INTRODUCING: FANTASTIC ARCADE GAME NIGHT AT THE HIGHBALL


fatrophies

5.13.2015

JUEGOS RANCHEROS

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All the way back in 2011, JUEGOS RANCHEROS got its start thanks to the generosity & support of Alamo Drafthouse & its offshoot lounge, The Highball.

Though we eventually had to relocate our monthly meetup due to construction at the Alamo’s South Lamar location, we’re very proud to announce that beginning tonight, May 13th, at 10:30PM, we’ll be returning to The Highball for a new, weekly Fantastic Arcade event.

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These new events will be held weekly on each Wednesday night — following Geeks Who Drink triviaexcept the first Wednesday of each month, the night before our regular JUEGOS RANCHEROS events at The North Door.

The events will run from 10:30PM to basically whenever everyone gets tuckered out, and while they’ll be somewhat more relaxed than our North Door events, we guarantee they’ll be no less enlightening & fun.

It’ll likely take us a little time to settle into this new, weekly groove and set up programming that you can rely on (we’re still working out hosts & themes for each event), but expect us to try out new things both more experimental (non-videogames??) and more traditional (beloved multiplayer console games??).

We hope you’ll join us beginning tonight, May 13th, at 10:30PM at The Highball’s 1120 S Lamar Blvd location (directly next door to the South Lamar Alamo Drafthouse), for food, drinks and late-night play!


JUEGOS RANCHEROS PRESENTS: GARDENARIUM


garden

4.30.2015

JUEGOS RANCHEROS

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Want to take a first-person trip through the breathing, blossoming landscape of a colorful cloud village? Then join us Thursday, May 7th, at 7:00PM at Austin’s North Door as JUEGOS RANCHEROS presents the work of Montreal’s Paloma Dawkins, including Gardenarium, her just-launched debut psychedelic exploration game.

[ RSVP FOR THIS EVENT AND INVITE YOUR FRIENDS ON FACEBOOK BY CLICKING HERE! ]

The most recent addition to Montreal’s KO-OP Mode game collective, Dawkins first landed on our collective radar with her appearance at last year’s Fantastic Arcade, and pretty much instantly became a local favorite. The recent release of Gardenarium — which she describes simply as “a chill adventure taking place on a cloud in the sky” — has only strengthened that love.

We’ll be giving Austin a chance to play Gardenarium as it’s meant to be played: filling our entire field of vision on the ND’s massive two-story screen, along with some of Dawkins’ older but no-less-characteristically psychedelic games.

We’ll also be screening some of her earlier assorted shorts & videos, which perfectly demonstrate her sensibilities and illustrate why we’re so excited to see what she cooks up next.

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As part of the event, we’ll be bringing Dawkins in via Skype to talk more about her games, animations, illustrations and comics, answer any questions you might have, and maybe, possibly get a first look at new projects on the horizon.

Gardenarium will be playable Thursday, May 7th, at 7:00PM at North Door, 501 Brushy Street, Austin, TX 78702! The show is free and open to all the public, so come join us as we drink, play and meet the people changing the way we think about games!


A FISTFUL OF INDIES: APRIL 2015


4.6.2015

JUEGOS RANCHEROS

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Every month, as part of the regular monthly meetings of JUEGOS RANCHEROS, we do a very casual & chatty rundown of the ten or so games from the previous month for the audience, to give people — especially those outside the indie community itself — a look at what they may have missed. The featured games are both local and global, and both indie and, on occasion, a bit-bigger-budget — what binds them together is simply that they’re all amazing.

In keeping with the tongue-in-tobacco-packed-cheek tone, we call these run-downs A Fistful of Indies, which are presented here for your reference.

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JUEGOS RANCHEROS PRESENTS: OVERLAND


windmill

3.18.2015

JUEGOS RANCHEROS

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[NOTE: because of scheduling conflicts, this JUEGOS RANCHEROS show will take place Wednesday, April 1st instead of our usual Thursday night! We’ll be back to the regular Thursday shows in May! We promise this is not an April Fools joke!]

Love the likes of X-COM, Oregon Trail and roadtrips across a ruined American landscape? Then join us Wednesday, April 1st, at 7:00PM at Austin’s North Door as JUEGOS RANCHEROS presents the local debut of Overland, the forthcoming tactical survival game from Austin’s own Finji.

[ RSVP FOR THIS EVENT AND INVITE YOUR FRIENDS ON FACEBOOK BY CLICKING HERE! ]

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Just back from a critically acclaimed first showing at San Francisco’s Game Developers Conference, Finji will be giving Austin an early opportunity to play the game, in which “players scavenge fuel and other supplies as they head directly into the heart of a cataclysm” which has produced “a hardly-recognizable America.”

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As part of the event, members of the development team — which include Austin locals Adam Saltsman, Shay Pierce & Jocelyn Reyes, in addition to LA’s Heather Penn — will give a short presentation on both the influences & design goals of the game, in advance of its desktop/tablet release later this year.

Overland will be playable Wednesday, April 1st, at 7:00PM at North Door, 501 Brushy Street, Austin, TX 78702! The show is free and open to all the public, so come join us as we drink, play and meet the people changing the way we think about games!


JUEGOS RANCHEROS PRESENTS: THERESA DUNCAN’S ZERO ZERO


zerozero

2.25.2015

Rachel Simone Weil

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Want to get the first look at a long-lost but newly preserved videogame classic? Join us Thursday, March 5th, at 7:00PM at Austin’s North Door as JUEGOS RANCHEROS looks back fondly on the wistful wonder of being a kid again with Zero Zero (1997) by the late Theresa Duncan, alongside two games by Nina Freeman that serve perfectly as contemporary counterparts.

[ RSVP FOR THIS EVENT AND INVITE YOUR FRIENDS ON FACEBOOK BY CLICKING HERE! ]

In the 1990s, filmmaker and game designer Theresa Duncan did something pretty revolutionary: she helped create some of the first deeply smart and engaging CD-ROM games for girls. Her point-and-click adventure games were funny and surreal, recalling influences such as Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, while simultaneously incorporating bits of poetry, philosophy, and history. While Duncan’s games were widely acclaimed and innovative for the time, they slowly fell into relative obscurity.

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In December 2014, the NYC-based digital art nonprofit Rhizome successfully raised funds through Kickstarter to preserve Duncan’s three games—Chop Suey (1995), Smarty (1996), and Zero Zero (1997)—with the goal of making them playable online for free later this year. JUEGOS RANCHEROS is pleased to present Zero Zero to the public in advance of Rhizome’s exhibition of the games in New York City.

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Zero Zero is set in Paris on the last night of 1899. Pinkée, the game’s young protagonist, delivers firewood to neighborhood shops while asking the eccentric grown-ups she encounters what they think the future will be like. Their responses are strange and surreal, offering a poignant commentary on 20th-century history and technology. Join us and be among the few to have played Zero Zero in the 21st century!

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In addition to Duncan’s work, we’ll also be showing two games from Nina FreemanSpace Dad — originally created for and presented at our Space Cowboy Arcade — and 2015 IGF finalist how do you Do it? Like Duncan, Freeman and her collaborators create games that touch on funny and poignant moments of being a young girl.

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All the games will be playable Thursday, March 5th, at 7:00PM at North Door, 501 Brushy Street, Austin, TX 78702! The show is free and open to all the public, so come join us as we drink, play and meet the people changing the way we think about games!


JUEGOS RANCHEROS PRESENTS: A PREVIEW OF THE 2015 INDEPENDENT GAMES FESTIVAL


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2.2.2015

JUEGOS RANCHEROS

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Want to get the first look at some of the best independent games of 2015? Then join us Thursday, February 5th, at 7:00PM at Austin’s North Door as JUEGOS RANCHEROS presents a selection of games recently nominated for top awards at this year’s Independent Games Festival.

[ RSVP FOR THIS EVENT AND INVITE YOUR FRIENDS ON FACEBOOK BY CLICKING HERE! ]

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With the festival headed to the expo floor of the Game Developers Conference in March, JUEGOS RANCHEROS will be showcasing a number of this year’s finalists — jury selected from a pool of over 1000 entries — from the Main competition as well as the Student Showcase, ahead of the IGF’s official ceremony on Wednesday, March 4th, 2015.

All the games — including some not yet available to the public! — will be playable beginning this Thursday, February 5th, at 7:00PM at North Door, 501 Brushy Street, Austin, TX 78702! The show is free and open to all the public, so come join us as we drink, play and meet the people changing the way we think about games!