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The Legend of the Greasepole is a game that began its life on July 1st, 1996, when a group of Engineering students from Queen’s University in Canada decided they’d create a way to re-live their unexplainable annual tradition from the comfort of their long-suffering computers.

The release of the Silverlight 2 Beta has allowed the game to goop its way to the web! In fact, here it is! (There are sound and fullscreen toggles in the upper-right-hand corner.)

Read the ‘cooks’ (lingo for student notes) for tips. Click mouse to perform actions, Shift to toggle tools, Space to do something silly (try it with beer).

Over the next few days, I’ll write more about how this was possible, and some of the many things I’ve learned about Silverlight development in the process.

For now, though, I’d love to hear how/if the game works for you!

If you didn’t study Engineering at Queen’s, the game isn’t going to make much sense. I mean, honestly, it hardly makes sense to me any more, and I’ve been to six real-life greasepole events myself.

Basically, the premise of the game is that the Frosh (first-year students), who are supposed to learn teamwork through the pole climb event, are a little too keen this year. So, as a thoughtful upper-year student, you need to gently stall the Frosh for as long as you can with whatever you can find as they attempt to (and ultimately do) wrest the tam from the top of the greasepole.

First one to 900 Achievement Points gets a pizza. Really… send me a screenshot and a mailing address.

Related Posts: [updated 30 Jul 08]

Silverlight Greasepole Game Engine Notes

Silverlight 2 Beta Performance

Congratulations to Sci ’11 for their one-hour, 47-minute conquering of this year’s greasepole!

Can we all just take a moment to reflect on the academic year called “Sci ’11″?  Man, I feel old all of a sudden.

Just for giggles, here’s the current list of achievements for Legend of the Greasepole.  I wonder how the crowd around this year’s greasepole would have done.

Pole in Ten (Years!) - (100) -  Stall the frosh for at least 10 minutes
Show Some Discipline - (10) – Proudly display the Discipline bar on your Engineering jacket.
Desperate Times, Desperate Measures - (10) – Wind up your arm fully, completely before you toss a road apple.
It’s The Jam, It’s All Good For You - (20) – Offer ‘za or a drink to the Engineering Society President.
You’re a Hoser - (20) – Cool down the frosh with water from the firehose.
Golden Soda - (50) – Offer a drink to hard-working Al ‘Pop Boy’ Burchell.
Like Homecoming, But With Lanolin - (50) – Quench the crowd’s thirst ’til they slam their leather jackets.
Dizzying Heights - (50) – Send a frosh flying all the way from tam to pit-water.
Iron Ring Ceremony – (100) – Unleash the power of the mighty Iron Ring.
Double Fisting - (150) – Wear two Iron Rings at the same time!
Exam Avoidance – (50) – Stall the frosh for five minutes without lobbing a physics ‘smart bomb’.
Fully Loaded Fun Fur - (70) – Stuff your pockets with 99 apples, 99 slices of ‘za, or 99 Clark mugs.
Secret Achievement - (??) – Keep stalling the frosh to discover this achievement!
Secret Achievement - (??) – Keep stalling the frosh to discover this achievement!
Secret Achievement - (??) – Keep stalling the frosh to discover this achievement!
Secret Achievement - (??) – Keep stalling the frosh to discover this achievement!