I received an email today that just sent me over the edge of bewilderment and anger. It was from someone I hadn’t heard from in over a year. The message simply said “Can you afford to begin paying for my contributions to our game yet?” And he’s talking about House of Whack.

Just to contextualize, I had started working on the game a few years before I met this guy. He was really interested in it and helped playtest it extensively. We talked about ideas for the game, some of his ideas found their way into the game, most did not. He contributed a few pieces of art for 3 or so cards, which he was credited for. But at no point was there ever an agreement that he would be financially compensated for playtesting. In fact, he explicitly said he just wanted to help out and wasn’t interested in money. There was no contract or legally binding agreement stating he had any stake or co-ownership of the game. I am very grateful for his support and enthusiasm for the game and I say as much in the credits of the manual.

But it was never “our” game and that’s what infuriates me about his email. It was my idea. I made every single prototype card (hundreds and hundreds of them) through every iteration of the game. I did all of the graphic design and 99% of the original artwork. I created the game mechanics. I wrote and re-wrote the rules countless times. I put thousands of dollars of my own money into the production of the game. I put years of life into making House of Whack happen.

How much time and resources did he contribute to the artwork? Virtually none. He contributed pre-existing photos which I then incorporated into the card design. He did not invent any game mechanics, he wrote no rules, he invested no money. He did come up with some ideas for cards. Yet he feels that in comparison to my contribution to the game, that he can go ahead and refer to it as “our” game and ask for compensation.

Here’s a real example of how this collaboration worked. One day he said, “It would be cool if there were a labyrinth in the game.” I agreed. So I thought about a way to create that. I designed graphics for the rooms, mocked up the cards, came up with game mechanics and playtested them. This ended up becoming the Hedge Maze in the game. I then showed him the finished product. He said, “That was a really cool collaboration we just had.” In his mind, his making a statement about a labyrinth was somehow equivalent to all the work I did to make it a reality.

He had zero game design sense, no conception of balancing mechanics, and would come up with utterly impractical and nonsensical ideas, even for House of Whack. Once we were tossing around ideas for a play variant involving ghosts. I wanted to call the ghosts “revenants” as they were seeking vengeance. He wanted to call them “detectives”. I suggested that the word “detectives” might be confusing as people generally have a particular idea of what a detective is and they won’t necessarily associate “detective” with “ghost”. His response was that, since it was the House of Whack, things are not as they seem, and, in this world, “detective” was synonymous with “ghost”. His idea was that when a player got killed they would come back as a ghost and have to solve the mystery of who killed them. I said it would be kind of obvious as the player was right there when it happened. He said the player would have to pretend they didn’t know who the killer was and conduct an investigation. That’s fucking nonsense.

And so is this “our game” bullshit. I had LOTS of people help with the game and I feel like I have acknowledged them all appropriately. But none of them would ever suggest that they put enough work into it to call it their own creation, much less ask me to retroactively pay them for volunteering.

Support independent game design at Indie Press Revolution.

Additionally, I have upgraded the House of Whack forums to the latest version of phpBB, an open source forum.

What I need to do next is learn how to make custom templates for both of these packages. Give it that personal touch.

On Thursday Mandy picked me up at the airport. Mandy and Colin were kind enough to let me stay with them at their swanky new loft. I got to meet Hank, their adorable little dog. We got along splendidly and there was much fetching and petting. I went into work and met some of the new people I had only interacted with virtually. I got caught up with my attorneys and hung out with everyone at a lunch party they held for all the December birthdays. After a meeting, I headed out.

I stopped in at Addicted to Comics and dropped off a few copies of House of Whack. Kevin was very encouraging while I was working on the game and I thought it would be great if his store carried the game.

Later on, I had a fantastic dinner with Deborah. She introduced me to High Noon, an excellent steak restaurant in Old Town. They had an upside-down Christmas tree on the ceiling! I got her all caught up with what had been going on in my life since I started participating with Landmark Education.

On Friday I went into work for a bit and then met my friend Halli for lunch at Yasmine’s. We ended up going over to Vivace for some wine and lamenting about love and life. Then Mandy and I went to the ABQ Uptown shopping center so I could get a gift for the gift exchange game at the Christmas party.

The party was at the Hyatt Tamaya resort. I’d been there a couple times before. It is pretty swank. There was an open bar and I indulged in a Grand Marnier and taught the bartender how to make a Dirty Girl Scout. There were Dirty Girl Scouts all around! After a ridiculously good meal, we played the gift exchange game. My contribution, the Transformers DVD, was fought over with great ferocity. I ended up with the movie Smoking Aces, but I didin’t realize it was the full screen version until it was too late! Then we played House of Whack! It was interesting to see how non-gamers responded to the game. They came up with some pretty amusing rules. Then I went to bed in a big clean bed with lots of pillows.

I woke up Saturday morning to discover that I was in a strange hotel bed! I grabbed breakfast at IHOP and then headed over to Tall Tales Comics. This was the other store in town that helped me out with HoW. Jeff was enthusiastic about carrying the game, but he feared they were going to discontinue board games in January. So all you ABQ peeps go buy the game soon!

I hung out at Mandy and Colin’s pad for a while before going to meet Jaimi at Copper Lounge. Jaimi is someone I met through random circumstances. I actually first met her when she was visiting Austin and I invited her and her friends over for drinks with my friends (after several hours of Rock Band!). Jaimi is gorgeous and fantastic, but is currently going through a difficult time. Not the best time for some strange guy to be making eyes at you! We had some drinks and a great conversation about hope and Joan Jett.

Saturday night was my birthday party at Terran and Susan’s. A bunch of people showed up and we had great food and wine. There was also cake and the cake was not a lie! I loved seeing everyone again and getting caught up with people’s lives. We also played House of Whack later. Beware Terran’s might Dragon Spear! Fortunately, he did not unleash Ape Sex on any of the players.

Sunday afternoon found me back at Terran and Susan’s where I reprised my role as Titus Pinkerton in Terran’s Victorian Horror game. It seems that since I last played, Titus had joined forces with the evil Baroness who was bent on summoning tentacled evil from beyond space and time. He even got to have a mad scientist lab in the basement of her manor! I had conspired with Terran a few weeks before my arrival, coming up with clever traps for the players. During the final conflict, Titus burst onto the scene with a steampunk tank!

I then caught a late dinner with my friends Bob and Sari. We went to Taj Mahal! Yum! We discussed the writer’s strike and the impact on our favorite shows.

Monday was my birthday! Dave called me up in the morning so he could be the first person to sing happy birthday to me. I had a birthday breakfast at Flying Star with Mandy and then went into work. Mandy picked me up again for lunch and, after realizing some ancient Japanese tradition mandates that all sushi restaurants must close for two hours in the middle of the day, went home instead. We had a victorious sushi dinner though! Then I went over to Lesley’s and introduced her and John to the wonderfully bizarre film The American Astronaut. I also helped Lesley get her XBox 360 online and loaded with Carcassonne!

I worked some more on Tuesday and did some more House of Whack deliveries. That afternoon Lesley and I went to see I Am Legend, which was a really great movie. I hadn’t read the book or the graphic novel, so I didn’t have anything to compare it to. But I found it well put together and thoughtful. Then we played more Carcassonne!

And on Wednesday, I came back to Austin. Overall, I enjoyed being in Albuquerque again. I didn’t really miss it and it reaffirmed my decision to move to Austin. There is a quiet earthiness to Albuquerque that I miss, though. It isn’t as busy there.

Before we set up, I asked each player to describe what made a game fun for them. Nick said he enjoyed player interaction. So I then asked for another player to take on the responsibility of making sure Nick had player interaction. Julia volunteered. Next, Jen said she really enjoyed being able to hoard money in a game. So Cory volunteered to introduce financial tension in the game. Jake liked games with bidding. Nick offered to oversee that aspect. In fact, when Julia said she wanted a game with multiple end goals, Nick made everyone bid for the right to manage that. Jake won by bidding two blue beads (at this point Cory had yet to reveal the value of any of the beads in play). Finally, Cory said he liked games where player actions had lasting ramifications. Jen took on the responsibility of making sure that element was in the game.

Everyone then chose a playing piece from a selection of D&D minis and HeroClix figures and placed them on the Start tile. I then said, “The rules say you start out with three Drama cards each, but what do YOU say?” The players proposed that everyone should get five cards instead, except for Nick, who got only two. He was outvoted.

I explained that the information printed on the cards should be used as a last resort, if the players had difficulty inventing an alternate purpose for a card. I said that the name of the card and the artwork were actually more important than any rules they might find there. Nick immediately played the Destiny card, but called it the “High 5″ card as it showed a hand on it. He announced that whenever two players high-fived, they got two gems. I pointed out that Nick had now made an offer to the other players. The players then had the opportunity to agree with this new “rule” or modify it. I discouraged outright vetoes.

The players began exploring the House. They decided to ignore the movement rules and say that you could use an Action to automatically move to an adjacent room. When a new room was revealed, I asked the player to tell everyone about the room and if there was anything special we should know about it. For instance, if someone entered the Clone Chamber, they had to face a horrific clone duplicate of themselves. One of my favorite inventions was the Whack Ball room. Nick decided that players could engage in a gladiatorial sport called “Sun Fighting.”Each player started with an arm extended above their head. You won the battle by pushing down on your opponent’s fist so that it went down past their shoulder. At one point, Nick and Cory got swallowed by the Dire Frog and discovered a room inside the Frog’s belly. But then Julia played the Impostor card and switched their position with Jake.

I should point out that Nick never chose a playing piece. It was discovered that Nick and Cory were somehow grafted together like conjoined twins. Wherever Cory moved, Nick was there too. This also gave each player access to the other’s Drama cards. When they tried to high five each other to gain 2 gems, the other players protested, saying it was actually just clapping, given their circumstances.

A few rooms were in play before Cory realized that he had no idea how to win. Jake, thinking of Julia’s desire for multiple end goals, proposed that there be multiple ways to win. This was put to a vote. Each player then came up with a way to win or end the game. So, in this instance of the game, a player could win by having the most money (but Julia could win if she had the least), or if they rode the Walking Room, or if they ever had 15 cards in their hand, or if they recovered all four of the Sacred Artifacts, or if there was no more room on the table for more room tiles, or if someone sang the best rendition of Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire.”

During this game, most of the action was in the Drama cards. Only about five rooms made it into play and about six Whack cards were drawn. The Guest cards were never used. Jen caused a tower to rise up in the middle of board. Jake used the Architect to build himself a tiny green house which allowed him to charge rent for anyone who landed in that room. And I can’t remember the exact sequence of events, but Jake sent an army of ninjas off to retrieve something that Jen was trying to steal, but they ended up getting destroyed in a war. Cory played the Scarf Trick card on Nick, who had recently taken up knitting and was literally knitting a scarf during the game. His trick was to instantly change his sad face to a happy face behind the scarf. It was one of those things where you had to be there to appreciate it. This applies for the entire play session too.

I was really happy with everyone’s inventiveness concerning the Drama cards. I felt that each of the players was able to tell an interesting story with their cards and make convincing cases for actions they were trying to perform.

The game ended when Nick entered The Gate and discovered the Walking Room, which he was able to ride. Jen won the game because she had the Hope card in her hand, which granted 10 Gold Hearts at the end of the game. Cory revealed that the hearts were indeed the most valuable currency in the game, worth much more than the red, blue and gold beads.

Overall, I couldn’t have been happier with how the game went. It was exactly how I imagined the game would be played. The actual “rules” that come with the game were rarely referred to. So hopefully this account will inspire you to try playing the game in a completely different way.

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.

My display at the flea market, in the calm before the storm.

HoW spotted in the wild! Total strangers own my game.

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.