Okay, so Walt's got a lampshade on his head at 2:30 in the afternoon, but most of the rest of us seem to be starting up slowly. So my ultra-important gaming question is:

What do you eat during games?

Yeah yeah, pizza, I know. Anybody get more creative than that? Or idiosyncratic?

For one game I was in recently, my wife and I would go to this huge Asian (read: Chinese, mostly) supermarket near us and buy a small collection of weird cakes and munchies. Squid-flavor crackers, sponge-cake with egg custard inside, Men's Poky (I can't resist the name), etc. Other folks started to get into this concept, and would bring bags of sour-cream-and-onion pork rinds and other truly appalling things.

And then, yes, we'd actually eat them.

Furthermore, the best games I've been in have generally, at some point in the proceedings, moved from soda to beer or wine. The worst game I was ever in, I discovered when this came up that only one other player ever drank alcohol at all, and he was the one who had to drive home.

So what do you snarf?

Chinese food, generally.
We tend to combine our gaming with anime-watching, Charades, Pictionary, and chili parties... and when there's no chili (or Thanksgiving leftovers), Chinese takeout is so convenient. Indian takeout sometimes, too.

I keep trying to vote for Chinese, but it does seem to run 2-3 times the cost of pizza to feed a similar-sized crowd. And that's not all that good for my current group, whose members seem, one and all, to be in some sort of financial pickle. So, it's pizza and pizza and pizza.

Last group I was in, it was also pizza, but one of the players brought these little brownie-bites and some powdered-donut-holes every week. Yum. Really added a lot to the game, I thought. I've considered starting that with my new group, but haven't gotten around to it yet (carring that stuff on a motorcycle takes some talent, assuming you don't want it popping open or breaking in your backpack).

I've played in games where the players drank beer/wine, but I'm a teetotaller. I drink... water. That's it. Recently I actually drank some Kool-aid, which is out of the norm for me.

Ha! I mock you all. :)

We eat very well. Every game session somebody cooks dinner for us all; we even had a schedule.

Here are our last few meals:

Chicken Alfredo Stir Fry
Kajaou
Tacos
Pizza
Chicken Alfredo
Creamy Chicken Soup
Tortellini
Fried Chicken & Mashed Potatoes
Okinomiyaki
White Lasagna

Hmm.... there has been a lot of chicken and cream sauce these last couple months. Interesting.

The idea of drinking during game... never occurred to us. Many of us don't drink at all, so that's not really all so suprising.

We eat well too, when we can be bothered - it just isn't so frequent as every time we meet. We take turns making a big batch of chili, which is lovely because everyone does it differently; last time it was my turn, I used three different kinds of meat.

There's a nice restaurant near downtown Raleigh called the Irregardless, run by a friend of the family. The owner lets us play in a back room, and we order normally with a slight discount for regular business. This is addedly convenient because half my group is Jewish and the Irregardless' kitchen is, like the owner, Kosher.

Identify the false sentence and win a virtual cookie.
--Jeff

Jeph wrote: This is addedly convenient because half my group is Jewish and the Irregardless' kitchen is, like the owner, Kosher.

Spirit over letter. DISqualified.

Guarhhh!!!

I was robbed.

We had a teriyaki thing going for a while.

One of the high points to my most recent games were large bowls of garlic hummus and pitas supplied by the hosts...


mmmmmmm

I once rendered Matt Wilson, Yasha Cunningham, and Dan Root (dar) unconcious with a bowl of chili during a Sorcerer game. Two cans of Guinness, a boatload of smoked pablano chiles, and some cane syrup added up to near-death sleepy-chili.

Otherwise, I order pizza a lot, or eat chips and salsa. I'm sort of a dick about drinking at games, though - I've never once enjoyed it when I or others drank at a game.

I once rendered Matt Wilson, Yasha Cunningham, and Dan Root (dar) unconcious with a bowl of chili during a Sorcerer game. Two cans of Guinness, a boatload of smoked pablano chiles, and some cane syrup added up to near-death sleepy-chili.

I would have to say that the best food and game experience that I've ever had was with "Legend of the Five Rings." I played in this game for a few years once a week and every week someone, if not all of us, would pick up some Thai food from done the road before we started to get us in the mood for a foreign styled game. And if you don't know what "Legend of the Five Rings" (L5R) is than try to think of the culture of Japan, but place it on the main land where china is.

Since we game on Sunday afternoon and usually none of us have eaten lunch, some sort of meal is required. Pizza is the default. I do like to cook, so if I have the time and opportunity, I'll perpare a meal. Lately, it's been more pizza than home-cooking. The menu varies based on my whim--from meatloaf to Boeuf à la Bourguignonne to Brunswick stew to a Thai duck and rice dish. Many times the above will be served with beer or wine as appropriate.

Julie

Most of my players travel straight from work, so we eat Pizza just before the start. During which we get the preamble out of the way. After that, Pringles and Haribo have an outing.

When we order out and/or don't plan, it's almost always pizza. When we plan a little more, it's usually D-hou's (Chinese Food). Chinese is about twice as expensive, but the real drawbacks are the non-delivery and that one of the group (used to be two) aren't fond of Chinese.

Occasionally I go crazy and cook something up-- often a casserole or enchiladas. It's appreciated, but since I'm usually host, cleaning/straightening and enjoying a day of sunshine gets priority most of the time.

Desserts though are easy and much appreciated-- I work those in whenever possible.

I don't eat during games. But I can generally be found with a beer, fine old scotch, or glass of wine in my hand when GMing, I tend not to drink when playing though - mostly 'cos I'm driving.

Balut.

Well, okay, not really. Despite being filipino and living in Manila, I've never actually eaten balut in my entire life (the shame!). But this remains a distinct possibility for many of my playing group friends should the balut vendor pass by. There's also pork rinds (different kinds, ranging from light and fluffy to ultra-tuff ), and tahó (a drink made of syrup and soybean curd). Failing to procure those means we get grilled chicken or, yes, pizza.

- W.

Do you mean during the game or before / after the game? I never thought of eating during the game... That would make for an interesting scene enhancer...

I like it...

...

Dots are great...

As a side note, did Cannibal: the RPG ever get off the ground? If you recall, the food you ate during the game was part of the mechanic, because your characters were cannibals.

I don't want to know...

No, come on, it was a great idea. One of the funniest things about it was this idea that you had to eat things to get power, and you had to pick a food you actually wanted to eat. Ideally, you had to pick something that you really liked but didn't actually want to eat all that much of. So as the game went on, you'd be increasingly unwilling to use any power -- i.e. eat people -- because you just couldn't stand eating another whatever.

I thought it would be extra-funny if you had to choose something basically disgusting that you actually liked, like maybe pork rinds or something. And it wouldn't be one pork rind per act, either -- maybe a whole big-ass handful. By late in the session you'd be feeling faintly ill and quite guilty, which of course was the point.

What? Why are you all looking at me that way?

You know, home-made cracklings of some kind would be perfect. In small quantities, a joy; in large quantities, likely to make you vomit. You could do the same thing with alcohol and drinking blood, a sort of vampire game with a twist, but of course by the end everyone would be so sloshed that you'd have to have a host who'd put everyone up on the couch. You could do it with big cups of strong coffee or tea, I suppose. You ever have really far too much coffee, to the point where you start to feel really sick and dizzy?

Now everyone's slowly sidling away and not making eye contact. Hmm.