MadameBerry has made us a neat toy: EDDA, An atmospheric slam poetry battle based on a collection of Old Norse poetry. Alongside warm firelight in a great hall, you choose how to complete phrases in response to your challenger, with the aim of besting four different types of poets.
Eddic poems are composed in alliterative verse — I paid very little attention to this fact, which I of course have known all this time and did not merely look up on Wikipedia for the first time today. That's probably why I haven't successfully triumphed over a single one of EDDA's poets.
But interestingly that hasn't stopped me trying. The game unfortunately lacks clear direction for what makes you a successful or unsuccessful Norse slam poet — it's a Ludum Dare game, made very quickly for a recent weekend's competition, not for professional sale. But as a concept it's quite engrossing, an interesting interpretation of the compo's "An Unconventional Weapon" theme (and it also made me want to read more about the Poetic Edda on Wikipedia).
Even when you fail, it's fun to compose your own little verses, to try to read a strange kind of sense into the themes of your exchange with your fellow — you can imagine yourself prophesying about great quests just as easily as you're making up little verses about your homes aflame with drunks.
Time-limited, themed competitions like Ludum Dare are great because they brew unique little slices like EDDA that you can play with for free — here's hoping MadameBerry decides to spend a little more time in the future to further nurture this concept.
