The Hand Eye Society Ball 2015
The Hand Eye Society, a Toronto-based videogame arts organization led by Executive Director and one-time AdBusters editor Jim Munroe, moved its annual fancy society ball to the esoteric and recently converted Masonic Temple at Yonge and Davenport for a sold out night of indie games, custom drinks and brain-melting music.
IndieGameReviewer.com was on hand to check out the pulse of the Toronto indie game scene. The crowd was beautiful, the DJ was killing it, the volunteers were cool and congenial. Some rooms were overly warm, the lines were sometimes too long, but overall the effect was quite striking.
We tried out Mushroom 11 from Untame – which is rather improved on a jumbo screen and with an audience oohing and ahhing along. The same held true for Shoot Shoot Mega Pack. But the evening’s standout was a non-video game from Doug Wilson in the form of his Playstation Move hack: Edgar Rice Soiree. This social party game exudes fun as quirky sounds emanate from a laptop driven speaker system while people attempt to keep hold of a pair of matching colored Move controllers that keep shifting around a 20-piece grid.
We then pushed a button on a pair of mysterious robed figures by the front doors who yelled at us to go to the elevators immediately. Of course, we complied. We were then carted up to the top floor where the original Masonic Lodge’s temple remains intact. There was a comedic session about the questionably verifiable history of the Hand Eye Society, and also a bunch of sit-down arcade stations featuring Damien Sommer’s new game Chesh running customized versions for the stations.
Check out IGR’s video from the event:
Special thanks to Jessy Blaze for help with the sound recording.