Players: Jamie, Shuo, Ben, Fred, Cy and Pat.

With six players showing up to the meet-up, the natural choice is to play two three-player games, right? Wrong! Six-player Geiger Counter!

We decided to set our game in a small 1950's town with overtones of old fashioned, moralizing public service announcements. Our menace was the traveling Carnival of Sin which had just set up its tents on the outskirts of town. Townspeople of all ages flocked to the carnival for an innocent night of fun, but found themselves at the mercy of carnies wielding mysterious powers.

Our cast of survivor characters:

Mr. Putter, the doddering mayor. (Fred)
Tom Thompson, the dad. (Cy)
Jane Thompson, the good girl. (Ben)
Lucy, the bad girl. (Pat)
Arnie, Timmy Thompson's friend. (Shuo)
Jim Collard, the town drunk. (Jamie)

Our less-fortunate non-survivor characters:

Timmy Thompson, the son. (Fred)
Mrs. Jenkins, the rich old lady. (Cy)
Millie Thompson, the mom. (Pat)
Gus Pogarty, the town sheriff. (Ben)
Steve Clavey, the football star. (Jamie)
Cliff, the wrong side of the tracks guy. (Shuo)

After several daytime scenes establishing our characters and alluding to the evening's upcoming activities, the townspeople make their way to the Carnival of Sin. As they visited various attractions with innocuous sounding names like Gluttony Cotton Candy, the Dunk Tank of Wrath, the Tunnel of Lust and Test Your Pride, the townspeople discovered the carnival might be more than it seems. The carnies were preying on those who indulged their mortal sins and transforming them into permanent additions to the sideshow.

Some favorite moments:

- Cy's stereotypical 1950's dad bossing his wife Millie and daughter Jane around was hilarious.
- The first time the menace struck was also the creepiest: a group of children in the darkness leading poor Timmy away before Arnie's eyes... wait, those aren't children!
- The prevailing drink of choice amongst adults, teenagers and 11-year-olds alike was Peach Schnapps.

I kind of regret suggesting the carnival as a theme because the story spooked the crap out of me. A horde of twisted creepy dwarfs pretending to be children, leering at Arnie? I needed some liquid courage for that scene alone.

I couldn't get enough of Cy's morally uptight 50's Dad and cranky old rich lady. One was such a jerk. The other, such a hag. Both were hilarious. Pat's free-spirited Lucy was awesome too. I loved how she proudly proclaimed what her lighter was for at the end.

The one character I felt kind of bad for was Steve. He was a really sweet and earnest character. Alas, the powers of the evil cotton candy machine was too great. So sweet! So deadly!

Thanks for a fun game, everyone!

I kind of regret suggesting the carnival as a theme because the story spooked the crap out of me. A horde of twisted creepy dwarfs pretending to be children, leering at Arnie? I needed some liquid courage for that scene alone.

I'M SORRY!!!!!

(Okay, not really -- the dwarves are making me say that. Here's a picture of Fred's cheery Utah as a palate cleanser)

I approve of having more pictures in our game write-ups. Especially cute ones. ^.^

"It's for smoking CIGARETTES!"

Loved the 50s father and the cranky old lady.

I suppose I should include the actual game picture:

Something about making Millie answer the door while Tom was having his drink even though she was in the other room doing the dishes makes me smile.

There was a beat there where I could just see
"but I'm..."
"oh, is that how it is?"
"yeah, that's how it is."

In a cell downtown, the Ringmaster looks through his tiny barred window as the smoke clears from his ruined carnival.

A smile twists his lips under his elaborate mustache and a menacing chuckle turns into a full throated laugh.

The camera pans out and we still hear the ringmaster's LAUGHTER!

Roll credits.