Directed by Greg Francis. With Beau Mirchoff, Ron Perlman, Giancarlo Esposito, Titus Welliver. When a new detective is caught by a vicious psychopath and locked in a basement, he must use the knowledge he learned from some of the best detectives at Poker Night, then match wits against his captor. The 8th Annual Ed Asner & Friends Celebrity Poker Night was a night of stars and virtual cards and a huge success raising in excess of $150,000 in much needed funds for The Ed Asner Family Center (Teafc) dedicated to working with exceptional individuals with autism, developmental delays and other special needs and their families.

Poker Night at the Inventory is a poker video game developed by Telltale Games. It features four characters: Tycho Brahe from the Penny Arcade webcomic, Max from the Sam & Max franchise, the RED Heavy from Team Fortress 2, and Strong Bad from the Homestar Runner web series. The game was released on November 22, 2010.^[1] A sequel, Poker Night 2, was released in 2013. The game was delisted from Steam in May 2019.^[2]

Plot[edit]

The Inventory is a secret club built underneath a video game storage warehouse. It was established in 1919, after a first draft of the 18th Amendment was acquired by a group of connected gamblers. It was discovered that it could not only outlaw libations, but games and amusements that could decrease the productivity of the national workforce. Despite this never coming to pass, the club has existed since in secret, just in case Congress tried to set prohibition into law. As a newcomer, the player competes in a friendly game of Texas Hold'emPoker with Max of Sam & Max, Strong Bad from Homestar Runner, Tycho from Penny Arcade, and the Heavy from Team Fortress 2. The player is first greeted by Reginald Van Winslow, former captain of the Screaming Narwhal, and sidekick to Guybrush Threepwood in Tales of Monkey Island. He explains the back story of the Inventory, and raises the blinds in game. Other characters from Telltale's games make cameo appearances in the introduction sequence.

Gameplay[edit]

Poker Night is a computer-based Texas Hold 'Em poker simulation between the player as an unseen participant and the four characters, Max, Tycho, The Heavy, and Strong Bad. Each player starts with a $10,000 buy-in and stays in the game until they are broke, with the goal of the player being the last player standing. The game uses no-limit betting and a gradually-increasing blind bets over the course of several rounds. Randomly, one of the four non-playable characters will not be able to front the money but will offer one of their possessions as buy-in for the game. The player can win these items as Team Fortress 2 unlockable equipment only if they are the one to bust that non-player character out of the game. The game keeps track of the player's statistics over the course of several games, and by completing certain objects (such as number of hands or games won) can unlock different playing card or table artwork to customize the look of the game.^[3]

Development[edit]

On May 15, 2009, Telltale Games started a survey which was meant to gauge fan reaction to a sequel to Telltale Texas Hold'em.^[4] While the team liked the deep conversations that the characters in the original game had, they decided to not go down the same path for the new game, using recognizable licensed characters rather than original 'generic' ones.^[5]

Poker Night grew out of an idea from Telltale employees, wondering 'what video characters do when they're not 'on the clock' in the games we play', according to Telltale CEO Dan Conners.^[6] From there, they pitched the idea to other companies in the industry and were able to work out which characters they would be able to include.^[6] Telltale considered how the four characters would interact with each other, developing dialog, banter, and reactions to certain plays.^[7] The characters, they decided, would be fully voiced, and would have distinctive tells and dynamic responses that would manifest themselves as the game progressed.^[6] Conners stated that the goal was to create the experience of 'hanging out with their virtual buddies, shooting the breeze and playing a good game of poker'.^[7] Telltale is considering a potential series based on this game using different characters in the future, but would need to see sales exceeding 100,000 to 200,000 units to make it feasible.^[7]

Telltale Games have had previous experience working with several of the characters. Two of Telltale's episodic adventure series include three seasons of Sam & Max and Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People based on the Homestar Runner web series; both were developed in conjunction with the original creators, Steve Purcell^[8] and The Brothers Chaps,^[9] respectively. The appearance of Max and Strong Bad in Poker Night are based on the three-dimensional models from these games. The company's team were also fans of Valve's Team Fortress 2, including creating an informal team to participate in a competition between several game development studios; Telltale offered to create unique items based on Sam & Max to be given as a bonus gift for those who purchased the third season of Sam & Max through Steam, and formed a friendly working relationship with Valve as a result.^[10]

Telltale aimed to make the game dialog-centric between the four featured characters. To that end, they created a large amount of dialog for each character and possible interactions between the characters; according to Jake Rodkin, Telltale's graphic designer, they wrote more lines of dialog for the game than a typical Sam & Max adventure episode.^[3] Telltale always wanted to respect the original characters and worked with the individual creators and studios to improve the lines; they previously had gotten similar input from Matt Chapman for Strong Bad, while Jerry Holkins was extremely helpful to refine Tycho's character based on Telltale's draft dialog.^[3][11] The developers also wanted to avoid any forced interactions, and instead developed what they felt were natural relationships: Tycho dislikes Strong Bad while getting along well with Max, while the Heavy looks upon Strong Bad as a tiny Heavy.^[3] The characters are also written to be somewhat cognizant of their nature; according to Rodkin, Tycho and Strong Bad are aware of their video game nature, while Max is ambiguous and the Heavy remains blissfully unaware of his death-and-respawning cycle, simply attributing his memories of dying over and over again as dreams.^[12]

Poker Night is the first game to include a voice artist for Tycho; provided by voice actor Andrew 'Kid Beyond' Chaikin. The other three characters are voiced by their current voice actors: Max by William Kasten, Heavy by Gary Schwartz, and Strong Bad by Matt Chapman. The game uses existing 3D models for Max, Heavy, and Strong Bad, while Tycho's is built from scratch; at the time of the game's announcement near the Penny Arcade Expo, Telltale was still working on refining Tycho's model, though it was briefly seen during their Make a Scene panel at PAX.^[13][14]

Poker Night Images Clip Art

The game was teased by Telltale Games a week prior to its official announcement through a short video on GameTrailers TV, showing the silhouettes of the four characters' official art.^[15] The game was officially announced by Telltale Games on September 2, 2010, the eve of the 2010 Penny Arcade Expo.^[7] Players who have also purchased Team Fortress 2 will be able to unlock unique items based on the four respective franchises within that game through progress in Poker Night; a special poker visor for Team Fortress 2 was also available for those that pre-ordered the game.^[16]

Reception[edit]

The game received favorable reviews. Review aggregator website Metacritic gave the game a 71/100.^[17] It has garnered praise for the memorable interactions between characters and their unique strategies, but received criticism for its relatively lacking animation quality and for numerous bugs, while having favorable praise for the game's sense of humor.

Sequel[edit]

Poker Night Imdb Cast

On April 1, 2013, Telltale officially announced a sequel, titled Poker Night 2, featuring Brock Samson from The Venture Bros., Claptrap from the Borderlands series, Ash Williams from The Evil Dead franchise, and Sam from Sam & Max as opponents. GLaDOS from the Portal series serves as the dealer. Other characters such as Max from Sam & Max, the Aperture Science turrets from Portal, and Mad Moxxi and Steve the Bandit from Borderlands make non-playable appearances.^[19] The game was released on Steam, Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network in late April 2013.^[20]

References[edit]

1. ^'A Release Date. Poker Night Has One'. Telltale Games. November 18, 2010. Retrieved November 18, 2010.
2. ^https://steamdb.info/app/31280/history/
3. ^ ^abcdHerring, Will (September 6, 2010). 'PAX 2010: Poker Night at the Inventory'. GamePro. Archived from the original on September 12, 2010. Retrieved September 6, 2010.
4. ^'Telltale Texas Hold'em 2 no'. The International House of Mojo. May 15, 2009. Retrieved May 29, 2013.
5. ^'How Evil Dead, Venture Bros. and Borderlands ended up at the poker table'. Polygon. May 7, 2013. Retrieved May 29, 2013.
6. ^ ^abc'Telltale Announces the Citizen Kane of Poker Games' (Press release). Telltale Games. September 2, 2010. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
7. ^ ^abcdMastrapa, Gus (September 3, 2010). 'Gamer Icons Talk Trash in Poker Night at the Inventory'. Wired. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
8. ^Harold, Charles (October 19, 2006). 'Dog and Rabbit Redux, and a Killer to Search Out'. New York Times. Retrieved September 6, 2010.
9. ^'Interview With the Brothers Chaps'. IGN. April 14, 2008. Archived from the original on April 21, 2008. Retrieved September 6, 2010.
10. ^'SnM + Steam = BFF'. Telltale Games. April 15, 2010. Archived from the original on April 20, 2010. Retrieved April 15, 2010.
11. ^'Poker Night at the Inventory'. Penny Arcade. November 24, 2010. Archived from the original on November 25, 2010. Retrieved September 24, 2016.
12. ^Rodkin, Jack (September 3, 2010). 'Poker Night at the Inventory (some sort of crossover game?..)'. Telltale Games. Archived from the original on October 9, 2012. Retrieved September 6, 2010.
13. ^Rodkin, Jack (September 3, 2010). 'Poker Night at the Inventory (some sort of crossover game?..)'. Telltale Games. Archived from the original on October 9, 2012. Retrieved September 6, 2010.
14. ^CyricZ (September 7, 2010). 'Make a Scene With Telltale at PAX 2010' – via YouTube.
15. ^Thompson, Mike (August 28, 2010). 'Telltale Trailer Hints At Greatest Adventure Crossover Ever'. The Escapist. Retrieved September 3, 2010.
16. ^'Telltale Games : Home Page'. Telltale Games. November 3, 2010. Archived from the original on November 5, 2010. Retrieved November 3, 2010.
17. ^'Poker Night at the Inventory'. Metacritic. Retrieved March 15, 2020.
18. ^'Poker Night at the Inventory'. GameRankings. Retrieved November 24, 2010.
19. ^Neltz, András (March 28, 2013). 'Rumor: Leaked Poker Night At The Inventory 2 Screenshots Reveal The Game's Cast'. Kotaku. Retrieved March 28, 2013.
20. ^'Ash, Claptrap, Sam and Brock Samson Ante Up for Poker Night 2'. Kotaku.com. Retrieved October 4, 2013.

External links[edit]

• Poker Night at the Inventory on IMDb

Poker Night, released in the UK as The Joker, is a 2014 crime thriller film that was written and directed by Greg Francis.^[1] The film was released to video on demand on 5 December 2014 and had a limited theatrical release on 20 December.^[2][3] Filmed in British Columbia, Poker Night centers upon a rookie detective that decides to attend an annual poker night held by veteran police officers, where each one details how they captured a murder suspect.^[4]

Plot[edit]

Stan Jeter (Beau Mirchoff) is a new detective who gets invited to play a game of poker with several veteran police officers and detectives. Each one tells Stan about various insights they gained from different murder cases they investigated, which turns out to be invaluable when Stan is captured and imprisoned by a vicious, anonymous assailant (Michael Eklund). He finds that he has been imprisoned with Amy (Halston Sage), the daughter of a police officer, and that he must use the stories of his fellow poker players to find a way for both himself and Amy to escape.

Cast[edit]

• Beau Mirchoff as Stan Jeter
• Ron Perlman as Calabrese
• Giancarlo Esposito as Bernard
• Corey William Large as Davis
• Titus Welliver as Maxwell
• Halston Sage as Amy
• Ron Eldard as Cunningham
• Michael Eklund as The Man
• Kieran Large as Shawn Allen

Release[edit]

Home media[edit]

Poker Night was released on DVD and Blu-ray by Xlrator on February 10, 2015.^[5]

Critical response[edit]

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, Poker Night holds an approval rating of 50%, based on 10 reviews, and an average rating of 5.39/10.^[6] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 35 out of 100, based on 5 critics, indicating 'generally unfovorable reviews'.^[7]

Dennis Harvey of Variety gave the film a negative review, writing, 'Poker Night offers a near-indigestible mix of tricky Pulp Fiction-esque structural convolution, torture-porn tropes and a somewhat distasteful level of snark, making for a self-satisfied puzzle that most viewers will run out of patience trying to unravel.'^[8] Martin Tsai from Los Angeles Times offered the film similar criticism, stating that the film 'brings to mind so many forgettable thrillers from the 1990s, films that aimed to impress stylistically but ultimately were met with indifference.'^[9] Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter, although commending the film's acting, and 'somewhat anthology feel', criticized the endless voicover narration, 'jumbled timeline', and devolving to genre tropes. Scheck concluded his review by writing, 'Although it features plenty of entertaining moments along the way, in the end Poker Night feels like a cheat.'^[10] Patrick Cooper from Bloody Disgusting felt that the film showed promise and featured good performances, but was ruined by its nonlinear narrative, and inconsitant tone.^[11]

Poker Night Ideas

The film was not without its supporters. Matt Donato from We Got This Covered awarded the film three and a half out of five stars, writing, 'Poker Night is a 'wild card' watch, but Greg Francis flashes a winning hand by making a memorable monster out of Michael Eklund.'^[12] Matt Molgaard from HorrorFreakNews rated the film a similar three and a half out of five stars, writing, 'Poker Night may not satisfy those in search of the goriest film of the year, but anyone up for a unique viewing experience, a strong cast and a damn sharp villain are going to find Poker Night to be more than simply adequate.'^[13] Matt Boiselle of Dread Central gave the film four out of five stars, commending the film's performances, interwoven stories, and villain.^[14]

References[edit]

Poker Night In America

1. ^Patten, Dominic. ''Revolution's Giancarlo Esposito Joins Indie 'Poker Night''. Deadline. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
2. ^Woods, Kevin. 'Trailer and key art for Greg Francis' Poker Night, starring Ron Perlman'. JoBlo. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
3. ^Hunter, Rob. ''Pioneer' and 'Poker Night' Both Start With 'P' and Open This Friday, But Are They Thrillers Worth Seeing?'. Film School Rejects. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
4. ^Harvey, Dennis. 'Film Review: 'Poker Night''. Variety. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
5. ^'Poker Night (2014) - Greg Francis'. Allmovie.com. Allmovie. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
6. ^'Poker Night (2014) – Rotten Tomatoes'. Rotten Tomatoes.com. Fandango Media. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
7. ^'Poker Night reviews'. Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
8. ^Harvey, Dennis. ''Poker Night' Review: A Losing Hand – Variety'. Variety.com. Variety Magazine. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
9. ^Tsai, Martin. 'Review: 'Poker Night' deals a poor hand with few high cards - Los Angeles Times'. LATimes.com. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
10. ^Scheck, Frank. ''Poker Night': Film Review'. HollywoodReporter.com. The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
11. ^Cooper, Patrick. '[Review] 'Poker Night' Builds Up and Tears Itself Down - Bloody Disgusting'. BloodyDisgusting.com. Bloody Disgusting. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
12. ^Donato, Matt. 'Poker Night Review'. WeGotThisCovered.com. We Got This Covered. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
13. ^Molgaard, Matt. 'Poker Night (2014) Review'. HorrorFreakNews.com. Horror Freak News. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
14. ^Boiselle, Matt. 'Poker Night (2014) - Dread Central'. DreadCentral.com. Dread Central. Retrieved 5 November 2019.

External links[edit]

• Poker Night at AllMovie
• Poker Night on IMDb
• Poker Night at Metacritic
• Poker Night at Rotten Tomatoes

Poker Night At The Inventory Imdb