The Amazing Arcade Community Of The Killer Queen League
By TJ Denzer ·
Killer Queen is an arcade like few you'll find anywhere in the world, not to mention a social hive of competition and fun. We spoke in-depth with the KQ-ATX league built around the game in Austin, Texas.
When Twin Galaxies visited Pinballz in Austin, Texas, there was plenty to see among the vast collection of pinball machines, vintage arcade cabinets, ticket games, and attractions, but among it all, there was one particular thing that stood out quite majestically. Tucked among the retro arcades at the Lake Creek location was a glowing and large arcade cabinet known as Killer Queen. Designed by Josh DeBonis and Nikita Mikros of Bumblebear Games, Killer Queen is more than just a nod to good old Freddie Mercury. It’s a 10-player five-versus-five competitive game featuring the retro sensibilities of old school arcade mixed with a clever blend of strategy and tactics.
With that in mind, it may come as no surprise that arcade goers have built official leagues around these quirky cabinets. Pinballz Marketing Manager Gregg Primm briefly explained the league to us on our previous visit, but we had to know more. Luckily, the Killer Queen - Austin, Texas League (KQ-ATX) were willing to invite us back out and show us around the game. We had a chance to sit in on a league night, as well as have a round table discussion with a collection of league members. Involved were KQ-ATX Founder Joe Pollard, Admins and Mug & Games media and event organizers Jonathan Pollard and Brandon Robertson, Admin and competitive player Adriana Steinberg, KQ-ATX attendee and honorary historian Anita Petersen, and Field Marketing Agent Andy Depwe of Lone Star Beer – sponsor for the KQ-ATX.
It All Began In August Of 2016
Rarely have we seen a cabinet like Killer Queen mesh old school sensibilities with unique playstyles and social interaction. Each team is led by a queen character. These must be human players. The rest of the roster is filled by four minions (either human or bot-controlled) who can collect berries to bring back to the team hive, enter gates claimed by the queen to become flying warriors, or ride a big snail at the bottom of the board. Victory occurs when the warriors or queen kill the opposing queen three times, minions collect enough berries to fill the hive, or when a minion rides the snail all the way to an opposing goal. In this way, Killer Queen is an aggressive and constant barrage of on-the-fly strategy and counterplay.
We started by asking how the Killer Queen found its way to Pinballz and how the KQ-ATX found its legs. Joe claims that when he first saw the cabinet, it was practically love at first sight, followed by an organized effort of pitching and networking.
“I’m a regular arcade collector and I love looking for new things and unique things in the market,” Joe explained. “Two years ago, in 2016, I saw Killer Queen on an arcade tour in Chicago. I looked at this thing and it was easy to see there was something different and special here. As a ten-player game that’s a mix of things like the original Mario Bros. arcade and Joust, it’s a very social game. Once I knew I wanted to play it, I immediately wrote emails to the game developers, Josh DeBonis and Nikita Mikros of Bumblebear Games, and another email to Pinballz owner Darren Spohn as he was getting ready to open the Lake Creek location. I essentially pitched to Darren that he had to have this game in a Pinballz establishment and that we were ready to build a league around this cabinet. Everybody agreed to go in on the game from there and my brother and I were the first two to be there on that inaugural first night of the league. We pulled in friends, met wonderful people from our existing networks and new places, and founded our Facebook Group where a lot of other people jumped in.”
Though the league had humble beginnings, it began to gain interest of all types. From new gamers, to old school, to people rediscovering a fun hobby, even the collection of folks we spoke to had a diverse share of stories to tell about what drew them to the game. For Anita, it was like rekindling a nostalgic joy.
“I’m a reborn gamer,” she explained. “It was something I enjoyed as a kid, but I fell off of it for a while. Killer Queen was something that brought me back into the gaming community recently. I spent 20 years without playing much of anything, and then I came upon this and it sort of reminded me of how much fun I had as a kid.”
Besides the retro vibe between Joust and Mario Bros., There’s the sense of strategy on the fly in Killer Queen. Most importantly, there are teams and team strategies in play at all times. To that end, we asked about how teams had formed in the KQ-ATX. According to many of them, it has been a constant learning process from day one.
“So when we got involved with the developers,” Jonathan explained. “They were actually going to have the first Killer Queen national competition here. Their plan was to bring in crews and experts from some of the other Killer Queen scenes, and use that momentum to build the scene in Austin. Between that and Joe’s efforts to build the community, we were able to field a team for that competition, but we were outmatched. We were all still relatively new to the game and learning some basic things that the other scenes already knew. But, by doing that national competition, we were able to talk to the other players, especially the folks from Chicago and New York KQ scenes, and a lot of them were really helpful and kind enough to give us a bunch of tips on how to play better. We pretty much got buried in that first competition, but it was a big learning experience for us considering we’d had so little time on the cabinet beforehand.”
A Wide Arena With Which To Connect & Compete
KQ-ATX’s initial run at the game in real competition brought up an interesting point. This isn’t the only Killer Queen league. There are in fact groups all over the United States. To that end, we asked about how connection and competition comes together across long distances to one cabinet or another.
“The beauty of this game is that you have to play it in person,” Joe explained. “Nowadays, we spend most of our gaming online with headsets and controllers, connected to a console or PC, and often alone at home. Since you have to play Killer Queen in person, you have to organize a group. That’s where our Facebook Group helped a lot. Other social media helped get the word out as well, but our Facebook Group is how we’ve posted events within our group, but also coordinated for cross-group events as well. That’s also how the national competition came together as well. Bumblebear hosts their one official event, Bumble Bash, every year, in which they pick a different city to bring everyone together. Austin hosted 2016, Minneapolis hosted 2017, and in 2018, we’re all flying to Portland in October for the third annual event. It’s kind of a social media phenomenon that brings us all together, not just here in Austin, but all over the country.”
“It’s amazing too,” Jonathan added, speaking to the League’s social media connection. “Our Facebook Group is extremely active and we are in there a lot, but Austin members make up maybe 50% of the total chatter. We’ve got folks from the Minneapolis, St. Louis, New York, Chicago scenes, and more regularly interacting with us even though this group is specifically for our local Austin scene. We do the same, getting into their groups and mixing it up as well. Because the game has such a competitive and cooperative spirit, sometimes we travel to other cities either on our own or as a group and join up with their teams for competition. It also builds friendships and networks between our crew and those in other parts of the country.”
Cultivating The League At Home
To help grow the league’s presence, the KQ-ATX actually recently gained a sponsor in Lone Star Beer, who have been helping them to both spread the word and keep activity going strong in the league. Lone Star Field Marketing Agent Andy Depwe was on hand to talk about how this partnership came together.
“The social aspect of this game where people have to get out, often go to bars, and interact with people in person attracted Lone Star to the scene,” Andy explained. “It moves our product for sure, but it also helps them get people involved. We work together and it’s an enjoyable, friendly relationship with good people. The KQ-ATX has a direction and a vision they want to go and we’re happy to be along for the ride, promote our product, and help where we can.”
“We certainly wouldn’t have been able to advance as fast as we have as far as the organization goes without the help of sponsors,” Jonathan added. “It’s very important for us to have that help in getting our name out there too. One of the core foundations of the KQ-ATX is community. We want to build those social bonds and that outreach and we want to use what we have to have fun and do good things.”
It’s not just good drinks KQ-ATX has partnered with either (although Lone Star is a great partner to the league). KQ-ATX has also worked with quite a few charities to make a positive difference in the Austin community as Jonathan further explained.
“We actually partnered with Extra Life for an event to help build children’s hospitals in Austin. A good portion of our proceeds went to Dell Children’s Medical Center and that’s a great feeling for us to not only build our gaming community, but also help build resources and support for our local community in Austin.”
The crew at KQ-ATX was thrilled to see their work with Extra Life come to a solid outcome, but they aren’t satisfied. They’re striving to outperform themselves in future charity events.
“With that Extra Life event in November of 2017, we raised nearly $4,000 with just two weeks of planning,” Joe noted. “What’s great is that we feel like we can do even better. Next time, we have an even larger goal and we feel like we’ll be able to do it and help out the Children’s Miracle Network and Dell Children’s Medical Center even further.”
“They also lent a hand to Toys for Tots with a giftwrapping event built around one of the tournaments,” Andy added. “We had a bunch of folks that were playing Killer Queen, bringing in their gifts, and getting them wrapped for donations on behalf of the KQ-ATX. And it’s great to see just how important charity and community is to this group. It’s something Lone Star is proud to support.”
The Beauty Of KQ-ATX From The Eyes Of Its Regulars
With two years under the belt of the KQ-ATX we asked what some of their favorite stories from their time in the league were. For a few of them, it wasn’t just growing the league at home, but also helping Killer Queen leagues grow elsewhere.
“One of my favorite moments was when a bunch of the League took a trip up to Dallas,” Anita recalled. “Dallas is a fairly new Killer Queen league, so we went up there to give them a hand and help recruit. We drove up for the weekend, played our fair share of games, invited people in, and helped them build their competitive scene. And it was a beneficial thing because with Dallas being so close, we’d love to help their competitive scene grow so we can do more tournaments together with them.”
“A couple players also came down from the Chicago scene came down to the Dallas area and we were happy to meet them and play with them,” Brandon added. “Usually when people come to visit from other scenes, we’ll totally figure out a time to get together with them. And they’ll generally extend the same courtesy to us as well if we let them know ahead of time.”
Adriana recalled good memories of one of her first times going to compete in another scene’s tournament.
“I like playing warrior in the game and tend to be a little bit on the aggressive side,” Adriana described. “I competed up in Chicago and met a lot of really awesome people. For me it was awesome to see a lot of competitive ladies in the leagues. I was one of the only ones I knew of for a long time. That said, just going to another scene and getting a feel for how into it some groups around the country are was wild and fun to see.”
“We got crushed,” Brandon added. “But Adriana definitely did the best out of all of us by far, to the point where she was getting shout outs from the commentary team.”
More than that, the KQ-ATX is a bonding experience. Playing socially with one another at a stand-up cabinet on the regular has build friendships between the team that many of them cherish.
“When I really think about it, we’re almost like a family here,” Adriana admitted. “I can’t think of anything I’ve committed so much time to as consistently as this. A lot of people here have done the same and feel the same. We do it because we enjoy it and it has helped us to build an awesome community.”
Collaboration With Pinballz And Inviting New Faces
Killer Queen is a daunting game for sure, but Marketing Manager Gregg Primm and Pinballz lend a hand in eliminating the risk and fear of being the weak link in a 5vs5 game. When we spoke with Gregg, who also takes part in the league, he mentioned that one of the things Pinballz does for Killer Queen is First Friday Free Play, where on the first Friday of a month, the Pinballz staff puts the Killer Queen cabinet on free play for a few hours to invite new players to more easily join in. As Joe describes, both KQ-ATX and Pinballz have benefitted wonderfully from it.
“For the most part Gregg as a Marketing Director has just been great to bounce ideas off of for growing the League and making sure everything that we do is okay,” Joe admitted. “The First Friday Free Play was his idea and it helps us so much with recruiting people in because it lowers the bar of entry and the game becomes so much more open and inviting.”
The benefits of this have been seen across the board by the KQ-ATX team, from education about the game to building their ranks.
“It creates a lot of teaching moments,” Anita explained. “We step aside to let the new people play and if anyone is curious, we’re happy to be there to explain what’s going on and answer questions about the game. It’s really cool to see that glow in the eyes of people as they start to get it and before they know it, they’re deep in regular games and don’t even realize it.”
“I feel like this game intimidates a lot of people,” Adriana added. “But one good aspect of Killer Queen is that you can start out easy and just nail down the basics, and then eventually as you spend more time with it, you can get more complicated with what you do in game. You’ll just have to surrender to the fact that you’ll probably suck at first, but once you get involved with it and learn from others, it’s really fun to learn as you go. Part of what makes the game so interesting is that you’ve got two teams with five people on each team, different roles to fill, and different ways to win that it really makes play styles and strategies endless.”
Brandon went on to describe how the Friday Night Free Play events have made permanent friends of people who started on sheer curiosity, adding to the ranks of the League and bringing in diversified playstyles.
“There are a good bunch of people in our scene who are active players in our weekly Monday Night League who started out in the First Friday Free Play just checking out the game from the side,” Brandon described. “We invited them in and now some of them have become some of our longest active players. And it’s so great because even some of us who have been playing since 2016 continue to learn new stuff we can do as individuals and as teams as we’re playing. The power of the team is very distributed. There’s no one person that can simply be so good that they dominate for everybody against a well-working team that’s cooperating. It really doesn’t matter how skilled you are. If you can’t work together to make things happen as a group, you’re probably not going to win. A cooperative and coordinated team will almost always triumph.”
Much of the KQ-ATX crew also expressed a constant effort to keep the league in good fun and keep drama out of the pool to ensure a safe and enjoyable competitive environment.
“One of the things that comes with building this league is keeping everything good-spirited,” Jonathan claimed. “We maintain a group we try to keep entirely free of toxicity, because that’s the kind of thing that can damage or kill a community. If you get a reputation for not taking care of those problems before they become big or well-known, it can really stagnate the group, just as in any competitive game. We really make an effort to ensure that at the end of the day, the community is a good natured group of people that just want to have fun and compete.”
“It’s especially important because of where we are,” Anita added. “We get a lot of kids. You have to remember that we’re in a family-friendly environment with Pinballz and we’ll have plenty of kids that want to come along and try the game, even if they can barely see over the control board, and it’s definitely our responsibility to make sure those kids are always playing in a good environment when it comes to the KQ-ATX.”
The Future Of Killer Queen Leagues
With so much built from the ground up over the course of the last two years within the fairly fertile grounds of the Lake Creek Pinballz to depend on as home base, we asked what the future holds for the KQ-ATX, as well as other Killer Queen leagues around the country. Much of the table felt highly optimistic about the potential of this unique cabinet and its social reach.
“We’re in a great spot right now with steady Monday League Nights, good sponsors, the group continually growing, and the magic ripe for us to be able to capitalize on with this community and experience,” Joe explained. “The challenge we’ve got is to grow the group even further, not just here in Pinballz, but on Facebook as well. And then there’s just being able to represent ourselves when it’s time compete and making a dent in the national scene. We’re all naturally competitive, so building the skill level of our group and making our game work when it comes to being in tournaments and things like that.”
Members of the KQ-ATX also believe in the future of the game outside of their local scene. Jonathan believes with time, Killer Queen leagues around the nation can truly organize into something more official and spectacular.
“We’re working with other leaders of other Killer Queen communities to organize a sort of official competitive league,” Jonathan added. “It’s something the original creators had in mind, and some groups have tried, but not quite made something that satisfied everyone. However, that was over a year ago and now people are coming together to organize a more firm and organic national league again. We’re all-in on it and I expect that once we’re able to get that community together and super-organized that we’ll be able to bring Killer Queen into a much more public space and maybe even eventually turn it into an actual esport.”
The KQ-ATX has lofty goals ahead of it, but the foundation has been set and the crew behind it seems ready to build it further and further inside and out. With events like South By Southwest, expanding leagues throughout Texas, opportunities to help the community around them, and continuous connection and interaction with scenes around the rest of the nation, KQ-ATX seems prepared to meet whatever the future brings. That said, at the very least, it’s a fantastic opportunity for good-spirited and competitive people to get together around a fantastic arcade game and enjoy it with a great group of people. As long as that wholesome spirit of competition and community remain at the core, everything else just might be cherries on top for KQ-ATX.
If you’d like to learn more about Killer Queen or find a cabinet near you, you can check out the official Killer Queen website. You can also find the KQ-ATX streams, hosted by Mug And Games on their Twitch Channel.