Pinball Tournament Opening Ceremony

At the start of the tournament, all contestants routinely played an obscure Japanese platformer demo on the Super Famicom. Completing the short game resulted in a credits roll that, when translated, described the virtues of perseverance, fair play, and unconditional respect for videogames and game players.

Bootsy Collins Halloween Jam

Tonight’s Funkadelic ensemble includes an origami 747 mobile.

Underdressed Again

Another awards ceremony or assembly at another school or office building, and another instance of me arriving dressed in my work pants and a t-shirt.

Alaskan Tinker Marathon

50-mile road-running legs are broken up by workshop projects involving tiny toy mechanisms.

Objects I Have Kicked

… a grapefruit the size of a soccer ball wrapped in duct tape.

PGC

Procedurally generated cows eating procedurally generated grass in procedurally generated pastures on a procedurally generated farm in a procedurally generated videogame.

Sightseeing Philadelphia

Start at the Paramount Hotel.

Walk about 10 minutes to the underground shopping district, near the train station.

Browse the shops - many stalls are closed this early in the morning, as are the midway games and arcade machines.

Exit the mall and decide to head back to the hotel.

Readjust my trenchcoat awkwardly and realize I lost my backpack.

Notice a man in a khaki coat awkwardly adjusting a suspicious bulge; underneath is my black backpack.

Strip him of my backpack after spying my black wallet, cash and ID within the folds his coat.

Yell and accuse him of stealing my belongings, threatening to call security and waving my ID around.

Confidently storming back through the mall, stopping to play a security-monitored Simon-says videogame where I hold my ID up to the camera.

The thief fails the game and sits down.

Further on down the mall the shops are opening up.

A VR classroom dodgeball game catches my eye.

Cold Dark Conference Room

I found where I left my coffee.

I remember holding a door open for coworkers, among the halls all painted white.

It All Happened So Fast

Bass testing at the lake with an underwater subwoofer.

Driving and parking an off road golf cart.

In line at Disneyland cosplaying Cinderella showing receipts and identification, face-swapping makeup.

Kids singing The Lion King songs.

On my birthday.

Cube Deconstruction

While demonstrating the mechanics behind the skeleton of a Rubix Cube, JD empties the contents of his pockets onto the table.

I offer to buy the 1963-D Kennedy Half Dollar.

Changing Diaper

A toddler has a green reptile eyeball marble embedded in its navel.

Storyteller’s Gap

A Traveling ________ smiles broadly at your approach. Colorful goods are spread before you.

You travelled through the ________. The path turns treacherous. You twist your ankle on loose stones. (-1 HP)

You hear a faint sound ahead. Nearby, a ____ its phylactery pulses with cold light.

Reclaimed Wood

One of my neighbors pushes an upright shopping cart full of reclaimed wood from the local Walmart.

The boards are 10’ long and longer so they’re precariously loaded onto the top of the cart.

I eye the boards covetously.

Island Getaway Security

DN was running right behind me when I heard an electric energy sizzle.

I knew his security credentials had not been set properly and that his body had been vaporized against the hotel’s security force field.

I knew he would also respawn momentarily so I quickly updated his credentials and readied an apology.

Yet Another Arcade Warehouse

Browsimg the dimly lit halls illuminated by purple and green colored lights, we stop to examine two games:

1. A Dolly Parton gacha machine that features capsules shooting out of her open mouth.

2. A Robotron: 2084 cabinet with a control panel painted all white, and miniature track balls in place of joysticks; unplayable and frustrating.

I Am The Lava

Neither good nor evil.

Waiting. Bubbling. Glowing. Hot.

I ruin all your plans.

I destroy all your possessions.

I am what I am. I am the lava.

The Medieval Knight Who Solved All His Problems By Chopping

From potatoes and wood at a young age, the knight graduated to chopping the necks of anyone who opposed him.

8-Bit Battle Royale

8BBR is a new cross-platform Battle Royale videogame developed by stv2049 studios, drawing inspiration from the pedigree of classic and modern games:

- Venture 

- Archon 

- Spy Vs. Spy

- Realm of the Mad God

Candy Combo Shower Shuffle Dragon City GO!

Friends gather in a dorm room to play a new mobile videogame.

Their neighbor accesses the shared jack-and-jill bathroom to take a shower but forgets to lock the adjoining door.

Seed Bug

Looks like an oat seed; turns into a crawling, flying bug.

It crawled along my hands as I showed it to a small child.

A group of older kids performed a synchronized gymnastics routine. Another group of kids shuffled towards them, one colliding with the runners.

Rigged Poetry

There’s a bakery in downtown Cat Hollow that holds a poetry contest each year, sponsored by the chamber of commerce.

Suspiciously, the winner is always one of their longest-standing customers.

It’s no secret that the bakery is actually a dispensary.

Sunset On Sunset

Bouncing a rainbow super ball super high on the sidewalk, then chasing it down the steep street is interrupted by leaf blowers.

Pool Slumber Party

For two nights in a row we came home to find pool water tracked into the house, on the brown carpet near the sliding glass door leading out to the back porch.

We quietly and carefully searched each room but found no other traces of intruders.

On the third night, the sliding glass door was left open, and searching an upstairs bedroom revealed that the intruders had barricaded the door from the inside with mattresses, trapping themselves inside.

They turned out to te the next door neighbors kids.

Every Screw In My Tennis Racket Was Loose

so I tightened each one with my ratcheting socket screwdriver.

Also, I dislike whenever I type three ‘.’s and they are replaced by ‘…’; it’s annoying.

Chinese Wartime Proclimation

Some kinda purple skull laser beam enemy chase, then ambush to repel them.

Relocating homework to a different deck of the cruise ship.

Friends With Words

I invented a new word game, but struggled to find a suitable name for it, seeing as the best descriptive titles including ‘word’, or ‘letter’, were already taken by other games.

I invented a new word for the game, “Squiddle”, and adopted a smiling squid as the game’s mascot. It can write words with a quill and its own ink.

Tic-Tac-Toe Bunsen Burners

It’s been my job to keep them lit for 30 years.

Chinese Holiday

A new Beijing game show has contestants speeding between locations in go karts, then participating in 100-player trivia and Simon says eliminations.

Winners earn enough money to shop at nearby restaurants and novelty shops for 10 minutes before moving on to the next location.

Someone Else’s Captured Memories

A gap-toothed girl with wild red hair.

A birthday present of a view across a lake.

Prefixes

NAIWPOADBULN.

IWTTBWEAHTMWASAHPDMPTP.

“AWO,A,AAP,” HS, AHSPOTTS.

“WAP?” IA.

“IK.”

Elements & Motifs

Vegas.

Uncarpeted spiral staircase.

High five.

Out of order videogame.

Lost $1,000 bet.

Someone else did it too.

Loudspeaker congratulating graduates.

Suitcase contents strewn about.

Empty guard chairs.

In a hotel.

I Guess That’s $20 Gone

I put $20 into a Video Poker machine and started to play.

The display and console were very dim; I pressed buttons to hold and deal, then the screen went black.

I pressed a button for service and a technician appeared and said, “I guess that’s $20 gone!”

Super Mario Lemonade Stand

True to their continuing commercial hustle, Mario and Luigi open Lemonade Stands to earn precious Coins.

A Harry Potter collaboration event sees Golden Snitches as a restocking currency.

Harry Potter: Legacy Project

The beloved movie series is rereleased each passing year. The actors who have died and their dialog are digitally removed from their scenes.

Eventually the movies transform into contemplative art pieces of scenery and sets; spaces where magic once lived.

Pasta Banana Boat

Batteries not included.

Who Made The Eggs?

I just cooked them.

“Who made the coffee,” asked TC.

“I just brewed it,” I said.

Stop At TJs For A Bite

Accelerate. Turn right. Tuen right. Turn left into the parking garage. Grab a bite to eat from Trader Joe’s new biodegradable meal. Comes with a little dirt in the box you can plant immediately after you’re finished eating.

Coin Stack

Every coin in this stack is over 10 years old:

- a Lincoln wheat cent

- an Indian head cent

- a shield nickel

- 3-cent piece

Too bad someone knocked the stack onto the ground and deliberately scraped the faces across the concrete.

Art Team Espionage

I was anonymously tasked to gather gossip on the Art Department; a simple dead-drop of information on names and what others are saying about each individual.

I got as far as obtaining a notebook, entitling it, “sekrit”, and writing down one name and a line before shredding the evidence, information on their own office Slack bio:

Kutaro Aiman: “the efficient farmer farms a field once, then moves on.”