Tag: games

A Minute in Columbus with Lydia Loveless

Posted on by Editor

Welcome to “A Minute In …” — a BGS feature that turns our favorite artists into hometown reporters. In our latest column, Lydia Loveless takes us through her favorite hangs of her former hometown, Columbus, Ohio.

I moved to Columbus, Ohio, when I was 14. A lot has changed since then, but I won’t go on an old man “get off my lawn” rant about it. The 13 years I spent there were certainly varied and formative, and many of the places that shaped who I am are gone. Towards the end of living there (I recently moved to North Carolina), I was a bit of a shut in, but I did have my regular haunts. These are the ones I’m willing to share and that will appeal to people who don’t live there, in this hillbilly’s humble opinion.

Photo credit: Breakfast with Nick

Baba’s: Situated right behind my last apartment in Columbus, I was in this place at least every other day, since it opened not too long ago. Everything is made in-house and local. (If I’m wrong, I can’t be too wrong about that.) I don’t know how many calories in Griddle Muffins — a hot, pillowy egg and cheese and protein or shredded veggie sandwich — I consumed, and I don’t really care. It was all worth it. Add the absolutely kind and warm owners, and I can’t imagine a place I’d rather dump all my money into.

Photo credit: Eleanor Sinacola

The Book Loft: I have an unhealthy obsession with books. I love nothing more than the safety of a bookstore or library. Columbus has an astounding library system, but you don’t live there, presumably, so go here instead. It’s 32 rooms — a city block long. I always feel incredibly peaceful there in spite of the various soundtracks serenading you from room to room. I like to grab a lavender latte from Stauf’s next door beforehand, if I’m feeling fancy, and just get lost.

Photo credit: Michael Casey

Pins: After the Book Loft, this is the #2 place I take people who don’t live there. A very un-claustrophobic place that you wouldn’t expect to be as it’s full of people playing — gulp — GAMES. I love to go with a few people, drink fruity cocktails (even of the non-alcoholic variety), and Duckpin Bowl (bowling with a smaller ball and pins and far more restraint and skill than the typical variety) for a couple hours. They have a sizable patio for smoking and people watching, if you’re interested in either of those things, and I’ve never had bad service there. I’ve also never witnessed a frustrated weight lifter break the duckpin bowling screens, but I’ve often hoped I would. Maybe you will.

Rumba: I’ve been playing here for 10 years, so I may be biased, but I very rarely go here and don’t enjoy myself. There’s such a wide variety of music going on there these days, it’s easy to pop in and find at least one act you enjoy, from folk to punk to pop. Yes, it’s tiny, but fairly recent updates have made the band onstage far easier to see in crowded situations, so even if you’re the claustrophobic type, it has more of a cozy than holy-shit-save-me vibe.

Old Skool: I never spoke of this place to anyone but my sister and guitar player — my sister, because I wanted her there, and my guitar player, because he hates chicken wings. But Old Skool has the best chicken wings I’ve ever put in my mouth. They’re smoked and slightly sticky but fall right off the bone. There’s no prehistoric wrangling of the meat, no deep fried bullshit to get through. Plus, they’re half-off on Mondays. Ask for the sauce on the side. I would go every couple days to watch baseball, drink a couple Coors banquets, and eat WINGS. I kept it a secret for fear of running into obsessive exes or whatever else Columbus has to offer, but I don’t live there anymore, so I pass it on.

Lede photo credit: Cowtown Chad.

The Decemberists Tackle Table-Top Gaming with Illimat

Posted on by Editor

It's no secret that the Decemberists are seriously multi-talented. The genre-defying ensemble of Portland musicians first won our hearts with the cerebral folk-rock of their 2002 debut album, Castaways and Cutouts. Since then, while continuing to put out stellar music (like their most recent album, 2015's What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World) band members have dabbled in other projects, including lead vocalist Colin Meloy's foray into the world of children's books with Wildwood, a series he co-created with his wife, illustrator Carson Ellis. 

Now, the band is bringing another project into the world: a table-top game called Illimat. 

Illimat is a two-to-four player table-top adventure designed by indie game phenomenon Keith Baker (of Gloom and Eberron fame) in conjunction with the Decemberists. The game's centerpiece, a cloth "board," is actually a relic of Decemberists days gone by, as it was originally a prop used as part of a fake, mysterious game in photoshoots to promote the band's 2009 album, The Hazards of Love. Inspired by the piece, which was designed by Ellis and photographer Autumn De Wilde, the band decided to make the fake game a reality. 

"It’s a totally backwards way to make anything, to start with a sort of finished product and implore somebody else to deal with it," the band's Chris Funk says with a laugh. "We had a lot of ideas for it — what it would look like and what it would feel like. There’s a famous game designer in Portland named Keith Baker who I had become friends with and I asked if he would work on it with us. He took the game board, which was the photo prop, and he had it sitting in his basement every time I would go over and he was ruminating on what this game could be, based on our asks. Eventually, he’s like, ‘Okay, I got it. Do you guys want to get together?’"

Funk attributes the band's interest in table-top gaming to downtime on the road and credits an increased camaraderie among band members to the analog hobby. "The inspiration for it was simply that, on the road, our band started playing games a few years ago to pass the time, typically in the downtime between soundcheck and showtime," Funk explains. "It’s kind of this lull period where people scamper off to their dark corners. Long story short, we have a lot of time on the road, so we started table-top gaming, which has been really great for community and getting back to ground zero. It’s very popular right now and people are coming back to it, as we get deeper and deeper into technology and people just staring into their phones constantly." 

Baker's Twogether Studios is currently hosting a Kickstarter for Illimat which, at press time, has raised over $205,000 in a little over a week, trumping the project's original goal of $42,812. Kickstarter backers have a number of support packages to choose from, with rewards including a limited edition tote bag and an official lapel pin. Funk attributes the project's success both to Baker's expertise and to the ever-growing table-top gaming community. 

"We did our homework and we worked with Keith Baker, who is, again, a very famous game designer," Funk says. "There’s a lot of muscle behind releasing the game. Kickstarter has become, for gaming, a really successful place. The people at Kickstarter have their own games division, which is really exciting. It’s become a platform to find out about new games."

As of now, Funk expects the game to be available for sale online by late Spring or early Summer of 2017. He also offered a glimmer of hope for fans of the band's music, hinting that, while the game is a primary focus right now, new music is on their radar, too. "We’ll get busy and start doing something next year and see where it takes us," he says. "But nothing solid and nothing to announce, just games."