Buying into the Super Sellout Arcade
Certain games congeal pure carnal joy. It drips out from their screens and systems, infecting those around. Giggles and smiles are the symptoms, with high-five addiction occurring in more serious cases. When you put a bunch of those games in a room, call it a party, and whisper ‘friendship’ 3 times in the mirror... a Super Friendship Arcade occurs.
Super Friendship Arcade is a collective of punk do-it-yourself-or-else game makers from Cape Town. They make games. They make custom controllers. They host parties. They’ve emerged into Johannesburg once before, and it left me with an aching desire for more. So when the gang said they’d be back in town, I had to be there.
Super Friendship Arcade is not a party targeted at ‘gamers’. Instead, the group curates games that are made for the type of people looking for hits of culture in their cities - the people always searching for the next cool, unique and transcendent experience. These people are the casual concert goers and the drop-in art exhibition fanatics. Super Friendship Arcade wants to trick normal people into liking games. It also wants to make games about normal people stuff: like cat petting music videos.
The games Super Friendship Arcade curates are thus, some of the most brilliant and unique you’ll find in one place. Complexity is the enemy - both in controls and mechanics. Elegance, hilarity, and simplicity are king, queen and monarch to these parties. Games flood the floor space of these playful soirees. Experimental, simple controllers become the rafts non-gamers cling to. Over the course of a night, they become bolder...slowly moving away from the one-button mashers and springy-jinglers to maybe prod nervously at a pair of analogue sticks. Super Friendship Arcade is gateway grunge to the new wave of independent creators making games for others than the dudebros of yester-console. This playful riot is an invitation: ‘Yes, games are for you too. Come... play. Come... make!’
These parties are undeniably punk: LED lights adorn the walls of the venues, shaped into hearts and pulsating with glee. The posters and PR material for the party are coy and childlike. Inviting a return back to your younger days of playful carelessness. Games and controllers sometimes break - with the developers on hand, hot fixing them if possible. The punk arcade of Cape Town is becoming increasingly popular - and it’s aesthetic surely forms much of is it’s wonder.
So... it was surprising that the punk-programmers announced they were bringing their party to Johannesburg (for the second time) by measure of a deal with Heineken to launch some new...drink or other.
To their credit, they called this party, ‘Super Sellout Arcade’ to acknowledge that they were both getting paid, and working with an established brand. Having been to previous parties, I was optimistic, but concerned about how it would all turn out.
However, the party was nothing but it’s usual self. Housed in a Heineken pop-up bar/shipping container, the party was as punk as it could possibly be. Although smaller in scale than previous parties (both in number of games, and in physical area) the event was effervescent as ever. Even in the smallest of numbers, the giggling and cackling that these parties produce is contagious. One can’t help but be voyeuristic of the joy surrounding you.
The party certainly was more commercial than usual, with Heineken branding drinking in the walls of the venue. However, the punk-programmers took this in their stride, building a couple of custom controllers made out of Heineken cans. The first was a pair of cans that acted as buttons when their lids were pressed down - perfect for the simple, two-player hilarities the collective regularly churns out. The second was an 8 player controller where pressing down on a can also acted as a button press - ideal for those chaotic mass player games that are the mecca of local-multiplayer. Both of these controllers saw multiple uses during the night, with several fan favorites being exhibited using these controllers. Of course the party saw it’s usual weird-and-wonders: from playable LED strips, to choose-and-print-your-own adventure consoles...the gateway-games were well at home. (Check out our small breakdown of games present over here)
Despite selling out, the punk power of the Super Friendship Arcade was retained in a beautifully fun curation of games. The collective have noted that at least some of the money they were paid for the party will be funneled back into future Super Friendship Arcade events. It must also be said that this party was licensing these games from developers - meaning the creators of these games will get paid for having their work at this event. Super Friendship Arcade is not interested in growing by itself - it’ll drag it’s community’s game makers with it.
The Super Friendship Arcade gang have now returned to Cape Town, but their presence seems to have (again) stirred something in the smaller Johannesburg game development community. Could Johannesburg see it’s own regular experimental games party in the future?
