Shorewood Turned into Neighborhood Game Board

The square mile encompassing Shorewood has been converted into a life-size board game, and it's not called the game of Life.

Residents may not even know they’re playing until they find a small wooden game piece on a neighborhood sidewalk, or while taking a stroll down East Capitol Drive.

The wooden planks given human likeness through roughly sketched faces are part of an ongoing neighborhood board game, where the figurines race their way from Lake Michigan to the Milwaukee River, with the help of game participants.

It’s the creation of Shorewood resident Kevin Peterka, who said he wanted to see this charming game come to life with a social experiment of sorts.

And, Peterka is calling it the Shorewood Odyssey M2M, a cross-village race from Lake Michigan to Milwaukee River.

He described it as "a social curiosity about what would happen if goal-oriented game pieces were thrown onto an unsuspecting grid."

Peterka and his family started the race Monday morning on Atwater Beach, and since, one piece was been reported waiting patiently on East Jarvis Street, and another racer, Lucy, could be spotted in front of at about 8 Monday night.

The way the games works is there are five wood game pieces (racers) that started at Lake Michigan and are to make their way to the finish line, which is the Milwaukee River. If someone finds a game piece and wants to play, they can move any racer 100 steps in any direction, once per day. Participants are allowed to move more than one racer per day.

Those are the basic rules, but Peterka has also added special moves including making a move for three days in a row allows a participant to move a racer to the or any Shorewood school. Additionally, if you witness someone moving a racer, you are allowed to switch that racer with any other racer.

Peterka said he started the game mainly because he has an affinity for games and as a social experiment.

"It's just a charming game," he said.

He also created a website to help track the game and their pieces and allow participants to talk about the board.

For more on the game, where you can find racers and more special moves, visit GameonShorewood.com.