What’s it like to play a game that takes place in half-hazy childhood memories? Join us and find out this Thursday, July 2nd, at 7:00PM at Austin’s North Door, as JUEGOS RANCHEROS presents the world’s first look at Loren Schmidt‘s Strawberry Cubes, a low-fi & glitch-heavy game that lets you explore reconstructed & recollected spaces around your grandmother’s house.

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

Best known for both the IGF 2010 Excellence in Design finalist Star Guard or the more recent Realistic Kissing Simulator, produced in collaboration with Jimmy Andrews, Schmidt has of late been producing multiple new works thanks to the continued support of fans on Patreon.

We’ll be showing a number of those newer games, including Strawberry Cubes (far easier to get a real sense of in motion, as above), the arena-shooter Murder Simulator v. 666, as well as an early look at Schmidt’s latest collaboration with Austin artist Katie Rose Pipkin, which itself includes what almost definitely must be the world’s first moth generator, seen below.

All of the games will be playable Thursday, July 2nd, at 7:00PM at North Door, 501 Brushy Street, Austin, TX 78702, along with a short presentation on the games on display. 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!

Ever thought about taking things a step further with a canine friend? Then join us Thursday, June 4th, at 7:00PM at Austin’s North Door as JUEGOS RANCHEROS presents Hot Date, the world’s first game about speed-dating a series of sincere but highly opinionated pugs.

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

Just released by UK developer George Batchelor, and already taking the dog-lover/game-lover venn-diagram-overlap by storm, Hot Date puts you in the hot seat across the table from a prospective match and gives you a couple minutes to pry out their likes, dislikes, and hopes for the future.

Don’t like who you’ve been paired with? Suddenly reached a dealbreaking impasse about jazz? Hang in there, swig another drink, and a new date will be just around the corner.

Hot Date will be playable Thursday, June 4th, at 7:00PM at North Door, 501 Brushy Street, Austin, TX 78702, along with some other assorted & related works! 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!

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.

These new events will be held weekly on each Wednesday night — following Geeks Who Drink trivia — except 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!

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.

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!

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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[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! ]

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.”

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!