Games
Fannish games have included Cosmic Monopoly, Coventry, The Game, The Game of Fandom, The Game That Folded Itself, Ghoodminton, Interplanetary, Knurdling, Moopsball, Poke the Pro, Revenge, Swancon the CCG and TSOHG.
Ditto has featured an icebreaker fannish trivia game, and Rivercon had the “Oldyweds Game,” featuring well-known fan couples.
One modern fannish game that comes very close to fulfilling Jack Speer's request, below, is If I Ran the Z/o/o/ Con, a bidding game developed by Leslie Turek, Mark Olson, Priscilla Olson and Alexis Layton for the 1986 Boston Smofcon. Another candidate is the board game FANAC!, designed by David Grigg.
Various mundane and commercial games have been popular, too — notably and most venerably, poker, often with unique rules — but also, at times, mahjong, euchre, hearts, sheepshead, fairy chess, dictionary, hakosot, Diplomacy, Wizard and Magic: The Gathering. Occasionally, fans try to play softball.
This is besides D&D and the various RPGs, wargames and online and electronic gaming that constitute their own fandoms.
| From Fancyclopedia 2, ca. 1959 |
| Fanationalism demonstrates itself in our urge to invent in this field and thus give a stfnal tinge even to our gafia-type activities. Barsoomian chess ("jetan") as described by John Car -- sorry, I mean E. R. Burroughs -- was obvious and is our oldest table game, many boards and pieces having been made. SF crossword puzzles, also, appeared long ago. In the 40s Fairy Chess was known in California; it involved, among other variations, pieces of a fantastic nature. One could travel in time; one could split, like an amoeba; one could make only a single move during the course of a game. Of games involving chance John Baltadonis invented Cosmic Monopoly; Ted Tubb, Vin¢ Clarke, Ken Bulmer and a couple other British fen invented something called The Game, which was incredibly complicated but involved both chance and skill; Boskone III tested Art Widner's game Interplanetary. (An effort to commercialize Interplanetary was unsuccessful.) All of these involve trading in an interplanetary market with hazards such as space pirates, meteors, and like that. There are commercial Buck Rogers and other games which are beneath our dignity to note. It should be observed that all these games are really just adaptations of games currently popular in the Macrocosm, given a stfnal flavor. Interplanetary, as invented by Widner and brought up to date by Metchette, Evans, Pavlat and White, is the most original of the bunch. Speer would like to see a board game invented which would center about fannish references; the brainstorming sessions at the Seattle WesterCon came up with moves and hazards such as "Join N3F, go back three spaces", and "Be chairman of world convention; remove one year from life and take ten years off life." |
| From Fancyclopedia 1, ca. 1944 |
| An aspect of culture not entirely overlooked by the fanationalists is the matter of table games. The oldest one, of course, is Barsoomian chess, for which sets have been made in several localities, and long ago the first s-f crossword puzzle appeared. John Baltadonis invented Cosmic Monopoly, and Boskone III tested Art Widner's game Interplanetary. An effort to commercialize Interplanetary was unsuccessful. There are commercial Buck Rogers and other games which are beneath our dignity to note. A sort of science-fiction bingo has been played at QSFL meetings, with auction-like items for prizes. It is easily observed that these are all mere adaptations of games current in the country, given a stfnal flavor. Interplanetary is the most original of the bunch. |
| Miscellaneous |
| This is a miscellaneous page |
