games we'd like to share with you.

Possibly our new favorite arcade game is Panic Park. Released in 1998 by Namco, the game cabinet features two horizontally-aligned levers, one for each player. These levers move along the same track, giving players the chance to bump, nudge, or otherwise alter their opponent. The game itself doesn't feature one involved narrative, but instead consists of 5 randomly selected mini-games, each of the "collect the coins," "avoid the barrier" variety. Very simple to pick up, and addictive once the competitive juices start flowing - nothing like bumping your opponent into lava at the last second to take the win. We don't know of this game existing in Seattle, but we plan to work on that, with emails to both Gameworks and Jillians. We're big-time bloggers here, so we've got all kinds of pull.

The other "game" isn't a game at all, but a horse-racing simulator. Derby Owners Club allows players to create, train, and finally race their own horse. We're not sure if this is ultimately for cash and prizes, but you can actually save your horse's stats and take it with you. This wasn't a casual game in the slightest, with the players there keeping tabs on their progress in notebooks, discussing strategy on occasion with the others there. We didn't get it at all, but couldn't help but to be fascinated by it, which counts for something, right?