Joel’s company created a game that is exploding called Blaseball. It was supposed to just be a side thing, while they were waiting for their next big game idea and funding. Joel came up with the idea during the covid quarantine before the baseball season started up. It’s an absurd baseball game sort of like fantasy baseball but silly. There are silly and fun team names like the Kansas City Breath Mints (Joel said they are sweet, friendly and love spreadsheets), and The Chicago Fire Fighters. The silly slogan for that team is “We are from Chicago” cause people from Chicago say that a lot.
The game has gone nuts. Articles and great reviews keep coming out. One top gaming website, Polygon.com, called it “The best game of 2020”. Joel said they can’t even keep up! Every time an article or review comes out, people flood to the site and the servers crash. Joel is working extra hours as are the other guys in The Game Band, his company, and they can’t even find time to hire more engineers to help. Actually, I just tried to go on to try it out and get some pics and it said they are taking a short break to fix it and rest.
Joel said there have been interesting bugs in the game like the one where the game wouldn’t end. But that adds to the charm. Apparently Joel randomly sits in his apartment and changes the price for the peanuts in the game. One day he made them “zero peanuts for free” and the current price is super high. He and his Dad laughed about it because peanuts serve absolutely no function or benefit in the game but they are selling like wildfire! There is a thing called shame where the other team has to finish the game even if they’ve been mathematically eliminated. Fans in the stadium yell “shame” over and over. I imagine it is something like a 10 run rule in soccer only that ends the game.
Joel is amazed by the response. It is getting a cult like following. The Seattle team name is Seattle Garages and someone started a band with the same name. USgamer.net described the game “where umpires go rogue and incinerate players.”
Check out all the articles by googling Blaseball or look it up on Twitter. It’s quite the sensation!
dianegclark 