Midnight Drive-In

What it does

A drive-in movie theater at night, drawn in chunky 3D, that you walk around in first person. The screen plays public domain films around the clock, one after another, on the same schedule for everyone: what's showing depends on the time where you are. Find a spot, sit, and the lot's noise fades so you can hear the film.

You come in through a fairground: a promenade loop round a green, every ride and game under a lit arch along it, food stands on the green and a little train going round it all. People work here, people come back night after night, and things happen at certain hours if you're there to see them.

• Films all night. 99 public domain features from the Internet Archive, talkies mostly, every one with a soundtrack. Sit in a car or on its hood, or watch up close.
• The Fairground. A Ferris wheel, a swing ride, a wooden coaster called the Night Owl, a dark ride through the lineup's monsters and a mirror maze. The wheel and the coaster's lift hill face the screen: press Watch the film and you stop at the top, the picture framed. The train stops at four stations, so it's also the way to get about.
• Fourteen games. Eleven on Starlite Row, from Moth Patrol to skee-ball, twelve holes of mini golf and a minute of bumper car tag on the Fairground, and at the end of Starlite Row, Hollis in the dunk tank. They all pay out tickets, for prizes at Vi's counter or something from the food stands, to carry round, and a high score goes up on the board under your initials.
• A carousel by the picnic grove, to ride for as long as you like.
• People to talk to: the staff, the projectionist, the regulars, the employees on their smoke break behind the screen, and folk out for the night, who remember you next time.
• The lot keeps your clock. A train goes by on the hour, there are fireworks at midnight, and stranger things the later you stay.
• Phone or computer. A thumb stick and taps on a phone (push it all the way to run); the keyboard and mouse on a computer (Shift runs), with a map to jump around.