The 7th Guest holds a great deal of nostalgic value for me. I was playing it on PC CD-ROM when I was a mere 10 years old, well below the required 15 age rating. Thanks Dad. Check out the intro sequence below.

The game sees you enter the mansion of Henry Stauf, a crazed toy maker who enjoys to see you suffer through the agony of his twisted, complex puzzles. Being so young, I found the puzzles very challenging and I’m not sure I completed many past the first handful of puzzles. I did, however, use the “ZAPHOD BEEBLEBROX” cheat in the menu to go and check out every room of the house and the scenarios therein (hey, I was young, cheating wasn’t a big deal!). The game featured a ton of awesomely awful acting and story twists, including a fair share of creepy horror moments, this one being my particular favourite that always freaked me out as a kid (the clip seems laughable now, but I still hate clowns):

The 7th Guest is due to be re-released on the iOS platforms of iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch this Christmas, and I’m really looking forward to it. Maybe this time I’ll be able to legitimately get through the game’s puzzles.

Halloween is a fairly big deal in my home city. Derry is host to a massive Halloween festival, and there’s always a great atmosphere around the city, both outside on the streets and in the bars. I tend to opt for store-bought costumes, and have previously ventured out as a cow, an evil jester, and V for Vendetta.  This year I thought I’d try something a bit different and a bit more D.I.Y., and so, I made a stickman costume out of a lot of blue glowsticks, sellotape, cardboard and pencils (for the head). Et voila…

Not the easiest costume to get a good photograph of, nor did it look great in the street light, but it seemed to go down a treat with those who got to see it in the dark of the bar.