Did you know that in 1977 the most famous arena of play for gamers in Minneapolis was the Community Room of the Model City Police Precinct?
A game club called the “Old Guards” met there on Saturdays. Its president was Tom Zwirn. The “Old Guards” began setting up each Saturday morning at 10:30 and were ready for play by 11:00.
Any random Saturday would find 15-20 gamers and 4-5 referees gathered in the Community Room. A small group might play army miniatures at one table while a larger group would likely be immersed in the game for which the Community Room was most renowned…the game of Traveller.
Here is how Mr. Zwirm described the Community Room’s long-running Saturday game of Traveller to a reporter:
“Each player goes through the roling process (which is done by rolling the dice, so it is a little confusing). It gives him his role identity. It gives him his IQ, his various abilities, his branch of the service or nonservice. He may get ships, in which case he hires crews.
Once the character is roled up he hands the dice to his referee who describes the encounter, whether the character has seen anything, whether there is a star system there or not. The referee, having generated a scenario states the purpose, and you take it from there.
My purpose is based on H.G. Piper’s Space Viking and I start people out in four different areas of my galaxy. They go through what a spaceflight would be like – colonizing, organizing a planet, creating trade, and so on.
In general they are defending their borders and increasing the boundaries of their empire. So you keep on until you die or get killed. Usually, the guy who dies will role-in a new character while the game goes on and then join the situation at that time.
It’s not really a win/lose type of game. The whole game – to simplify – boils down to how well you handle a given situation at a given time. Satisfaction comes from the job well done. There are no verdicts from the referees. If the player is fairly well-versed, he’ll know whether he’s done a good job, and so will nearly everyone else.”
From the Minneapolis StarTribune of December 11, 1977