Games permeate our culture to an almost astounding extent: Patriot Games, Endgame, Game Change. Game theory, gaming the system, he’s got game. Video games, board games, Olympic games.
Did our ancestors develop game-playing in order to make sense of their world, or is human interaction itself inherently a game, with the games we invent a reflection of (and a relief from) life’s daily toll of winning, losing and strategizing the next move?
Whew. Didn’t mean to get too deep there. But it did amaze us how many permutations of gaming we could cover in an issue like this. Even just in the world of sports, the range of games one can enjoy (especially in a climate like ours) is endless, from the familiar (Rays spring training, pickup soccer, shuffleboard) to the arcane (bike polo, archery). You’ll find variations on the theme in News & Views (a profile of an unlikely local Olympian, a round of “Find the Toxic Activist,” and recollections of an athlete turned poet); in Food & Drink (baseball’s favorite meat product and an Oscar-worthy drinking game); in A&E (a debate on the future of video gaming, an interview with the local king of improv, a look at LARP, and a quiz from Tampa Bay’s toughest trivia-mongers); in music (TV singing competitions, deconstructed). Plus, scroll down to the bottom of Games Issue stories and other content throughout cltampa.com and join The Game of Loaf, a picaresque journey through Tampa Bay and the pages of CL that might win you a sweet CL Deal. And speaking of winning, don’t forget CL’s biggest games of the year. The deadline is March 1 for entering (and winning $1,000) in the CL Visions Photo and Video Contest. And The 10/100/1000 Challenge, a chance for visionary souls to jumpstart their creative ideas with a $1,000 grant from CL and Creative Tampa Bay, launches Feb. 23.
Let the games begin!
—David Warner
PS: Don't forget to play The Game of Loaf! Just click on the icon below to begin, and scroll down to the bottom of the story you land on.
This article appears in Feb 16-22, 2012.