Ready for another round of first looks at amazing upcoming games? Then be sure to join us Thursday, August 3rd, at 7:00PM at Austin’s North Door, as JUEGOS RANCHEROS presents a new mixtape of Summer 2017 favorites.
We’ll be bringing another selection of fantastic new and just-released single and multiplayer games, including a special sneak peek at a new game from the team that brought you one of 2015’s top action games, Titan Souls.
First created for this year’s Train Jam — a week-long game jam which takes place every year on an Amtrak en route from Chicago to San Francisco for the Game Developer’s Conference — Postbirb is a tiny and very cute adventure from Titan Souls creators Andrew Gleeson and David Fenn with art & writing from Kate Gray.
We’ll have that and other fun surprises Thursday, August 3rd, at 7:00PM North Door, 501 Brushy Street, Austin, TX 78702, with a short introduction at 8:00PM. The show is free, all ages, 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!
The oppressive summer heat is officially upon us, and JUEGOS RANCHEROS is here to bring you in to the cool! So join us Thursday, July 6, at 7:00PM at Austin’s North Door — as we present a mix of just-released and recently-remastered games!
The game lets up to three players play russian roulette against an on-screen cowboy using the NES Zapper light gun. (Remember Duck Hunt?) And, thanks to backers of his successful Kickstarter campaign, Super Russian Roulette has just been released on a limited run of real NES cartridges!
No relation to the newly announced revival of the classic (?) Bubsy franchise, Bubsy 3D lets players visit the Los Angeles County Museum of Art to learn more about the work of contemporary light artist James Turrell, and… so much more that’s best left for you to explore yourself.
Finally, we’ll be bringing Boa Retina — the game produced for our latest artist residency program — from Austin’s own Jennifer Raye, for all those that weren’t able to make it to our opening night show.
The game “dives deep into messy gender uncertainty,” says Raye, through “an uncomfortable blend of abstract golden-age arcade design, retro computer aesthetic, the unhealthy ways my gender feelings manifested before coming out, and external conflicts from things trying to keep life in order.”
The exhibition will begin Thursday, July 6, at 7:00PM at North Door, 501 Brushy Street, Austin, TX 78702, with a short introduction at 8:00PM. The show is free, all ages, 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!
Boa Retina is a physical, multi-device game that “dives deep into messy gender uncertainty,” through “an uncomfortable blend of abstract golden-age arcade design, retro computer aesthetic, the unhealthy ways my gender feelings manifested before coming out, and external conflicts from things trying to keep life in order.”
If you’d like to get an early preview, Raye will be exhibiting a segment of Boa Retina at the Museum of Human Achievement this Friday, June 9th, at 7pm, alongside the work of MOHA’s own resident artist, Matthew Keff.
The full arcade of anything event, however, will kick off at 7:00 PM at the Museum of Human Achievement in Austin, TX. Admission is free, but donations–which help fund this and other JUEGOS RANCHEROS programming–are warmly accepted.
[Created in partnership with the Museum of Human Achievement, the arcade of anything artist residency encourages its participants to push into experimental and unexplored territory within digital arts. More information on our residency program can be found here.]
It’s only been a few months since Nintendo released the Switch into the world, but already there’s a little bit of Texas in it! Join us Thursday, June 1st, at 7:00PM at Austin’s North Door to play it for the first time, as JUEGOS RANCHEROS presents Wild Rooster’s Astro Duel Deluxe, the first Austin game to land on the new console.
First released for Windows, Mac, iPad and Apple TV, the new Switch version of the game (ported and published by Austin’s own Panic Button) will be released on May 30th, and now supports up to six players. The new Deluxe version also includes the ability to play anywhere, with multiple controller types, multiple game modes, the ability to choose pilots, instant replay, new music, touch-mode play, CPU opponents, powerups, dynamic arenas and Game Modifiers.
Wild Rooster developer Rusty Moyher will be on hand to answer any questions you might have about making games for brand new hardware, and we’ll have more games & surprises at the event, as well!
The show will begin at 7:00PM on Thursday, June 1st, at North Door, 501 Brushy Street, Austin, TX 78702, with a short introduction at 8:00PM. The event is free, all ages, 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!
Have you heard the news? Fantastic Arcade will be returning to Austin, November 17th-19th, in a brand new location and with dozens of brand new games!
Long-time Fantastic Arcade fans will probably notice right away that that’s a little different than before, so we’ve put together this FAQ-type post to help explain what’s new and different this year, and what’s the same as it’s always been.
Fantastic Arcade is now a standalone festival, affiliated with but not actually a part of Fantastic Fest.
While we here at JUEGOS RANCHEROS have been in charge of curation and scheduling of Fantastic Arcade for the past several years, we have now completely taken over all operations of the festival, and are running it separately from Fantastic Fest, the genre film festival it was originally created to run alongside.
Fantastic Arcade will now take place at the new Alamo Drafthouse Mueller location.
While Fantastic Arcade has traditionally been held at the South Lamar Alamo Drafthouse, we’re now moving to the Drafthouse’s newest theater, Alamo Drafthouse Mueller.
If you haven’t been to the Mueller Alamo yet, you’re in for a treat. The theater seats are massive, plush, and recline like La-Z-Boys, and there’s a built-in boardwalk carnival-type bar, the Barrel O Fun. In other words, it’ll be a lot like previous years, just nicer.
The arcade space of Fantastic Arcade is still free of charge and open to the public.
Just like all previous years, the centerpiece of Fantastic Arcade will remain free and open for everyone: a suite of laptops with tons of amazing games on each one, and a fleet of mini arcade cabinets, again featuring a new crop of games created exclusively to premiere at Fantastic Arcade.
Where before we only had a smaller space inside South Lamar’s Highball lounge, now we’ll be taking over the entirety of the Barrel O Fun with games, all of which will be playable for the entire duration of Fantastic Arcade.
Attending the talks, developer commentary sessions and nightly tournaments now costs $50 for a 3-day pass, or $10 for a single-day pass.
Here’s the biggest change: just like previous years, we’ll also have three full days of talks, panels, commentary and tournaments inside one of Mueller’s swank theaters, with full bar and food service throughout. Unlike previous years, because of our new independence, we need to charge a ticket price to help cover our costs, and to guarantee you a seat in the theater.
For $50, you’ll be covered for all three days of the festival, and you can purchase that ticket starting right now. Tickets are obviously limited to the amount of seats we have available, so act fast!
If there is room left over, we’ll be selling individual day passes for $10 at the theater itself for those that can’t make it all three days.
The 3-day pass also includes a downloadable bundle of games premiering at the festival.
Just like last year, we’ll be premiering new games at the festival in special custom arcade cabinets, and just like last year, all of those games will be available in a special bundle. This bundle is included in the 3-day pass, so all of those games are yours to keep.
The downloadable bundle will also be available separately.
If you aren’t able to attend the festival or can’t purchase the 3-day pass, we’ll also be selling the bundle separately, like we did last year.
We’ll have lots more news about the new Fantastic Arcade over the coming months, including the developers building new games for the festival, and all of the other exciting guests and tournaments that’ll be part of this year’s show. All of us here are looking forward to seeing you there!
Hey developers: ready to join us again this year for another round of Fantastic Arcade? You now have until August 13th to submit your game for consideration as one of this year’s showcase games!
The 2017 edition of Fantastic Arcade will be taking place at Austin’s Alamo Drafthouse Mueller, the newest and swankiest of the theaters, from November 17th through the 19th. 3-day passes for the festival itself are available now, which includes a downloadable bundle of games premiering at the show!
You can read about all the changes to this year’s festival right over here.
Shortly after the August 13th deadline, the JUEGOS RANCHEROS board will begin the selection process to determine which games from among your submissions will be showcased during Fantastic Arcade.
All of the games selected will be accessible to both festival attendees and the general public, for free, in a casual atmosphere of camaraderie and love for games, at the Mueller theater’s new Barrel O Fun event center (which you can see above).
If you’d like to submit a game, you can do so now by accessing this form before August 13th. We look forward to playing all of your submissions, and to seeing you all in November for this year’s Arcade!
CONNECT
[gcal id="863"]
DONATE TO JUEGOS RANCHEROS
CLICK THE BUTTON ABOVE TO MAKE A TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATION & HELP US GROW AUSTIN'S COMMUNITY
