Wisconsin Ring Game is a semiannual live action role-playing game hosted twice a year at Governor Dodge State Park in southern Wisconsin. First played on 11 June 1977, the game was revived in the fall of 1987 and re-enacts the events of the War of the Ring. The game has continued to this day after a short break due to the global pandemic.
Game Play
Players are divided into three teams taking on the roles of characters in the story with the following win objectives:
- The forces of Good led by Gandalf need to take the Ring to Mount Doom in the center of the park to destroy it.
- The forces of Evil led by Sauron need to capture the Ring and return it to Sauron.
- The forces of the White Hand led by Saruman need to capture the Ring and claim it at Mount Doom.
In addition teams can also attempt to take citadels such as Lothlórien, Gondor, Isengard and Barad-dûr for points with the forces of evil winning by default if all good citadels are captured before the Ring is destroyed. Evil also wins if Saruman claims the Ring for himself at Mount Doom. Certain citadels and objectives are time gated such as Gondor and Mount Doom to help control the pacing of the game.
Origin
Wisconsin Ring Game was conceived by Jeff McKinnon and members of the Robert M. La Follette High School Chess & Strategy Club when they decided test out the roleplaying guide Rules for the Live Ring Game by Wendell Lariston Hill Jr. published in 1973.