Hockey Havoc

It is rare to come across a group of 11 year old boys who not only play and enjoy hockey games – but dance games as well. This was exactly the case this past Tuesday when The Doctor and The Avenger attended Brett’s 12th birthday celebrations.

Game Asylum is all about having fun, being crazy, working together, and being The Best Gamer You Can Be. Staying true to yourself is a big part of that. Brett and his hockey friends were not afraid to show their true colours throughout his party, while still on their best behaviour. (Clonazepam) A rare and wonderful combination for our Party Heroes!

The first half of the party was NHL 15 across all 4 TV’s, and the second half was supposed to be Call Of Duty. However, the boys were so into their hockey that only a few TV’s changed over. Competitive spirit drove the boys through their hockey games and led to many in game hockey fights. Battle crys of success and anguish were heard from one end of the trailer to the other, as boys scored points and gained penalties in their respective games.

The Avenger paired up with Brett against two of his friends, and did his best to aid The King Of The Trailer in his hockey conquests, however, the two were beaten by AJ – a hockey pro who later went on to beat two other of Brett’s friends in another game. Avenger prides himself on his hockey skills, and to be taken down by AJ was a large blow to his ego. Luckily, Brett was there to make some birthday rules, as he instructed the opposing team to pull their goalie. This led to a few hilarious defensive plays and a few even more hilarious goals. When Brett scored he would run to the other side of the trailer, band on the back door screaming and run back – gathering high fives along the way. Hockey is a serious game!

At about the half way mark, some of the boys changed to Call Of Duty, and some of the boys stayed playing hockey. A third group decided to challenge The Doctor to a few dance battles. She prides herself on her Just Dance abilities, and the boys had to step up their game to keep up. At one point, the song “Let It Go” from Frozen came on and all of the boys in the trailer (led by Brett) sung their own rendition along with the game. It was a beautiful moment for everyone involved.

Seeing such a happy, goofy, fun group of boys playing hockey and dancing together was amazing. Even more amazing was that despite their craziness, they were respectful and well behaved – a true sign that they are growing up into mature adults who will no doubt do great things. But for now, here’s a video of Brett and his friends singing “Let It Go”.

 

 

Game on boys!

Th3 Phoenix

Like others of her kind, Th3 Phoenix was born from the ashes. The ashes of The Game Asylum Phoenix however, were 8-bit pixelated ones, and at the foot of a gigantic Mario volcano.

From a very early age, Th3 Phoenix realized that she had a gift unlike any of her friends; Her powers over fire not only affected the real world – but the video games that she played as well. Mario games seemed especially vulnerable to her attacks. When Th3 Phoenix acquired a fire flower in Mario Kart and used it on those ahead of her, their karts spun out of control, caught fire, and disintegrated around them – disqualifying them from the race! When she played Mario 3D world, Bowser ran from her character in fear. Even the king of evil in the Mario Kingdom knows when he is outmatched.

During her interview for Game Asylum, Th3 Phoenix demonstrated her insane gaming abilities and beat her interviewer so badly that the Wii they were playing on caught fire. She was hired on the spot.

Phoenix has been working at Game Asylum for years now, and she knows everything there is to know about how to do the job, and have fun while doing it. She also loves NHL, and always beats the boys who underestimate her abilities. During team parties, she can be heard above even the loudest of players cursing the referees and egging on her teammates.

If you’re lucky, Th3 Phoenix will school you in the ways of Mario Fire Power and Ultimate Hockey Hero strategy. Just make sure you’re wearing fireproof gloves when gaming with her or things might get too hot to handle – literally!

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The Best Whovian Birthday Party Ever

Game Asylum is known for throwing the Best Birthday Parties ever, but it is rare that we get to provide this service to teenagers. When our Party Heroes heard that they would be attending Jacob’s 13th birthday with a killer game selection to boot, they were excited.

When our Party Hero Th3 Doctor found out that Jacob was a huge Doctor Who fan (the origin of her namesake) she took it upon herself to personalize the party to be the best birthday it could be for Jacob.

The middle TV of the Game Asylum trailer is usually used to play music from the game Just Dance while the kids play on the other TV’s. For Jacob’s party Th3 Doctor decided to sneakily ask his mother what his favourite Doctor Who episode was and play it on the middle TV. When Jacob entered the trailer, he instantly knew which episode it was and got pretty excited about the experience.

The trailer lights are usually set to glow “Game Asylum Green”, but for it to be the Best Birthday Ever for Jacob, Th3 Jester changed them to “Doctor Who Blue”.

To add to the party even more, Th3 Doctor and Th3 Jester dressed up as characters from Doctor Who that Jacob instantly recognized upon their arrival. Not only did Jacob seem impressed, but his parents were also amused by the Party Heroes outfits, being Doctor Who fans as well.

The party itself had the boys playing Halo spanning across 2 TV’s, killing zombies in Left For Dead, and splashing paint at their friends with giant paint rollers in Splatoon. Eventually, the new Super Smash game got put on, and Jacob took on his role as King of the Trailer. The other boys thought they were too cool to have items turned on, but Jacob knew better and turned them all on. It was insanity in the Game Asylum trailer as the boys fought with giant swords, pokeballs, and even chickens!  One round has Th3 Jester and Th3 Doctor versus the boys, and although our Party Heroes fought well, they were no match for Jacob and his friends.

It really was The Best Birthday Party Ever; for Jacob, his friends, and even Th3 Jester and Th3 Doctor who had the privilege of being there for the ride.

 

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Th3 Jester

Th3 Jester is the oldest and longest standing member of the Game Asylum team. If you mention to a child around the tri-cities a “tall skinny guy driving the Game Asylum truck” they will probably remember him.

Th3 Jester is all about goofy fun and games, hence his name. His mother was a trapease artist on The Moon and his father was a ventriloquist, inspiring him to pursue a similar path. He can balance things on his face, impersonate even the most difficult of accents, and juggle up to 10 flaming swords at once. While this might seem fun and entertaining to the average onlooker, Th3 Jester takes his skills very seriously. He trained for 15 years growing up in the mountains of Japan, perfecting his balance and agility. At 2 years of age, he had already matched his teachers best time at ball balancing. The only reason he didn’t surpass it, was because he needed a diaper change.

As a Party Commander, Th3 Jester knows better than anyone how to get kids engaged. He can make any game, regardless of style or age, fun. His favourites are the racing games, such as Blur and Mario Kart and Diddy Kong is his racer of choice in the lather. He is also a professional Minecrafter, and errs on the side of destruction in his play style. He finds fun in the idea of blowing up his fellow Party Heroes’ houses – a true Jester if there ever was one.

Th3 Jester also has extensive knowledge of the Game Asylum equipment, and once had to shrink down to microscopic size to go inside one of the Xbox360’s and repair a loose connection. Unfortunately, when he returned to normal size, the machine accidently stretched him out a bit, hence his current tall skinny appearance. He still regards the experience as a positive one, as now he can reach higher up than any other Hero, and fit into the narrowest of spaces.

Game Asylum is all about bringing our customers the Best Birthday Parties ever, and the fun and shenanigans that Th3 Jester brings along with him to every party that he attends become a massive part of that experience – for children and parents alike.

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Design Asylum – The Creative Side of Gaming

One thing that sets Game Asylum apart from our competitors is out party themes. We have themes that cater to many different age groups and play styles that suit any birthday boy or girl’s taste. That being said, there is always room for change and improvement.

At our Minecraft camp this summer, Party Heroes noticed that the creativity of the campers never failed to amaze and inspire. Minecraft is a game about building and being creative with virtual blocks, and the creations are only limited by the players imagination.

Around the same time that Minecraft camp was going on, a game called Splatoon came out. This game involves the creative use of paint guns and balloon popping to ultimately defeat the other player. Another game with a similar style of paint based creative mayhem, Da Blob, fit with the underlying theme of using ones imagination and creative skill competitively. Add in Boom Blox, a game that involves a lot of blocks and a lot of strategic explosions and you have the newest Game Asylum theme – Design Asylum.

It always amazes our Party Heroes how smart kids are. Giving them challenges and goals seems to really push the limits of their creativity. That is ultimately what this theme is all about and the amount of satisfaction kids get building a giant minion in minecraft blocks, or covering an entire city in paint before anyone else is amazing.

There is also the added bonus with this theme of a take home for the birthday child. A massive paint covered poster that all the guests can sign, draw on, and write messages on throughout the party makes for a fantastic keepsake and a fun activity for the kids between games. As hard as it is to pull a child away from a game, giving them free creative reign of a giant poster seems to be competitive for their attention.

If one is looking for a creative birthday party, look no further. Design Asylum has you covered.

 

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Adventures in Lucas Land

Sometimes at Game Asylum, we get requests for something special. Our Party Heroes are not only fantastic at their jobs, but also fantastic at accommodating for special requests. In the case of Lucas and his Minecraft party – he wanted to be challenged.

Lucky for him, his mother booked Game Asylum and in doing so, she booked the very best. When The Doctor and The Patronus showed up at Lucas’ house, they had a full list of challenges for the boys to complete that tested their current Minecraft knowledge and survival skills to the limits.

First, there was a Player versus Player warmup on a map our Party Heroes called “Lucas Land”. It was every Minecraft Man for himself, as the boys spent 10 minutes gathering resources and building bases. There were 7 chests filled with random supplies hidden across the island-style map that the boys took note of, but couldn’t open, during their preparation. Once the 10 minutes was up, the chaos began. Lucas picked the second best gamer at his party to play with, and it posed him a challenge in combat. When all hope seemed lost for him, he opened a chest and a bow and arrow was there to help him out. He needed to gather wood from the only tree left on the island, but his friend was guarding it with his life. Lucas used his bow and arrow, snuck in as best he could and let out one of the best battle cries our Party Heroes had ever heard in the trailer. Unfortunately, his friend had seen him coming and attacked him before he could mine his precious Minecraft tree.

The Minecraft carnage ended when one person on each TV had 10 kills under their belt. Then came part 2 of the amazing party – the scavenger hunt. (blogs.20minutos.es)

The boys worked together in pairs, and used tons of Minecraft strategy to acquire the items on their scavenger hunt lists. Boys who had previously been chasing each other around maps with swords and pick axes were now hunting and mining together. The boys took the scavenger hunt very seriously, and ultimately, everyone did very well.

At this point, the boys played The Creative Challenge, which was of Lucas’ creation. They gathered their resources in the creative mode of Minecraft first, (which essentially meant that each boy had on full diamond armor) then built massive strongho0lds for protection. The combat style for this round involved a LOT more Minecraft TNT and exploding cows!

Overall, the boys left the party feeling challenged and accomplished – something that Lucas had been looking for when booking with Game Asylum that the Party Heroes were happy to deliver.

Minecraft

Minecraft player versus player in full diamond armor.

Banana Minecraft Mania

Tuesdays are always a busy day at Game Asylum. When gamers come running home after a busy day and our giant fun filled video game trailer is there waiting for them, they often can’t wait to hop aboard – especially when the trailer contains enough Minecraft to have the boys thinking in blocks for days after the party ends!

When our Party Heroes pulled up at Jason’s house, they were greeted by happy screams and yells from the party guests and a relived sigh from Jason’s mom. The boys counted down the minutes until the Party Heroes had everything set up, and screamed along with the intro. Many of Jason’s guests had been at previous Game Asylum parties, themed mostly with our Asylum Craft (Minecraft Theme), and knew exactly how things went. One boy, had partied with one of our Party Heroes, The Doctor, 3 times previously and hugged her when he realized she was there.
Many parents love Game Asylum because we offer a way for them to entertain their child for their birthday and all of their friends without having to leave the house. These kids were like a ball of energy, and when the Party Hero’s asked them if they were ready to play video games the kids let out their loudest battlecrys and ran at the trailer like their shoes were on fire.

This particular party was an Asylum Mixer, though Jason was all about Minecraft. The boys on his TV started out with classic Minecraft Hunger Games, which is a player versus player style of play. It was Jason and his best friend versus two of the other boys, and they built security bunkers to keep each other out. Truces were made and broken within minutes, and the other kids in the trailer even came over to watch the action. Eventually, the boys had enough of fighting each other, and changed over to the more peaceful, Creative Mode of Minecraft play, where they built amazing structures and tamed horses.

Some of the boys that were less into Minecraft, spent the party playing 8 player Smash Bros. One of the boys had some serious skill at the game, and the others decided to team up and try and beat him. Even with the help of the Game Asylum Party Heroes, they were unable to take the master down, and at the end of the party, he ultimately won the Game Asylum Cup, along with two of the other boys.

A running theme through the party was “bananas”, and one of the boys wanted to be called “Rainbow Banana” through the party. Usually the Party Heroes get the kids to yell GAME ASYLUM for their last party photo, but because these kids loved bananas so much, they did their last photo a little bit differently…

 

(click below to check out Jason and his friends at the end of his party!)

Undead Asylum – A Zombie Party for the Ages

    There is only one day of the year that an Undead Asylum zombie party is TRULY an Undead Asylum zombie party, and that is on Halloween. Cassandra and Trinity probably had this in mind when they booked Game Asylum for, not their birthdays, but a Massive Halloween Zombie Themed Bash. The two girls had to sacrifice both of their birthdays for the event, so the Party Heroes knew it had to be special.

    When the Hero’s pulled up curbside, the house was completely decked out for Halloween. The girls were dressed to impress in their most creative (and terrifying!) costumes. Zombie dolls and an undead bride were followed into the trailer by a genie and a girl who had Smarties glued to a pair of jeans (Smartie Pants).

     Some of the girls hadn’t played much in the way of zombie shooters, but took quickly to the genre with games like Left For Dead and Call Of Duty – Zombie Mode. Trinity, the older of the girls, spent the party with her friend Kate playing Left For Dead. The two girls battled their way through horde after horde of the invasion, and worked together as a team to reach the Safe House of each game chapter. Trinity had a nasty habit of accidently “Startling The Witch”, which in zombie terms means “Ensuring your in-game Death”, much to Kate’s dismay. Still, the girls managed to finish an entire zombie campaign during the party, including the boss level and only have one of their team members die in the process. Fortunately, it was neither of their characters, so to them, it was a victory.

    Cassandra took some time playing a variety of games during the party, but ultimately settled on Call of Duty – Zombie Mode with 3 of her friends. This game is not easy, and the girls worked tirelessly together as they leveled up and kicked some serious zombie butt. Everyone in the trailer would know exactly when one of the girls encountered a new zombie, as they would scream and yell, showing off their battle cries.

    Overall, an Undead Asylum any day of the year involves the very best of zombie slaying, but having Cassandra and Trinity’s on Halloween really added that special spooky touch.

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Minecraft Summer Camp – Week 4 – 2015

This week at Minecraft camp, our campers REALLY loved their Redstone and built some amazing contraptions with it.

 

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