We've got a cabinet at Pure Storage in Mountain View. In fact, the "private collector" is one of our managers - and he's a video game nut all right. The game is tremendous fun, and very well balanced. We used to think economic victory wasn't worth it because you'd finish snail first, then a team focused and swept. And playing 5 on 5 is just crazy.
This summer our interns were laying waste to everyone else. I thought I was good, but they were better. Good thing they went back to college!
So if anyone wants to come by, see the office, and sneak in a game - I'm sure you'll find interested people.
The path to victory mentioned in the article is the 'Snail' approach, a sort of tug-of-war at the bottom of the screen. The other two are 'Economic' (bring 10 power-ups back to home 1st) and 'Military' (kill the other queen in Joust-style flying-combat 3 times).
Lots of surprises and shifts because of those varying paths. Lots of frantic team communication as you both adapt to the other team, and bring new players up to speed.
You might be able to bootstrap similar games, in public places, with a giant projection screen and the 10 (or more) players using their handheld devices as controls.
There's nothing like the increasing panic of the other team as you get closer and closer. We've often ended with a military victory just before a snail victory - the enemy queen comes in for a last attempt and is nailed by a warrior.
There's a cabinet at our local arcade (Logan Hardware, Chicago), and it's been awesome. We have a Facebook group for serious player meet-ups and a monthly tournament. My team won the first.
I've dealt a lot with Nikita, and he's an awesome guy - patient, always willing to help out, just all around great. And they've got a new game coming out (Hero Trap), looks great!
I got to play this at IndieCade last year, and the live-action version at Come Out and Play in the Mission District of San Francisco. It's a ton of fun and highly recommended :)
EDIT: if you want to play some cool live-action / physical / playground games the come out and play festival is happening in a few weeks in SF http://comeoutandplaysf.org/
> The game has since become such a popular perk in the Kickstarter offices that it has its own Twitter account (@ksr_killerqueen) to inform employees of an impending match.
> “I would say our biggest buyer so far has been tech companies,” Mr. DeBonis said. “Space is less of an issue for them.”
The cabinets sell for up to $15k each. Killer Queen - the new tech bubble :-)
I miss that there are so few home games that are multi-player, without having to buy a console, TV, and another copy of the game for each player.
Even though early 80s games were crude, at least you could in many games sit side by side with a friend and go at each other in the game. Much more social than network based multiplayer.
Played the prototype two years ago at California Extreme, and the console version at this years' plus XOXO. It is unlike any other arcade experience; watching teams learn to chant SNAIL! SNAIL! SNAIL! just before victory is outstanding fun.
This summer our interns were laying waste to everyone else. I thought I was good, but they were better. Good thing they went back to college!
So if anyone wants to come by, see the office, and sneak in a game - I'm sure you'll find interested people.