Video by Brian Bernard. Click to play!

For the second year in a row, the Hand Eye Society and friends gathered en masse at the Masonic Temple for our third annual Hand Eye Society Ball, the biggest nightclub/LAN party hybrid this side of the GO train tracks. A historical local establishment rarely open to the public, the Temple was once home to orders of the most profane, like the Freemasons and MTV.

But gone are the mysterious shadowy organizations of our elders! Now is the time for mysterious shadowy organizations devoted to the independent videogame arts!

Thanks to suggestions based on last year’s Society Ball, we made a ton of improvements to how the party was run. An island bar run by the venue, safer space policies plastered everywhere, all-gender washrooms, and an expertly coordinated volunteer army were some things we hope everyone who attended felt made the space safer and inclusive. We were also pleased to welcome Death In Venice Gelato, who provided party attendees with a steady flow of delightful ice-cream flavours like strawberry/basil and brie/pear as well as pizza and paninis! They sold out a few hours into the festivities thanks to almost the nearly 800 attendees who streamed through the Temple doors.

Taking over the main floor were indie games from the world over. Players jiggled their way to illuminated victory with Line Wobbler, an eye-catching alternative controller game that was last glimpsed earlier this year at TIFF digiPlaySpace. The photogenic, old-timey devilish romp Cuphead overtook the big screen, whose constant lineup enjoyed a high turnover rate thanks to the punishing rule of “If you both run out of lives, pass the controller to the next pair in line!” Friends turned on each other for domino domination in Last One Standing, video format enthusiasts duked it out in VHS vs BETAMAX, and Multibowl had players competing in retro minigame mayhem with two borrowed fightsticks.

Meanwhile, patrons trapped in glass rooms on the second floor had no choice but to have the time of their lives playing games like Pico Park, which united up to 10 friends and strangers in some of the most hilarious, frustrating, and triumphant moments of the night. Nothing Good Can Come Of This ruined some relationships, Criquette could be seen confounding people no matter where you were standing, and Brolly Folly delighted with daring aerial deeds. On the sidelines, players chilled with an assorted classic arcade games on cocktail cabinets. Above it all, party goers on the fifth floor made virtual art out of pure light with Tilt Brush Pictionary, resulting in much hilarity as players attempted to decipher the various 3D scribbles increasingly filling the air.

Every hour on the hour, those of you chosen to become Red Room initiates arranged yourselves around a giant table for Little Dada, Alanna Predko and Anthony Swan’s Annual General Mischief, and collectively held four-way debates on unspeakable decisions to change the very course of humanity. You were sworn to eternal secrecy, a secrecy broken only by a hundred Tweets or so. Leaked minutes from the AGM indicate that Society Members voted that owls are indeed real, that the water of Niagara Falls should be replaced with the cheapest of rosé wine, that we should “make Goat Island great again”, and that — most importantly — in the ending to the 1997 film Titanic, there was in fact room on that piece of debris for a headphone jack.

Back on the dance floor, folks tore it up (or at least bobbed appreciatively, Toronto-style) to the musical talents of Scarlet Spades, Ryan Henwood, and Coins. We were also treated to a double-dose of zaniness with C418 and dualryan‘s novelty set, which involved 30 minutes of nostalgia-inducing tunes like the Pokemon anime theme song, sweet picks from ye olde Sonic the Hedgehog games, the Donkey Kong rap, and, uh, Darude’s Sandstorm (which has not to our knowledge ever been used as part of a videogame soundtrack, but maybe that should be a thing) peppered liberally with air horn blasts and sound effects from Super Mario.

Other great touches that lit up the night included the colour-coded LED bowties and custom occult background for Last One Standing, the laser-cut triangular amulets featuring the HES logo by Josh Holinaty, and propaganda posters scattered around all 5 floors of the building from the AGM’s four political factions. Thanks to Little Dada and Douglas Gregory for making this fancy videogame party even fancier!

More pics, cos it did happen

This is just a small sample: Check out the full photoset on our shiny new Flickr account! Thanks to our photogs Dean Tomlinson and Paul Hillier for the memories.

Photos: Dean Tomlinson

Photos: Paul Hillier

Trending: #HESBall16

Our hashtag lives on — if there are any photos, video, Vines or GIFs from the night you wanna dig up, you can let us know by tagging or tweeting us at @handeyesociety. Here are just a few of our fave Tweets from the night!

https://twitter.com/KishiFishy/status/779884921544409089

https://twitter.com/TLT_sammich/status/780086049078992896

https://twitter.com/ArdaOcalTV/status/779841349201883137

Media Shoutouts

Dig this piece by Zack Kotzer for Toronto Life on the fancy looks y’all were serving up (check out that Majora’s Mask dress!!) as well as this touching commemoration by Dork Shelf’s Eric Weiss. Indie Game Reviewer also did a recap including the ultra-secretive hourly meetings taking place in the Red Room on the fifth floor. Finally, here’s a neat video on Space.ca with Innerspace’s Ajay Fry interviewing local luminaries like Douglas Gregory and losing to his wife in Multibowl.

All of the Games

For summaries and more information about each game, check out our lead-up announcements here and here!

Main Floor

• Line Wobbler – Robin Baumgarten
• Last One Standing – Douglas Gregory & David Vitas
• Cuphead – Studio MDHR
• Multibowl – Bennett Foddy & AP Thompson
• VHS vs BETAMAX – Adam Robinson-Yu & Maxwell Huang-Hobbs

Second Floor

• Criquette – Evan Greenwood & Jason Sutherland
• Pico Park – TECO
• Brolly Folly – Alexander Perrin
• Nothing Good Can Come Of This – Cartwheel Games

We Plead The Fifth Floor

• Tilt Brush Pictionary by Google, presented by VBAReality’s Joseph Ellsworth
• Annual General Mischief (Red Room) by Little Dada, Alanna Predko and Anthony Swan

Eternal Kudos

The Masonic Temple and its benevolent caretakers Info-Tech Research Group hosted our sold-out bash; sold-out thanks to you, dear players! The third Hand Eye Society Ball was made possible by the following (mostly) harmless horde:

HES Organizers and Curators: Sagan Yee & Jim Munroe
Masonic Temple Organizer: Wanda Yuen
Tech Director: Ken Cho
Volunteer Coordinator: Kai Winter
Volunteer Assistant: John Rathigathan
Artist Liaison: Alicia Contestabile
Poster Art: Roman Arabia
Booklet Design: Crystal Chow
Gear Transport: Nawaf Bahadur, Ken Cho
Social Media: Al Donato

Food and Treats: Death In Venice Gelato Co.
Music: Scarlet Spades / C418 / dualryan / Ryan Henwood / Coins
Security: STAR Security

Community Partners: The Beguiling / Exclaim! / Reelworld Film Festival / Geektropolis
Event Consultation: Marie Bédard, Bibi Poon
Hand Eye Society Board: Cindy Poremba, Shaun Hatton, Chris Gehman, Chris De Castro, Adam Axbey, Sara Grimes

Volunteer Army:
Joshua P’ng, Yusef Dualeh, Brendan Lehman, Shankar Maharaj, Jason Bond, Marco Piccolo, Nelly Hamid, Ashley Allen, James Brownlee, Jesse Gazic, Chris Davies, Victoria Johnston, Hayley Hart, Chris Donnelly, Samaa Ahmed, Michael Le, Julie D. C., Michael Arcadi, Nick Shopian, Liesl A., Michael Truong, Daud Nazari, Kimberly Koronya, Sam Pollock, Benjamin Feuerstein, Sifton Anipare, Jillian Wakarchuk, Colin Sanders, Ksenia Eic. Nawaf Bahadur, Jesse Sheng, Ashley Yip, Al Donato, Luke Black, Melanie Wilmink, David Kua, Douglas Russell, Krystle MacKenzie, Rodrigo Toromoreno, Dwight Broderick, Mesmond who lent us the fightsticks

Game Suggestions:
Kitty (BROEIKAS, Utrecht), Pietro (Milano Game Festival), Jonatan (GDC Europe’s Innovative Games Showcase), Carolyn (Mount Royal Game Society), Lorenzo (A MAZE Berlin), Tanya (Pixelles, Montreal), Ben (Glitch City, LA), Annie (Game Developers Association of Australia), Louis (SK Games, Perth), Chad (Freeplay / Hovergarden, Melbourne), Holly and Jo (Now Play This, London), Lujan (Game on! El arte en juego, Buenos Aires), Robert (No Quarter, NYC), Heather (Kokoromi), Paolo (Molleindustria, Pittsburgh), Patrick (Vector Park, Brooklyn), Doug (Die Gute Fabrik, NYC), & Saleem (KOOP Mode, Montreal), Jim McG (Hand Eye Society, Toronto)

Huge thanks to you all, and please get in touch if we missed you or anyone else!

Let’s keep in touch…

Missed the Ball this year and don’t want to make the same mistake twice? Looking for more local videogame arts and culture events to get involved with? Want to stay updated on other Hand Eye Society activities all year round?  Looking for more ways to support a Toronto videogame arts non-profit?

• Subscribe to our e-mail newsletter
• Join our Facebook group
• Follow us on Twitter
• Support us by becoming a Member or volunteering!

Already got your tickets? Please RSVP on the Facebook event and spread the word!

8 DAYS TO THE 3rd ANNUAL HAND EYE SOCIETY BALL! As promised, here’s the other half of our games and music lineup (you can read all about the first six games announced here). We’ve got hilarious, intriguing tests of competition and cooperation for a variety of skill levels, including a single-button novelty, a ten-player cat puzzler, and — befitting the Masonic Temple’s mysterious interior — a gathering so secretive that not even the organisers know much about it…

Want a free ticket? Either sign up for an Annual Membership anytime between now and the Ball, or see our on-site volunteer information at the bottom of this post!

!!! GAMES GAMES GAMES GAMES !!!

Criquette
Evan Greenwood & Jason Sutherland / South Africa / Unreleased

With gloriously wonky physics and a simple one-button control scheme, it’s no wonder Criquette is the second-most popular sport in the world! One player winds up the ball and tries to toss it at the wicket (or “wiquette”) while the other player tries to stop them with their bat. These are the rules most of the time.

Brolly Folly
Alexander Perrin / Australia / 2015 (Canadian Premiere!)

Defend the honour of your food stand business the only way umbrellas know how – with an aerial joust! Sort out your quarrels with up to four players in a fluster of flaps, twirls and precision stabs. May the swiftest Brolly reign supreme! Sound and score by Dom Willmott.

Pico Park
TECO / Japan / 2015

This deceptively cute “cooperative” puzzler might just make enemies of the best of friends, or friends of the strangest strangers. Up to ten players must work together as a team to unlock a door so everyone can escape to the next level. It’s like herding tiny, rainbow-coloured cats!

Nothing Good Can Come Of This
Cartwheel Games / USA / 2016

It’s a scenario straight out of a movie thriller: Two players, trapped in a room with a gun and a single bullet. The game’s starkly minimalist violence is offset by a hidden Easter Egg, but can you find it without killing each other first?

Annual General Mischief
Little Dada & Alanna Predko

Whence come you and whither are you travelling? Cast your vote in the Red Room. Control the British Crown. Keep the metric system down.

Finally, here’s a quick reference to the games we announced earlier in our Monday mega-post:

• Cuphead
• Last One Standing
• Multibowl
• Line Wobbler
• VHS vs BETAMAX
• Tilt Brush Pictionary on the HTC Vive, presented by VBAReality

!!! MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC !!!

Alongside Scarlet Spades and C418 will be several artists whom we’re excited to feature once again at this year’s Ball! Check it:

dualryan. Brooding sound with a dark atmospheric tone. Indie game music composer extraordinaire. Great hair.

Ryan Henwood‘s aural melodies have spread from the cosmic sounds of Lovers In A Dangerous Spacetime to the dark gritty atmospheres of Cryptark and beyond.  What new sonic wizardry will he cast next?  Oh… and he has a cool mask.

Coins is the electronic act of Peter Chapman, whose work has been featured in everything from Sesame Street and Bomb Girls to Guacamelee and a whole bunch of other awesome things!  Get ready for his live Modular synthesizer mashed with electro chip time party jams.

!!! VOLUNTEER VOLUNTEER VOLUNTEER !!!

Want a free ticket, AND the opportunity to make this party the best it can possibly be? Fill out this form to become an on-site volunteer! Your help will be immensely appreciated, and you’ll become an invaluable part of a very memorable night. You can get all the details about volunteer perks, expectations, and roles in the HES Ball Volunteer Guidelines, and view the schedule and roles that have yet to be filled on this handy spreadsheet. For questions about volunteering, contact kai@handeyesociety.com.

With the help of Hand Eye Society staff and volunteers, Sagan Yee and Jim Munroe curated the games with invaluable suggestions from like-minded videogame arts advisors and curators from across the world:

Kitty (BROEIKAS, Utrecht), Pietro (Milano Game Festival), Jonatan (GDC Europe’s Innovative Games Showcase), Carolyn (Mount Royal Game Society), Lorenzo (A MAZE Berlin), Tanya (Pixelles, Montreal), Ben (Glitch City, LA), Annie (Game Developers Association of Australia), Louis Roots (SK Games, Perth), Chad (Freeplay / Hovergarden, Melbourne), Holly and Jo (Now Play This, London), Lujan (Game on! El arte en juego, Buenos Aires), Robert (No Quarter, NYC), Heather (Kokoromi), Paolo (Molleindustria, Pittsburgh), Patrick Smith (Vector Park, Brooklyn), Doug (Die Gute Fabrik, NYC), & Saleem (KOOP Mode, Montreal).

Thanks to you all, and please get in touch if we missed anyone!

Already got your tickets? Please RSVP on the Facebook event and spread the word!

LESS THAN TWO WEEKS TO THE 3rd ANNUAL HAND EYE SOCIETY BALL! And have we got some news for you: After hours of playtesting submissions from local artists and curators, as well as suggestions from our many friends in the international videogame arts and culture community (see our thank-yous below), we are extremely excited to finally confirm our full lineup of some of the best games from Canada and around the world. From Toronto’s own jam scene to contemporary titles and unreleased gems from Australia, South Africa, the UK and Japan, there’s something here for everyone!

We’ve included in this post the first six of eleven titles that we’ll be showcasing at the Ball as well as profiling new artists from our music lineup, and will be announcing the second wave later in the week. Ticket sales are picking up, so get ’em while they’re hot now that you know exactly what to look forward to (19+). Want a free ticket? Either sign up for an Annual Membership anytime between now and the Ball, or see our on-site volunteer information at the bottom of this post!

!!! GAMES GAMES GAMES GAMES !!!

Cuphead
Studio MDHR / Canada / Unreleased

Make a deal with the Devil with this highly anticipated, visually sumptuous run-and-gun platformer, featuring traditionally hand-painted cel animation and a jazz soundtrack inspired by 1930s cartoons. Two players cooperate to overcome wave after wave of increasingly surreal enemies, including ghosts, dragons, boxing frogs, mechanical moon men, a carrot with hypnotic powers, and what appears to be a weasel in a soup can.

Last One Standing
Douglas Gregory & David Vitas / Toronto, Canada / Unreleased

You’re all dominoes! Chase down opponents and topple them by running into their trail, but don’t let the same fate catch up to you. With up to six players at a time, this tabletop ain’t big enough for everyone! Made during TOJam 2016 and freely available as a work-in-progress.

Multibowl
Bennett Foddy & AP Thompson / 2016 (Canadian Premiere!)

From the creators of QWOP and Beglitched comes a mashup of hundreds of retro games from the ’80s and ’90s, stuffed into a fast-paced collage of Warioware-style minigames for two players. Following the simple onscreen directions is no easy task as they flash by in seconds: Score the most points! Win the race! Fish! Can you name them all?

Line Wobbler
Robin Baumgarten / UK / 2015

A unique one-dimensional dungeon crawler played on a five meter long strip of LED lights, using what looks like a doorstopper (actually a custom-built steel spring). You play an adventurous blob of light who must make the perilous journey from one end of the line to the other, avoiding enemies, lava pits and other obstacles along the way by “wobbling” the controller. Winner of multiple game design awards and exhibited around the world, including TIFF digiPlaySpace earlier this year!

VHS vs BETAMAX
Adam Robinson-Yu & Maxwell Huang-Hobbs / Toronto, Canada / 2015

Vaporwave aesthetic meets Smash Bros. in this vibrantly silly brawler and historically accurate depiction of the ’80s Format Wars. Grab your collection and play a quick-fire succession of battles where you must dodge videotapes, block them with your shield, or toss them at the other players. Which format will emerge victorious? Let the game decide…

Tilt Brush Pictionary
Google, presented by VBAReality

It’s Pictionary… in virtual reality! Put on an HTC Vive and become a painter of light, while baffled onlookers try to guess whether your 3D scribbles might be a car or a whale wearing sunglasses.

!!! MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC MUSIC !!!

Come dress up, play, and dance the night away with our fantastic DJs and performing artists! New to this year’s party is Scarlet Spades, who will be gracing us with dubby psychedelic beats with worldly influences. With music ranging from 60-180 BPM, Ms Spades’ sets are an eclectic montage of energy levels. Recently, she has been exploring different genres such as psytrance and chill-hop.

Also fresh to the Ball is C418, who hails from Germany and will be playing some of his own original work. You may know him as the sound designer and composer for a little game called Minecraft!

!!! VOLUNTEER VOLUNTEER VOLUNTEER !!!

Want a free ticket, AND the opportunity to make this party the best it can possibly be? Fill out this form or e-mail kai@handeyesociety.com to become an on-site volunteer! Your help will be immensely appreciated, and you’ll become an invaluable part of a very memorable night. You can get all the details about volunteer perks, expectations, and roles in the HES Ball Volunteer Guidelines, and view the schedule and roles that have yet to be filled on this handy spreadsheet.

??? MORE GAMES COMING SOON… ???

With the help of Hand Eye Society staff and volunteers, Sagan Yee and Jim Munroe curated the games with invaluable suggestions from like-minded videogame arts advisors and curators from across the world:

Kitty (BROEIKAS, Utrecht), Pietro (Milano Game Festival), Jonatan (GDC Europe’s Innovative Games Showcase), Carolyn (Mount Royal Game Society), Lorenzo (A MAZE Berlin), Tanya (Pixelles, Montreal), Ben (Glitch City, LA), Annie (Game Developers Association of Australia), Louis (SK Games, Perth), Chad (Freeplay / Hovergarden, Melbourne), Holly and Jo (Now Play This, London), Lujan (Game on! El arte en juego, Buenos Aires), Robert (No Quarter, NYC), Heather (Kokoromi), Paolo (Molleindustria, Pittsburgh), Patrick (Vector Park, Brooklyn), Doug (Die Gute Fabrik, NYC), & Saleem (KOOP Mode, Montreal).

Thanks to you all, and please get in touch if we missed anyone!