It seems like only four weeks ago that JUEGOS RANCHEROS graced the pages of the Austin Chronicle (oh, it was? oh, we were named part of 2011’s Best of Austin?), but now we’re back!

Grab a copy of the Chronicle between now and next Thursday, flip to page 44, and there we are: five whole column width’s worth of Wiley & Adam & I talking about the birth and future of the collective.

Or, you can just click here and get the full skinny (and the full color version of our goofy mugs) right now:

Even as attendance grows each month, Juegos’ goals are loftier than just regular drinks with kindred spirits. “We’ve been able to get people from big studios and people from tiny studios sitting down together eating burritos and talking about stuff, and that just seems good in the long term,” says Saltsman. “I don’t know if we’ve been able to get as many non-video-game people to come as we’d hoped initially, but we’re still working on that.”

One particularly successful meeting included playing an as-yet-unreleased game called Johann Sebastian Joust that isn’t technically a video game since no screen is necessary to play. The game is simple: Grab your motion-sensing controller, pull the trigger to signify that you are ready to play, and keep your “jousting” hand from moving too quickly or you’ll be out. Of course you will be encouraging your opponents to jostle their controllers and get eliminated. “Joust is kind of the poster child for introducing people to indie games,” Wiggins says to explain its allure. “You can see the whole game right there physically, and it immediately makes sense.” As Juegos attendees played, Joust managed to entice the tastemaking and often difficult-to-impress waitstaff at the HighBall, who were soon lining up to show their skills. Getting Austin to rethink the definition of a video game is step one in an ongoing attempt to encourage the local nongaming population to consider interactive media as something within their artistic purview.

Thanks to James Renovitch and the Chronicle for paying attention, and for helping to get the word out to hopefully at least a handful more people that haven’t yet made it out!

The next meeting of the JUEGOS RANCHEROS will be at the Highball Saturday, December 10th before returning to its regular Sunday service. Mark your calendars now!

Hey all — just a quick update that because of a charity event happening at the Highball on the first Sunday of December, we’ve moved the next JUEGOS RANCHEROS meetup to take place on SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10th.

More details and time-slot information will be coming soon, but mark your calendars now! We think this one’s going to be pretty rad.

After a brief Fantastic Arcade hiatus, we’re returning once again to our regular Fistful of Indies series — with the latest selection of indie games both local and global worth paying attention to released over the prior month — and this time we’ve again put together a list that rings in at several hundred games, presented at our sixth event.

Fully annotated for your pleasure, for the convenience of both event-goers and — hopefully — the wider world of indie game enthusiasts, here’s the list for November 2011:

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What’s so indie about the highly-anticipated PlayStation 3 shooter STARHAWK? Find out this Sunday, November 6th, at 4PM at our sixth edition of JUEGOS RANCHEROS at the Highball, as the team designing the game at our own Austin-local LightBox Interactive show off their personal side-projects, and explain how working on abstract indie games ends up influencing big-budget AAA designs.

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

In attendance at this month’s JUEGOS RANCHEROS will be STARHAWK lead designer Josh Sutphin with his games FAIL-DEADLY and CORTEX, designer Matthew Gallant with his one-button underwater battler PAX BRITANNICA, and designer Trent Polack with his collection of abstract indie games including IN THE WIND, ASPLODE! and BROKEN.

In addition to simply showing off their work, the team will touch on the development of STARHAWK, specifically how indie development and philosophies themselves can be integrated into a bigger commercial design, and the importance of drawing design influences from a wider variety of media and experiences, followed by public play of all the games brought to the show!

There will also be cake.

Everything will be kicking off Sunday, November 6th, promptly at 4PM at The Highball, 1142 S Lamar Blvd, Austin, TX 78704! Come hang out, enjoy the Highball’s Happy Hour drink specials, and say hello to the people changing the way you think about games!

[*PS: Hey everyone! As usual, bring your 3DS again! We’re doing awesome with these StreetPasses!]

That’s right!!  The TEXATRON Initiative is PHASE TWO COMPLETE.  We have a radical cabinet, courtesy Austin’s own Retro Studios, a way over-powered PC donated by immaculate human Russell Fincher, and a sweet 21″ CRT thanks to the generosity of cinema-code legend Bob Sabiston of Flat Black Films.  

And I don’t know if you noticed, but if you look closely in the photos, you can see that the PC is already running the latest build of the WINNITRON launcher, the cutting edge of indie arcade networks, coming to us straight from The Bit Collective in Winnipeg, Canada.  The OS and WINNITRON install was performed by JUEGOS volunteer Robert Gaither, who did an awesome job.  Finally, the TEXATRON itself is currently being housed by JUEGOS mustache aficionado and Austin Chronicle writer James Renovitch.

So high five those bros next time you catch them up.

Now, I probably don’t need to spell this out for you all, but if Phase Two is complete… I’m pretty sure that means it’s time for Phase Three, a.k.a. the fun part.  Phase Three involves gutting the existing cabinet and rebuilding the interior from the ground up to support our new PC and monitor, including building a new, USB-compatible control panel, replacing the speakers, and finally doing the trim and artwork. And maybe adding some steer horns to the top.

If this sounds like your sort of thing, I recommend shooting us an email at texatron@gmail.com, and we’ll add you to our volunteer spreadsheet! If you also include relevant skills, interests, and schedule or availability, that would be a huge help to us!  We are also specifically looking for someone to head up Phase Three in a slightly more official way; this person’s responsibilities will include coordinating with James to figure out the best times for building sessions and organizing and emailing the relevant volunteers.  So, if you think you have the ingredients, let us know, and become a part of Austin culture history!

For a name that I did not at all intend to actually catch on, it seems it’s not only just here to stay, but winning Major Awards: our own Austin Chronicle has just given JUEGOS RANCHEROS its prestigious & highly coveted ‘Best Video-Game Collective Name’ award in its annual Best of Austin issue!

Says the Chronicle:

Oh yeah, the group itself is pretty cool, too. Founded by the poster boys of the local indie gaming scene, Brandon Boyer, Adam Saltsman, and Wiley Wiggins, the group has monthly open meetings at the HighBall bringing game developers from Austin and elsewhere around the globe to share their visions and expertise. Don’t expect a tech-laden wonkfest though; Juegos welcomes and accommodates anyone and everyone who wants to see (and often play) the cutting edge of interactive arts. The schmoozing is top-notch, but, more importantly, the gabbing and flesh-pressing is getting results such as the under-construction Texatron indie video-gaming cabinet. Expect that chunk of solid awesome to be staring back at Austin very soon.

You’ve got until Thursday to get the issue itself, if you’d like to clip the article (page 46) & send it to your mom to have her hang it from the fridge. Thanks to the Chronicle for putting us in such amazing company!

JUEGOS RANCHEROS will be returning to the Highball after a post-Fantastic-Arcade hiatus Sunday, November 6th at 4:30pm. Mark your calendars now!