game day

Game On

The anticipation was immense, so much preparation and so many unknowns.  The last hours leading to 9 am felt like the last hours waiting for kick off or opening cue to a stage play.  Most children are unforgiving, cruel, and brutally honest.  Most children do not have a filter and will not hesitate to show the world how they feel.  Of course, part of my communications class final project is to let these children play a game designed by group of college classmates.

The road to designing the game was filled with twist and turns and was quite bumpy at the beginning.  Personalities were conflicting and panic was setting in, then one day as a group we decided to change approaches and focused on keeping things simple and fun.  A huge weight was taken of the groups shoulders.  We didn't need to create this brilliant game that was complicated.  we needed to make a fun simple game that involved strategy, chance, and most importantly, math.

This experience was extremely gratifying and I must say that I enjoyed Thanksgiving break a little more because of the hard work and the reward of seeing the kids understand and have fun playing I helped design.

Playing Madden for cash $$$

Gamers have recently found a way to compete online verse peers for cash wagers.  Website www.gamersaloon.com allows gamers to find opponents and and make cash wagers on the game.
In the pas players had to go to a live event and compete in person against fields of opponents to win cash prizes in tournaments.  The tournaments still take place and the annual madden tournament once paid out 140,000 dollars .  Much can be debated about the validity of these games as competitions due to the "glitches" that are with in the game.

Below is gameplay of an actual online game.

Below is a youtube review of the gamer saloon website.

Below is glitches in the game.