Shindig Machine is a collaborative absurdity engine, powered by the creativity of you and your friends.
The core gameplay is simple. Someone plays a card, then describes what happens. Someone else plays another card and describes what happens next.
Shindig Machine is available for purchase through Amazon.com.
Shindig Machine comes with rules for 14 game types, each varying in complexity, skill, and duration. Let's take it for a spin.
Say you're playing the game Pitch Session and you're dealt these cards:
The objective of Pitch Session is to use the cards in your hand to generate a movie concept and plot. You decide to pitch the following movie:
"A young girl is haunted by her father's bowling trophy. She enlists the support of a local comedian/exorcist and together they journey to the bowling trophy's lair, but it's too late - the bowling trophy has already assumed human form and kills both of them."
Your friends glance at each other, devious looks on their faces. One of them tells you that while they liked the overall backbone of the story, they think you should go in a different direction with the main character.
Then they replace the card of the sleeping girl with this:
You make a face. You make several faces.
You take a deep breath, then launch back into your pitch:
"After the Ice Cream King is assassinated, his noble retainer Sir Possessed Bowling Trophy must team up with the comedian/exorcist in a buddy cop scenario that ends abruptly when they fall down a hole and are shot into space."
You lean back contentedly and shoot your friend a look that says "take that!"
Then the next player replaces the bowling trophy with this:
Back to the drawing board!
In the game Oracle, one player asks a question. Then, the top card is drawn from the deck, and each other player must interpret that card to answer the question.
In this case, the player asks "Where will I be in five years?"
And the card from the top of the deck is this:
The player to the asker's right considers the card, then says,
"Five years from now, you will be a traitor to mankind, part of the robot overlord's army of networked brains dedicated to finding and wiping out the last pockets of human resistance."
The next player to the right considers the card, then says,
"Five years from now you will be dying just like everyone else, the victim of a plague the likes of which make the Black Death look like the sniffles. Fortunately, you'll get into a new tech company's pilot virtualization program, and have your consciousness uploaded into the internet itself, ensuring your survival forever."
The last player to the right considers the card. They look at the players who've already given their answers.
"Five years from now you'll have a lot less hair."
And that's one round of the game Oracle.
In the game Interview, one player is dealt 2 more cards than the total number of players. That player is the interviewee. The other players ask job interview questions, and the interviewee answers by playing cards from their hand and interpreting them. (A list of commonly asked job interview questions is provided in the rules.)
The first interviewer thinks, then asks, "How did you hear about this position?"
The interviewee considers, then plays this card:
"I was rummaging through a garbage can in a subway and found a cassette tape. On that cassette tape was a distorted voice that told me the only way to stop the Earth from being overrun by demons was to apply for this job."
At this, everyone nods pleasantly.
"Why are you interested in working for us?"
The interviewee considers, then plays this card:
"Well, aside from the whole saving the Earth from being overrun by demons thing that I mentioned before, I'd really like to indulge by passion for dance which is what I assume you do here."
"Describe your ideal boss."
The interviewee plays this card:
"Well, in the past I've done well under reptiles, since they like to lay out on rocks in the sun and so do I. But I've given this a lot of thought and I think my ideal boss is a broken egg."
"How would you deal with an angry or irate customer?"
The interviewee considers for a long moment. Then they play this card:
"Sedatives. They defuse the situation and provide an excellent opportunity to relieve the customer of their wallet while you're moving them into the alley, which I'm not saying you do here, unless you do, in which case I'm all over it."
The interviewers nod thoughtfully, then huddle amongst themselves for a moment. The interviewee waits, trying not to look at them.
Finally, one of the interviewers turns to the interviewee and asks, "When can you start?"
The interviewee smiles and plays this card:
"As soon as we talk about where I get to park my flying saucer."
Shindig Machine comes with
There are even more pictures on our Amazon page.
Observe Shindig Machine in the wild.
Check out this review of the Shindig Machine prototype by Bower's Game Corner.
Shindig Machine was made by Travesty Games, purveyors of fine tabletop games, including Deathfear, Killball, and Psiduel.
Designed by Gilbert Nicoll
Art by:
Thank you to everyone who backed Shindig Machine on Kickstarter. We couldn't have done it without your support!
Contact: info@travestygames.com
