Two meetings so far, had an occasion to play not only a selection of ever-greens from the library, but also a few published games.
There was Dixit (kind of an ever-green), but also some stuff I haven't used on a meeting before.

• Jazz: The Singing Card Game,
• Tempo,
• A Game About Wee Whimsical Creatures and Trying to Recognize Them after Someone Makes Noises,
• Tonic.

So far, so good. ;)

New version with bubbles and arrows is new:
http://musicgames.wikidot.com/app:bubbles

Also, now all random scores will allow to select by it's source or an attached tag.
For example this is the address: http://musicgames.wikidot.com/score/parent/game:mutual-prescriptions
to make the score use only cues from CBN's "Mutual Prescriptions"

The tag needs to be attached to the cue itself, so the options are for now limited — although any subset might be selected in the future if tagging will be done properly. To have some order, we'll have a previx "_cue:" for each such tag.

For example see: http://musicgames.wikidot.com/score/tags/_cue:short
which shows only these cues that will fit into small fields of the http://musicgames.wikidot.com/app:goose

Please write here, if any other shape of a random score or selection of cues would be useful (or fun) for you.

—-
There are hosts running the process and it's occuring in the "main Zoom room" and 3 breakout rooms: Tones, Sounds, Words.

In every of the four spaces, slides are being displayed. Available here:
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1Dgx8NBu-sGUMWsKAOSuhXX8vWpkmP-DQmUjQTQc8TNY/edit

Participants may ask to be assigned to the room and also for the specific slide to be set, and slides have "tasks" that are central to the participatory experience.
—-

Notes from the action:
- "Tones" room — this one is certainly the most within music gaming. It has the very fun and useful method of sharing the graphic score live through Zoom "annotations" feature (first time I saw it).
- "Sounds" is more involved and is for found sound work. Personally haven't even been to this one room — the work is big.
- "Words" is huge by itself, I dived with the then present users into Q&A which was interesting to me the most even just from seeing the score beforehand.

Anyway, the great big content is there ;) may we now use the power of game design to help a bit with the structure?

So far I have in mind different sets of dice to bring up on screen, meeples, tokens and small piano keyboard input.
This will let you randomize notes and numbers in different ranges.

The workframe will hopefully be easily extendable. Importing assets as for game boards and cards decks from our other content to the "virtual tabletop" should be within reach.

I'm settling for an inefficient-but-easy coding approach with jQuery.UI — if anyone would like to help with that side of things, let's coordinate the efforts. Code will be here with the free license.

EDIT: first version here: http://musicgames.wdfiles.com/local--html/app%3Ahub/9759cddd39059df29890fc0f5cc490b6337d9955-1417275777453948845/musicgames.wikidot.com/

[EDIT: this one seems to have worked really well! :) ]

Some editorial freedoms are worth considering:
- additional breaklines for readability (the original was quite condensed),
- changing the emphasis from underline to bold (this is just for display, underlined version looks like a link to G4M glossary entry, and it can be easily changed back anyway),
- additional workarounds in case of graphic elements.

The setting up of pages caused also positive changes to sub-game template. This needs to be yet adjusted in some other entries in "sub" category. Sorry for the inconvenience there.

In the process, three titles of games, that were included early at the site, have been withdrawn and their authors contacted in the hopes that they will be back in the library fairly soon.

SoMiDo, sorry, I removed a lot of your tags, as they were very specific only to your projects… ;)

As always all suggestions welcome! Of course new tags may be added, but let's try to make them covering at least few activities and not overlap with currently established.

EDIT: When tags are set, the interesting possibility appeared.
We can now select multiple tags at once. This will probably prove more useful with more games in the library.
See it for example at the bottom of the http://musicgames.wikidot.com/hub:tag page.

That was an occasion to seek simplified arrangements to some items from the library. I will add these variants soon. What worked for me so far was:
Into the Labyrinth — a version with an additional board for showing current position (played many times actually…),
Circle of 5 — a currently tested version,
we also played a modification of Drum Talk by John Scalici (it's shown on YT - basically it's more for teacher-students situation).

Now we might move to 3-split and Follow the images

in the meantime we had a first vandalism of a front page ;) no problem though

http://musicgames.wikidot.com/glossary:first-rule-of-music-games

The dynamics of "Imagined seconds" are really interesting. All participants focus for some time just at one player who performs a contained part. That feature is unique, refreshing and also game-wise weird as there is practically no interaction at the core.

It might seem counter-intuitive then to suggest:
1. Moving away from one table filled in by Timekeeper. When everyone has own chart, Downtime should be much lower even with many players, as tables are filled simultaneously. Right now it's considerable, especially when you headline your game as "for any number of players"… ;)
I'm pretty sure this will still not hinder the Interaction. Here it mostly takes the form of comparing the bets, which is indeed done during the betting, but can also be expected after the round and is then not forced but naturally encouraged.

2. Informed choice would be another issue I think of right away. Should the "bets" be as seemingly random as they are now? A natural mechanic would be to provide incentives for the player to describe the sound in sufficient detail (such a mechanic is exemplified in Dixit, when you lose points when no-one guesses, although it's also not good for you if everyone knows the correct answer).

What else?

There were two games we didn't try before.
One was operating on only "high-low" couples of sounds, and played pattern showed who's to play next. The game will be developed, a few more variants to try out, and the best version will be added to the library asap. ;)

Another one was Jennie Gottschalk's "Imagined seconds" as published in vol 9 of Synzine magazine. Although translated more as a series of "solo pieces" rather than just "sounds to play". Other parts were conform with defined variations (we didn't set maximum time - 99 seconds in basic version of the score - although it most often was not exceeded anyway). The game was discussed and maybe some "house rules" will be needed, but I guess it will stay as the part of the repertoire, because it happily is: for every skill, for any set of instruments and scales fine with different numbers of players. And as a series of solo music it adds variety compared to most of other games.

Here is a detailed discussion. http://musicgames.wikidot.com/forum/t-10425377/imagined-seconds-discussion

And here is a playlist for recordings (there won't be many). https://soundcloud.com/odolany/sets/february-game-meeting-ii

Please, if you can, add also past events you know about. Such info is a great inspiration (we don't have to cover all dates in some past series of events).

G4M started in 2018, we have 35 registered users now and you can see contents that was added at the about page.

What next will happen next? ;)
Plz write down some ideas!

Players travel with their melodies (game only for melodic instruments) to target pitch using only intervals allowed by dice and if they get there they stay at the target pitch repeating it until everyone achieves this task. Last person who gets to target pitch rolls three dice and the next turn starts.

Musical parts are interesting, coherent and usually not tonal. But the global and gaming aspect lacks a lot.
We didn't have an elegant way of providing doability of the task (you just could make a re-roll if intervals were not good for travelling to target pitch).
We didn't have any direction as for overall development and ending.

Here is a "framework" to gather links and categorise them: http://musicgames.wikidot.com/hub:link

There are 6 categories that are added by tag, any ideas/need for more link categories?

If so, let's pile up terms in this thread and maybe let's have some stub articles later.

Notrightmusic invented for example "insert" games. I use "states" of "aspects" of music sometimes for rules (graphical Cue cards operate often on two contrasting stages of chosen aspects). Co-optionality is something I like to explain and find it interesting. ;)

Maybe if we will have at least 15 (?) terms it will be worth incorporating a glossary to the wiki. Some number that makes it not feel empty…

All gathered terms (to be edited)

Event (notrightmusic, done)
Insert (notrightmusic)
Aspect (odolany)
State [of Aspect] (odolany)
Co-optionality (odolany)
Flow [of the game]
Downtime
Balance [of the game]

For the end we had planned a premiere of a deck-building game that was conceived in the discussions at G4M forums (as a younger sister-game of notrightmusic's turn-based card game). We were polishing it's gaming aspect at Warsaw game designers' meetings, but didn't hear it yet with music. A version played was a simple one, even without actual deck-building. After the play and discussion I think we have a nice version, but we need a name asap. ;) (first described here). The card game went smooth, so another Play the Images variant got it's playtime as a kind of encore.

We have two board gaming events of similar scale and feeling a year. I surely will try to repeat such a meeting in winter.

When we're done with the new library, maybe it would be best to try and put at least one photo on any subpage (kind of cliche, but if we don't put stock photos of random instruments the effect should be fine).

Side question: should we put all external links at the bottom of the page and not have them inside the text?

This particular gathering is titled “Sunday Morning Ambient Improv & Music Games.”
A relaxing and creative gathering to help start one’s Sunday!
It’s limited to seven people with no audience, except for the pedestrians walking about outside.
This particular gathering is also unique in how I get people to come. Usually, my gatherings involve friends, musical colleagues, or students. But, this time I only get people through meetup.com and a few other smaller online places. I believe playing music games with as many different kinds of people as possible helps one grow as an improviser, music game designer, and event organizer.
One problem with meetup.com is that people are supposed to RSVP their spot, which is what I originally liked about it, but some people don’t do that and they show up unannounced. This is bad for gatherings like mine where I wish to keep a limit of participants.

Here’s my meetup page for the gathering: https://www.meetup.com/Free-Music-Improvisation-Music-Improv-Games
It’s a two-hour thing. From 11:00am to 1:00pm. The first Sunday of every month.
I’ve held two meetings from this series so far. Though I’ve been doing similar meetings since the nineties.
It’s quite the casual meeting. I make a schedule, but it’s generally abandoned within 30 minutes.
Here is the schedule for yesterday’s meeting:

I like to start with a completely free improv session to get people settled in and relaxed. Though there is the theme “relaxed ambiance,” so we do try to at least stick to that. This is a nice way to introduce everyone to each other musically, players can make adjustments to their setups, and because we’re not focused in on a game yet late-comers are not disrupting anything.

After that was the usual round of personal introductions. Names, what we play, where we’re from (most from various different countries).
Then we did a variation of Loop Cycle. Instead of being locked to loops, we played more “organically” and freely. And only three players could play at the same time. That means you must eventually drop out once the next person starts playing.
People requested a Card Drop game, so we went into that. I used the cards odolany made, originally for the game “15 Cards.”
Everyone gets two cards each. We start with one card in the center. We must musically improvise interpretations of the image on the card. At any time anyone can throw a new card in the center and we gradually change to that one. Continue until all the cards have been used. Cards are dropped fairly quickly - usually within a minute. Some examples: on the “grassy field” image we played soft music, then the “people talking” image was dropped in of course we all started talking, next someone dropped the “elephant” image to which I grabbed a long hose and placed it on my nose while others used this hose as percussion, then the “birds” card drop - one player played his bird pipe flute others whistled I played bird like motifs on my acoustic guitar, then someone dropped the “Godzilla” card and the music quickly turned ugly while some people stumped around, and so on. Fun stuff! I’ll put the game in the library and link it from here soon.

After that, we took a break and all talked. One guy explained about a British(?) children’s game called “The Winking Murderer.” And with that, together, we created our own music game based off of this children’s game. Spontaneously creating this game was just as much fun as playing the games! Everyone chipped in with their own ideas.

Then we played three rounds of it. Adding improvements after each round. The basic idea is that before the game everyone blindly grabs a card. You are the only player allowed to see your card. We had seven players and seven cards. low tones / rhythm / weird noises / harmony / high tones / murder / detective. Nobody knows any of the other player’s roles. Everyone, except the murderer and detective, plays music relating to the role on their cards. If you are the murderer your first job is to try to fit in musically. Also you must wink at other players. When a player is winked at they let out a scream, on instrument or voice, stop playing and die. But, if the detective catches the murderer winking then the murderer loses and the game is over. If the murderer winks at the detective, the murderer is caught and loses. The detective must also try to fit in musically. If the game comes down to only the detective and the murderer - the murderer wins. It’s great fun to play! I was the murderer once and it was a bit scary trying to wink and not get caught. I was able to kill one player. The second player I winked at happened to be the detective. It’s one of those games when everyone laughs at the end when the roles are revealed.
Before we knew it it was time to finish. We didn’t get as many games in as planned, but we all got to create a game together and that was a ton of fun!

Next, I'll write about the next music game session I do with a few musician friends of mine inside an old house/studio. I guess I could call it a more serious kind of thing, as we play more difficult music games.

I think we would need something more casual and faster (I like games that are achievable to play by non-musicians, but then one piece of music should rather not get longer than 10 minutes). Is there maybe some similar vibe to MtG hiding around?

Overall game flow could be:
1) draft your cards (e.g. every one starts with 5 cards - chooses 1, and passes 4 right - then choose from 4 etc.) after that you again start with 5 and pass left.
2) after drafting you have 10 cards - so get rid of 3 to form a "deck".
3) In turn play one card or pass. ;) voila - the game!

I'm still working on a very testy version for a meeting, right now narrow 3-4 players (not to good for music), some cards are only for you, but some you put more to the middle, where everyone should follow musically. What I work with (MtG-wise) is 5 "colours" which are set to form a circle. Every colour then has two close neighbours and two opposing colours:

Happy-Calm-Discipline-Sad-Chaos-

So by that logic Chaos is friends with Happy and Sad but opposes Calm and Discipline etc. Every mood is easy to connect with some musical directions. Discipline lets you conduct, Chaos let's you avoid conducting ;) etc.

Asap I'll write more, but it's so open still, that every thought can go in. Dare!

Brainstorming mess here:

CARDS:
((More ideas for cards please))
-Deck #1: Starter Cards. This card is looked at before playing. It instructs the players how to start.
loop / rhythmic / ambient / free (anything) /

-Deck #2: Personal Cards (actions for the player) This is the main deck. The cards that will be played the most. One card can be picked during a player’s turn. Then follow the instructions.
variation / big change / stop playing / Big Explosion (everyone makes a big noise and stop playing. Continue to the next player) / cancel (save for when you pick a card you wish not to use (cannot be used with HIT cards!) /

-Deck #3: Conduction Cards. One of these cards can be picked instead of a Personal Card. Each card has one idea that is to be conducted to a selected player.
dynamics / copy / different / solo / duo / tempo / stop / change /

-Deck #4: Special Cards. These cards control who will win the game. They are shuffled into the Personal Card Deck.
*HIT! Card - Remove the next card in your deck. Continue playing as before. You now have one less card in your deck bringing you closer to losing the game!
*Bypass Card - point to the player you think is playing best. He will then turn his “Active Bypass” card over (different than the Bypass Card). The next time he gets a HIT card he can bypass it. Then turn the Active Bypass card off again by turning it back facedown. This saves you from that extra step towards losing. But, you must impress people somehow with your playing to earn it.

BEFORE THE GAME:
Each deck is shuffled.
Every player takes:
1 card from the Starter Deck. This can be looked at right away.
1 Active Bypass Card.
8 cards from the Personal Card Deck. (don’t look)
3 cards from the Conduction Deck. (don’t look) ((This deck could be removed from the game - what do you think?))
4 Hit Cards and 3 Bypass Cards get shuffled into the Personal Card Deck.
((Still deciding on the appropriate number of cards))

GAMEPLAY:
In brightly lit room players form a (semi-)circle.
A first player is chosen. This player looks at his Starter Card and begins playing according to the instructions given.
The player to the right will do the same using his Starter Card. He can start whenever he wants, as long as the player to the right of him already finished his turn.
The process continues with all players until we come back to the first player. After everyone's Starter Card has been used the players now have 3 options:
1. Play a Personal Card
2. Play a Conduction Card
3. Take a solo (one chance per round)
((I might change it to only option #1 - what do you think?))

Raise your hand for a second or two to indicate when your turn is finished.

GAME END:
How to win. When a player is out of cards he stops playing. The last player standing wins. Naturally, end the round.

Any changes, ideas, anything welcome.

There should be many ideas that fit that from music (silent, weird sounds and sudden loud sounds like in every horror soundtrack ;) ), games (trust and betrayal, I like e.g. Avalon of that type) and maybe helpful arrangements like darkness in a room.;) but I can't put any testable form together.

Tomorrow I hope to test a final version of "Agents" game which was a bit around the idea of "music game of mistrust" (but no sound effects). I'll put it in a library if it works, but horror should be more.

If anyone have some traces or directions to share, please.

I work for now on easy games, but other types, and also custom sets should be also quite easy, when this works well.
Wikidot has a "print" button in the bottom, which let's you get rid of navigation bars. Great feature.

To be in the set the game needs "_print" tag (for "self-contained" games). I was surprised that there are actually quite many that don't work too well when printed out, for example with main body being explanation on YouTube - it's not a bad thing by itself I think, we just need a tag.

Any suggestions welcome!

The first game that we played is not in the library, as it's more of a game template. "Take a Cue cards deck and form a conducting system by picking or randomising 3-5 cards, than play a piece with or without timer". One new spatial variant we tried was when performers were in a circle facing outwards and conductor had to run around the group. All in all… good warm-up. And then: Where are we?, Hand piece (with memory function), P-S-Rock, Democratic chord writing, Stay in Character and Staircase.

I vote for upgrading Hand Piece and SiC to a Difficult category. ;) [I edited Hand Piece already as I put it on wiki]

Do you have a package of graphics and more editable text that would make it easier to translate the game for tests? (And would you allow it?).

I couldn't locate special Group cards for Ambience character in the package.

Small tweak: As I'm having 'full accoustic' game jams most often, I would suggest that on character cards skills that are impossible to use in accoustic settings would be moved to the bottom of the list (I'm not sure: does current order serve any function?).

I hope we can help spread the idea of music games with this community / wiki / library. I’ll do my best to help it grow. I made it a priority to add at least five new games to the library a week. As well as to keep the wiki growing and to participate in the forums.

I also have a little music education YouTube channel that deals with unconventional music and improvisation. Check it out: https://www.youtube.com/c/NotRightMusic

1) is mostly a practical problem. It is just great if you can pick up a game basically any time you play music, but of course having props is often fun. Still I'm an advocate of using props that you can provide as a print-out and use the same props in defferent ways for different games.
And I realize that it's indeed personal, because, honestly, I'm just bad with pencils and scissors and find working with them boring and frustrating at the same time. ;)
But my point is: the ideal situation is to provide a ready prop and encourage players to make their own versions (if they will).

2) is for me also about a projected player. For the same reason I don't want to imagine that future player of a game likes drawing I don't want to imagine that a player is interested in game design.
Choosing a ruleset is asking 'Which way the game played would be more fun?' (I'm convinced that rules we choose almost always have effect on that). And answering that question is a designer's job, it's not a trivial one and requires lots of testing.