If you’re in Madison and looking for a good gluten-free craft beer and maybe a game of pinball or two, the first place you’d probably head is ALT Brew, a small brewery tucked away near Madison College’s Truax campus.
But those arcade cabinets had to learn to share, because a game that is quite literally much bigger is now at the brewery: Killer Queen.
For those who’ve never heard of it, the concept of Killer Queen is definitely a bit out there. The game features slow-moving snails, killer queens and bundles of berries ready for the taking. There are three ways to win — get your team’s snail to its goal, kill the opposing team’s queens, or collect enough berries for an economic win. Think “Settlers of Cataan” meets “Super Mario Bros.”
The machine itself is built for two teams of five, 10 players total, so “beast” is a good way to describe it. It’s six feet tall and weighs in at 450 pounds per side. The actual cabinet takes up the same amount of space that four regular-sized arcade games would, making size its most challenging aspect, one of the founders, Josh DeBonis, said in an email.
“We’re from New York, where space is at a premium, and it’s been very challenging to find local venues,” he says. “The game has taken its strongest hold in the Midwest, and I think largely it’s because it is easier to dedicate the required floor space.”
ALT Brew’s unit is the first of its kind in Wisconsin, though the machines are made here at a manufacturing company in New Lisbon. It’s already popular in places like Chicago and the Twin Cities, but Killer Queen’s reach is international, stretching all the way to Dublin, Ireland. Some people, like Madison resident Lev Bakin, even make vacations out of it.
Bakin came across Killer Queen in Portland, Ore. nearly three years ago and has continued to play ever since, even traveling multiple times a year for it, he shared through a Facebook chat.
“Traveling for Killer Queen has turned into the best vacations I’ve ever been on,” Bakin says.
Bringing the game to Madison will allow people to create a new community nearer to home, and that sense of togetherness turns out to be one of the biggest attractions to the game.
“The community is an important part of Killer Queen that has smitten all of us,” Bakin says. “Compared to other video games, people know how to balance being supportive and friendly and don’t take the competitive aspect to a toxic level.”
This strong sense of community has not been important only to the players; it’s been meaningful for the founders, too. DeBonis and co-founder Nik Mikros play nearly every Friday night.
“We’re OK at the game but nowhere near as good as most of the dedicated, competitive players,” he says. “[But] the community around this game is absolutely the most rewarding and fulfilling aspect of this job.”
Watch the video above to get a better idea of what Killer Queen looks like before trying the real deal. And if you want to get involved in the community, check out this growing Facebook group.
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