Expect the Unexpected: Microscope at GPNW 2010

In the build up to Go Play NW, I braced myself to facilitate pickup games every waking moment. As organizers we embraced the idea that there were going to be a lot more pickup games than scheduled games, but that’s also risky: you never know until the slot begins just how many people will be standing around without a game, or how many people will be ready to jump into the middle of the Power Donut and facilitate something. If the ratio is wrong, and you have more people than games, danger Will Robinson! Hence my staying on high alert, ready to fill in the gaps.

But lo and behold: because everybody brought the fun and were ready to run things too, I wound up kicking back and playing in games other people facilitated way more than I expected. Which was entirely surprising, but also pretty sweet.

The only downside was that I was so busy staying flexible, I didn’t schedule a single Microscope game. In fact, the only game I did schedule was the massive 16 person Mars Colony summit. But the people would not be denied, so by popular demand I put together a game Saturday night (oh no, twist my arm!). That was the only other game I facilitated all weekend, but Ping and Mike stepped up and filled the Microscope gap, with Mike running one during the notorious Lottery slot, and Ping running two.

So scheduling zero Microscope games, we wound up with four:

• FRI-01 Microscope: The Box
• SAT-03 Microscope: Venus-Mercury Wars
• SAT-04 Microscope: The Age of Thought & the Catholic Church
• SAT-04 Microscope: Godhead

(no thread yet for Mike’s SAT-03 game)

I had an excellent time playing Saturday night, and the reports of the other games have made me wish I was a fly on the wall. Kudos to everyone who played, particularly the brave souls trying Microscope for the first time. And double Kudos to Ping and Mike, for making those games possible.

One word of apology: lots of people played it, and loved it, and have been waiting patiently to play it more, but even though they asked nicely I haven’t sent them the new playtest rules, because I haven’t finished cleaning them up. I expect this to be the last playtest release (which is what I always say…) so I want to make sure the text is as complete as can be for the final test. I could go on about how the games from Go Play NW have convinced me that this version is the winner, but I’ll save my breath and get back to polishing so you can decide for yourself.