Earlier this year I read about Loren âSparkyâ Schmidt and Anna Anthropyâs game, Drink, and I immediately became fascinated. Get this: in Drink, you play a drinking game against a computer opponent. Yes, a computer opponent. It sounds kind of absurd, to try to out-drink a computer, I know. But, if nothing else, itâs a conceptually interesting gameâhere is Anthropy talking about it on her blog (Update: full disclosure⌠the gameâs creator, Anna Anthropy, was housemates with me and a mutual friend in the summer of 2012.):
We really liked the idea of a quantity that has different meaning in the game and outside of it: the virtual opponentâs shotglasses stack up, but sheâs a computer and the same amount of drinks have a very different consequence to a human player. we liked the ambiguity of performing a physical endurance contest against a virtual opponent: how can you tell how close she is to losing, or if itâs even possible for her to lose at all?
Very cool, but it wasnât until yesterday that I decided to actually try it out. I was joined by game developer Porpentine, which meant the game became a slightly more competitive thing: would either of us sport better endurance against the computer? Also, through her involvement I was able to suss out one potential partner should the world require us to go into battle against the machines.
But, um. Anyway.
I had a couple of rules going in to make sure the game was safeâdidnât want to get alcohol poisoning or something. This is especially important when you consider that Anthropy says the computer has a âhigh tolerance,â and may even be a âmassively socially irresponsibleâ game in its current form.
When I tested out the game beforehandâwithout any alcohol, to see what kind of tolerance we were talking aboutâthe computer took 14 shots before passing out.
YOLO is not code for âletâs be stupid,â despite what you may have heard.
Four. Teen. Shots.
Fourteen shots!
Iâm a firm believer in YOLO, but the game could be dangerous. YOLO is not code for âletâs be stupid,â despite what you may have heard. #truth!
So the rules were that we should be aware of our limits and must not be afraid to bow out of the game should we feel that we were crossing them. Also, the shots wouldnât be full. Personally, I also ate a heavy meal beforehand, which helps. And finally, chasers would be allowed, as would trips to the bathroom, dancing, or whatever you needed to do between shots to make the next one go down a little easier.
Which is to say, if YOU decide you want to play this game: proceed with caution and be careful. Hangovers arenât pleasant, nevermind alcohol poisoning.
We set up a projector so that the other folks at the party could look on while we played, though there isnât much to look at. All it involves is taking a drink, pressing a button, watching the alien-thing opponent take a shot, and then doing it all over again until one of you loses.
Honor system, obviously. The game has no way of checking if youâre actually drinking. But if it helps to the veracity of the story, one of Drinkâs developers was in the audience, Loren âSparkyâ Schmidt.
SHOT ONE
Other folks who witnessed the gameâs creation/initial play testing become alarmed that we are playing it.
We also note that the alien looks like a dog with an eyepatch. Huh.
SHOT TWO
Still going strong. Porpentine starts Tweeting.
https://twitter.com/embed/status/283440408858595328
SHOT THREE
I start thinking of the alien as the dog from Duck Hunt, partially out of resentment.
VERSUS
SHOT FOUR
https://twitter.com/embed/status/283440847570206720
SHOT FIVE
I confess that I actually rather hate the taste of alcohol. Porpy makes fun of me.
https://twitter.com/embed/status/283435280130768897
SHOT SIX
Porpentine is starting to get belligerent, if not philosophical.
https://twitter.com/embed/status/283441002763653121
I have to take a bathroom break.
SHOT SEVEN
Beginning to worry if the dog will take like 20 shots this time, and not something âsmallâ like fourteen. I start making the shots smaller, which is cheating but⌠letâs not forget that the f*cking dog isnât drinking! Also, itâs not like we donât take the opportunity to exploit the limits of AI in most of the games we play anyway.
SHOT EIGHT
https://twitter.com/embed/status/283441888504184833
https://twitter.com/embed/status/283442086638911488
(She was joking around about the alcohol poisoning, to be clear.)
SHOT NINE
We notice the dog is starting to wobble. Huh, cool. Our resolve strengthens a tad.
SHOT TEN
https://twitter.com/embed/status/283451744355229696
https://twitter.com/embed/status/283443120241266690
YEEEEEEEEAH SCREW YOU DOG we hella cheated but WHATEVER WE WON
