Charlie Hall
is Polygon’s tabletop editor. In 10-plus years as a journalist & photographer, he has covered simulation, strategy, and spacefaring games, as well as public policy.
After a brief hiatus, Chicago’s tightly-knit volunteer team was back last month with Bit Bash, an annual celebration of the global indie game scene. This year the event was produced with the help of a new sponsor, the Museum of Science and Industry.
Also known as MSI, the massive exhibit hall is one of the weirdest places in the city. Inside you’ll find a replica coal mine, a two-story-tall adjustable tornado, a working chicken incubator, and an honest-to-gods German U-boat. So why not add a game called Hellcouch for the weekend?
In total, Bit Bash offered more than 80 interactive experiences, including board games and an art exhibit by the VGA Gallery. The crowd was a glorious mix of ages and demographics, with a smattering of high-profile talent from Chicago’s best indie developers. I even bumped into my old friend Robin Baumgarten, whose award-winning Line Wobbler and Wobble Garden were both on display.
The highlight for me was walking into an amazing space and letting my girls — aged nine and six — run wild. Family favorites included Capy Hoky (where adorable capybaras play a game of ice hockey) and Kick Bot, a game about a wall-jumping robot played on a custom, two-button controller.
Most surprising were the games that attracted my girls the most. My youngest fell in love with GAZE, a game where you hover over a 3D structure with an iPad trying to create specific shapes in the camera from seemingly random lines. Meanwhile, my oldest became entranced with Genesis Noir, an avant-garde art game about jazz and the creation of the universe.
Being there in that space, experiencing dozens of entirely new games shoulder-to-shoulder with other people, felt amazing. Anyone jaded by the endless discourse on social media and inside comment threads owes it to themselves to come to Chicago next year to be reinvigorated, and reminded how joyful games can be.
The event was sponsored by Jackbox Games, VGA Gallery, Aria Technology Solutions, the Museum of Science and Industry Chicago, and the Chicago Foundation for the Interactive Arts. Here’s a look at how it all went down.