What Happened In Vegas...

One of the aforementioned points of origin for WEGS was in Las Vegas.

It was the fall of 1999. Such a long time ago...

Maybe it was the spring.

It was definately around 3a.m.

I was just coming off a three hour stand on a craps table that was smoking. I mean smoking. Now, this doesn't mean that I walked off with scads of cash. A great craps game for me is one where the action lasts for more than an hour and a half and my initial dinero stays afloat the entire time. Sometimes craps ain't about making money. It's a game of thrills, intense drama and suspense. Just like baseball. Just like character driven adventure games.

In craps, I don't need to make a killing. I need to play and I need the play to be action-packed. I need to be surrounded by cool tourists, vibrant casino vets, dice fools. I need the folks running the game to carefully hedge the excitement and casually guide the action. There needs to be moments of disappointed silence to counter the reckless shouts for petty victories. And I need to hit "boxcars" at least twice sometime in that hour and half go.

This particular game had all those elements. I walked away with a buzz knowing that on that particualr night the planets had aligned over that one craps table just for me.

As I walked back to my room, I suddenly realized that the buzz I was feeling was the same as the one I get after an amazing session of a role-playing game (Dungeons & Dragons, Warhammer, etc). It is a feeling of utter satisfaction knowing that you were a part of something out of the ordinary. You transcended something.

One thing that defines this feeling the strongest was that I NEEDED TO TELL SOMEONE ABOUT THE GAME.

But at 3a.m. in Vegas I doubt any one would listen. Besides, a few folks were walking around in the same state. Like the couple that was just married by Elvis. They transcended something I'm sure...

It was at this moment that I realized many things about the nature of gaming, and I knew that I had to marry the elements of casino games of chance and adventure games.

If I didn't do it - who would?

Big Elvis?