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[ Friday, Dec. 8, 2000 ]

Website takes games for walk on the wild side

Collegian Staff Writer

Anyone still looking for present ideas for the roommate this holiday season?

Look no further. Wild Party Games.com has recently opened its doors.

The new site offers "an extensive collection of popular drinking board games, party games, books and games for couples."

Their products are the sort that one would typically find "in most adult stores and the majority of Spencer Gifts across the country."

"It definitely focuses on a college-aged audience," said Becky Young (sophomore-education).

"You'd have to be our age to actually relate to some of the games and activities included on it."

The names of the games themselves illustrate the nature of the site they're found on. Some of the most popular games and books sold on the site are "A Partier's Guide to 51 Drinking Games," "Sex, Booze, Rock 'n Roll" and "Party 'til you Puke."

Clearly, this is not a site your parents want you to be looking at.

However, one cannot discount the humor factor.

"Some of these games are absolutely hilarious," said Elizabeth Edwards (sophomore-speech communication).

Wild Party Games.com features a highlighted game each week, designed to promote its sale. This week's featured game is called "Rehab." According to the description, "You and the other players are raging alcoholics. You'll travel around the game board landing in and falling out of rehab until someone successfully defeats his or her addiction to alcohol."

Make no mistake about the fact that this is a drinking game.

According to the site, "You are an alcoholic and you're expected to act like one. And that includes lots of drinks."

This description leads one to wonder how long the game play can actually last before players are forced to stop, but then, the game itself isn't really the point.

Wild Party Games.com offers samples for almost every game that it sells, an option that could prompt many money-conscious students to simply browse the site and never actually buy.

"It's fun to look at, but I can't imagine that anyone would ever buy any of the things on it. Besides, they offer "free trials" of the games. So you'd never need to buy them," said Edwards.

Some of the free trials are more extensive than others.

For example, in the book "Games for Naughty People," there is a game called "Photo Scavenger Bingo."

The site not only offers complete directions for game play, it provides two bingo cards that can be printed out for player use. With free samples like that, who's going to bother to buy the book?

Despite its over-21 attitude, many thought that the site was just a fun way to have a good time.

"I think it is a really cool site because you can browse all of the drinking and party games in one spot. I had never heard of some of them, and never knew there were so many," said Nicholas Harvey, a sophomore at Lafayette College.

"In general, it's just a lot of fun," said Edwards.

Wild Party Games is run by Brian Pellham, recent graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and Chris Bierrum, recent graduate of Willamette University. Each brings their own unique perspective to the company.

Pellham has been inventing and manufacturing board games for over six years, while Bierrum is a web designer heading the company Irony Media.

Their venture has been very successful, with over 15,000 hits since the site's launch.

Wild Party Games.com guarantees holiday shipping on all orders placed before Dec. 20, so anyone wishing to terrify their parents or amuse their roommate is still in luck.

 



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