This article was taken from the February 2014 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
When British videogame designer Ste Curran "lost" a karaoke showdown to Scottish band Chvrches, he decided that singing games needed fixing. "It's intimidating," Curran says. "You see the confident performers and think: 'I've got to live up to that.'"
So last October, he launched Karaokards on Kickstarter -- a card game where singing is secondary. Points are earned by linking clues on the cards to songs. There's even a vocal-free version where players add clues to a pool, then name a song that fits the parameters of every card played -- cue debate over whether Rihanna's "Rude Boy" is R&B or ragga dancehall.
Karaokards reached its £5,600 Kickstarter target, and Curran is now looking to evolve it into a video game.
So, what's Curran's go-to karaoke tune? "Taylor Swift's 'Love Story'," he says. "It's performative, anthemic and a little bit touching. Her version's OK too."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
