Keep Queuing

Keep Queuing is a mind-numbing yet philosophical Twine game about queuing. At the mall, your sister, currently in queue to get the latest phone, asks for a big favour: for you to take her place so she can go to the bathroom. Since you are the best sibling in the world, you agree (not like you have a choice) and start to queue.

… and queue…

… and queue…

… and don’t stop queuing until you reach the door, and get your sister’s phone, and that’s when the game ends. Because, yes, you are a great sibling, you don’t leave the queue, even if you wish it to.

While you wait for the line to move, different prompts appear on the screen, showing the passing of time. You look at things around you or stare at your phone, ponder on the meaning of time and queuing or simply blank, etc… There are about 100 prompts you can “collect” while waiting, all of them appearing randomly (sometimes you get the same one in one playthrough).

The number of prompts you see is also random. I’ve waited 18 and 61 minutes for the most extremes. And knowing there are 100 prompts to find, many of them are hilarious (to me), you are incentivised in going back into the queue and trying to wait even longer!

The funniest bit about the game, however, comes with the ending screen. It might be the most unexpected ending screen I’ve seen: an afterword and pitch all into one. It discuss how the game was created and its future, in hopes someone would want to throw in a few bux and fund the sequel (seemingly slightly poking fun at those unserious Kickstarter campaigns). It really gave me a good laugh (the III MMO roguelike queue, genius)

A really great queuing simulator!