Rod Humble [1], a game developer (I guess, even if you don’t play computer games, names like The Sims, he is Head of the Sims Studio, or EverQuest will sound familiar to you) created an artgame, The Marriage. Available for download from his website. [2]
The Marriage is intended to be art. No excuses or ducking. As such its certainly meant to be enjoyable but not entertaining in the traditional sense most games are. This means I am certain to be perceived as being pretentious by some who read this, my apologies. This is also a very difficult game to understand, again my apologies, I have tried to assist those who are interested but frustrated with the rules summary below.
To raise your curiosity:
JR: And the question that everyone wants to ask: What does your wife think of the game?
RH: Ah! She was amused this question came up and is happy for me to talk about it. She didn’t like the central mechanic when she first saw it at all, although she has always loved the end game and meta game which she thought was very romantic. Ever since the game has been released though and she has seen the emails from husbands who have said they thought it was so romantic they went home and bought their wife some flowers or wives who felt they understood and loved their husbands just a little more her opinion has changed to one of total joy (and to my dismay surprise that a game was capable of such things). Given that my wife really doesn’t like computer games at all (to the point of not particularly approving of my career) the fact that she is actually proud of this one has probably made our marriage better in a little way in the years to come.
For the whole interview go here [3].
I have not figured it out completely as it comes without any rules or explanations and am not sure what to think of this game, but I thought others who are indeed married might want to play it. I think it probably would be more fun to just start playing the game and then read the interview or the background information that Humble provides on his website.
Here’s a screenshot:
[4]
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