Every year, CUDO Plays has gotten bigger and better. The first year, there were something like 10 teams, so when I attended the final judging, I managed to play and see most of the games during that single event. This year, 30 different teams have enrolled, which means there will be dozens of new games to play before the judging in March. Thankfully, there are several preview playtesting events scheduled before then.
This is a win-win for every gamer in town: you get to play a game using ideas no one has ever thought of before, and you get to give feedback on what might improve those ideas, helping out the creators, not just win, but to put those ideas out into the world at large.
Tomorrow night, Sunday January 10th, join CUDO Plays at Armored Gopher Games in Urbana (in the strip mall on Cunningham across from El Toro) starting at 5 p.m. For the next four hours or more, gamers, creators and judges will get a chance to play, socialize, and help each other out.
A week from Monday, they’ll do the same at the Hyatt in downtown Champaign, from 6 p.m. on, usually going pretty late. Beyond that, see the website for more win-win opportunities, but there are plenty before the games are due on February 20th.
Images by David Michael Moore.