Adventures in Monopoly

Yesterday, Bear was caught in a bind because he didn’t have a computer to run the Champions Online beta. He didn’t know that he was standing on a computer – the Monopoly board itself. Before World War II, computers weren’t machines, they were a profession. Rooms of people-computers, usually women, would perform calculation after calculation with mechanical calculators (that could only add and subtract) and paste the results in huge books, which would be shipped to military bases and used to calculate firing solutions for weapons of war. ...

Next on Closed Beta Confidential: Bear takes a look at Blizzard’s new MMO. (Blizzard: could you send that beta link to direbear@westkarana.com? Thanks!)

Also, “Sorry” is short for “Sorry I’m not playing Parcheesi” and “Chutes and Ladders” clearly has no understanding of the laws of gravity.

Inspired by Spink’s comments on Monopoly’s “house rules”. I mean, you can’t mention Monopoly without Bear and the gang chiming in…

My host is having a LOT OF ISSUES, so no daily blogroll today. Extra big one tomorrow!

I really missed writing about these guys. But we’re all hoping Free Realms will be a hit!

It’s a reboot! Fewer NO special effects! Just pieces on a Monopoly board! But after fourteen Adventures in Monopoly, I’m proud to say, I finally learned how to correct the color.

There was too much to cover for one comic, so this comic gets everyone in place for Part IV, where we learn the truth about many things.

Last week, a magical Scrabble board intervened in a fight between Bear and Scottie before the wielding of the mystic forces each command could tear the Monopoly board entirely apart. Seeing they would not listen to reason, as a last resort, the Scrabble oracle sent the two pieces through a dimensional rift, where they would learn to work together – or perish. Since this (and part of the next) comic take place in a computer-generated dungeon, I figured this would be a good opportunity to practice lighting and set design. When I’m photographing on the Monopoly board, I try for weird angles just because I have that freedom. Here, it’s one lighting model, one set, and everything had to be acted out by the pieces. ...

When we left our intrepid band, Scottie and Bear were about to rip each other to shreds. Scottie was still a little hurt because Bear, having killed him, forced him to live a life of undeath. Bear was angry that Scottie and Car had stranded him on Boardwalk, which had suddenly sprung a Casino Hotel. From its throne in the mysterious Game Closet, the Scrabble board heard the tumult and descended to the Prime Playing Plane to mediate between the two and urge them to get back to buying and selling real estate, like proper Monopoly playing pieces. ...