Games // Fall 2009
"Opening the door to Marianne's House you are welcomed by a gust of laughter and clapping with the theme song to Sesame Street filling the air. You walk through the hallway with murals lining your path and you feel welcomed and comfortable."
Skateboarders have no teams, no games or practices. The motivation comes from within. But, wherever skaters gather - schoolyards, skate parks, alleys or driveways - you will find the game of S-K-A-T-E.
Welcome to the world of competitive drinking games, where the winners drink and the losers drink more. Here, each game, no matter how similar or different, shares one constant underlying and fundamental similarity: alcohol.
Twenty-three-year-old Teddy Seybold unwinds the cord wrapped around his Nintendo GameCube controller as he squirms his way to the nearest available television. Thirty others are doing the same in a room that might comfortably fit 20.
On the northern edge of Deception Pass lays a small island of rock, which bears a light to warn boaters of its immovable presence. While the light sends boaters away, it welcomes those in search of a treasure hidden on the island.
"Dating online has as many trials, tribulations and successes as dating someone from a bar or a club."
"Every Saturday night, when students are at distant off-campus parties and professors are safely at home with their families the corridors of Bond Hall are inhabited by a different kind of creature... The werewolves were out of hiding."
Spectators trickle in 25 minutes early to score prime viewing spots in the room that has been transformed to offer arena-style seating.
"While 'Locker' has become an esteemed name for the thousands of Husky football fans, the name has been well known throughout Whatcom County for far longer. In fact, Jake Locker, quarterback for University of Washington, comes from a long line of sports-playing lockers."
Five miles east on Lakeway Drive in Sudden Valley, amongst the ruins of a desserted campsite, three friends hike their way through the course. Nestled in a grove of trees a few hundred yards away is the destination: the hole.
Bingo, a simple game of chance, has become an American cultural icon in the last century, growing to the point where annual attendance numbers in Washington state alone reach into the millions.
