hells_half_acre | Architecture Games!

Lately I've noticed that when I get bored, I sometimes play little games in my head. I have different games for different instances of boredom. So I thought, "I should make a list!"

1. Holy Single-Family Home, Batman! (For when you mysteriously end up in a church, bored out of your tree)

Sometimes I end up in churches (This happens far less than it used to, but it still does happen sometimes - mostly when I'm seeing some community concert or other such event, or when I'm only a little hungry and want just one bite of bread and one sip of wine and I don't feel like paying for it), and whenever I'm in a church, one question always springs immediately to mind:

"How would I convert this church into a single-family home?"

This is easiest to play in North American churches, especially ones built after the 1950s. In Europe, the churches are too big. If you are in Europe, I recommend a variant to this game: "How do I convert this cathedral into the lair of an evil super-villain?"

You can play with more than one person. Whoever comes up with the agreed upon best design wins, or alternatively, you can pool your ideas, and then you both win.

2. What year/decade was that building built? (For when you are walking around a city, and are tired of thinking about the things you usually think about while you are walking around.)

It's an architectural style game! It works best with office buildings. Houses are much harder to pin years to, because the architecture doesn't evolve as much. There are several challange levels:

Basic: What decade was the building built in?

Advanced: Narrow down the decade to beginning, middle, or end.

Expert: Guess the exact year! - This is almost impossible to do, especially since most to of the time there is no way to confirm whether you are correct or not.

Sometimes though, buildings have the year they were built carved into them somewhere visible. It's important not to cheat when this is the case - you have to guess first, and then use the carving to confirm. The other day, I saw a building and I thought "Thirties...no, forties...no, definitely late thirties but ALMOST forties...and then I glanced up and it said "1939" and I thought, "Man, I'm good at my own game!" Then I rounded a corner and couldn't decide if the next building I saw was from the 1960s or 1970s, which served me right for getting cocky, I suppose.

So there you go! Now if you see me starting at the ceiling in a church, or wandering around downtown, you might be able to guess what I'm thinking!