Theme Park After Dark By

Ziva McPherson


Instruments: Deck of Cards, 1d6, Tokens





Game Description 


This is a Carta game about creating your own theme park, then looking for your lost items after it has closed for the evening. You spend the time reminiscing about your day at the park while avoiding trouble, and getting your stuff back!



Game Content Warnings 

These are content warnings that are from the game prompts and are present in all playthroughs.





Playthrough Content Warnings 

These are content warnings specific to this playthrough only.



Game Playthrough

Word Count: 1,567     Played: Nov 20, 2022







The Park


What kind of vibe? 

An amusement park on a pier, a ferris wheel, wooden roller coaster, lots of games, old electric park vibe, a little bit rundown, mostly attracts people from in the city

How big is it? 

Extremely local 

Where is it? 

On the pier in the downtown area

Does it have an overall theme? 

It didn’t use to, but over time it’s become a “remember the past” sort of vibe and the owners try to keep everything looking like it used to

Name of Park 

Light of the Moon 

The 4 Zones 

Moon and Stars, Deco Land, Fishermen Wharf, Boardwalk 


Fishermen Wharf, Clubs


E-Ticket

The Haunted Lighthouse, a guided tour of a spooky lighthouse, involves guests climbing their way up to the top and taking an elevator down 

Thrill Attractions 

The Wreck of the Victorious, a pendulum modeled after a ship. 

Classic Attraction 

Fish in a Pan, a bumper car track where all the cars are shaped like fish

Kiddie Attraction 

Mermaid’s Pearl, a mini track ride for little kids about a mermaid fishing for pearls


Moon and Stars, Diamonds


E-Ticket

To the Moon and Back, a dark ride inspired by the movie A Trip to the Moon, the lights are dim and all the components are in black and white.

Trill Attractions 

Reach the Stars, a drop tower painted to look like an old space ship. 

Classic Attraction 

Shooting Stars, a large swing ride.

Kiddie Attraction 

A Taste of Home, a petting zoo, where the theme is you are a space explorer and these are animals aboard your ship. 


(Art) Deco Land, Hearts


E-Ticket 

Rays of Sun, a large roller coaster which features many rises and drops meant to emulate sun rays. 

Thrill Attraction 

Champagne Cork , a Drop tower, where the idea is you are the cork flying out of the bottle. 

Classic Attraction 

An old museum which features the history of the park and the world’s (second) Largest Light Bulb. 

Kiddie Attractions

Skyscraper Paradise, a playground / jungle gym  modeled after a city skyline


Boardwalk, Spades


E-Ticket

The Ferris Wheel, after remodel and remodel and fixing and changing, people debate if this is still the original wheel or not. 

Thrill Attractions 

The Wooden Coaster, an old wooden roller coaster installed five years after the park opened. 

Classic Attractions 

Shopping, shopping, and more shopping. Claims to be local artists and shops, but everyone knows better 

Kiddie Attractions 

The Greatest Bird Show, a small performance of singing finches



The Characters 


Name: Felix Valentine 

Pronouns: They/THem

Type: Staff 

Fave Ride:  To the Moon and Back 

Description: Short, long hair, terrible patchy mustache, wears a pocket watch because he thinks it makes him look cool 

Lost Items: Walkie Talkie, Flashlight, Uniform

Search Location: Maintenance or First Aid

Specials: Can use Golf-Card from Maintenance to Travel to Non-Adjacent Locations 



Trouble Numbers: 4, J, 7, 8




Card 1


3 of Hearts, A Pizza Place, what did you get on your pizza? 

Pizza Order: Black Olive with extra pepperoni, red pepper flakes and dipped in ranch



Card 2


Ace Hearts: Rays of The Sun 

Rays of the Sun was built around 40 years after the park was built. The new owners wanted to lean into the time period from which the park was built and redesigned the entire area to have an Art Deco theme. This rollercoaster is painted to look like shiny silver-steel and has square lights built into the framework so it's visible throughout the rest of the park. The queue decorations are faux chandeliers, posters, and music from the era. 



Card 3


10 of Clubs: What did you see on the skyride you took during the day? You may choose to move to any location after this 

Felix saw a fight break out in one of the queues and was glad they weren’t stationed in that part of the park that day. He didn’t see the start of it, but it wasn't uncommon for people to accuse others of cutting in line or some other nonsense. It has happened before, and it will happen again. 



Card 4 


9 of Hearts: Dance Pavilion , what music do they play? 

As part of the theme, the dance pavilion only played jazz and swing music. Sometimes they invited a band to play, and one time they had a set of ladies dressed as flappers sing, but mostly they just had recordings played over the loudspeakers. Felix had heard rumors that once, about a second ago, they tried to play modern music on the weekend, but all the parents had an absolute fit. 



Card 5 


6 of Spades:Glowing sword booth, what did you see a child buy?

On his way to clock out they had seen a little girl with a glowing crown made of fake flowers and fiberoptic spaghetti lights. She was swinging it around, much to the dismay of her parents, and whacking everything and everyone who came within range. 



Card 6


King of Diamonds: Reach the Stars, 

Reach the Stars is the second drop tower of the park. It was made after the first one was such a huge hit, the owners wanted to reduce the lines for the attraction. 

It’s painted to look like a retro-futurism rocket, with silver plating, and red portholes around the seats. The tower itself is a gradient from dark blues and purples and stars at the top, to the clouds and sun, then the pale blues of the sky at the bottom. 



Card 7 


Ace of Clubs: The Haunted Lighthouse

The Haunted Lighthouse was commissioned in hopes of bringing people in around the halloween season. It was built in the Fisherman’s Wharf, and the story of the attraction is that the keeper of the lighthouse would secretly turn off the light at nights so that the ships would crash against the rocks and they would plunder the goods, but the ghosts of the ship’s crew came back to haunt them. 

It’s a guided tour/show where the host leads the group as if it were on a museum tour, but they get attacked by ghosts and have to rush up to the top of the tower to turn the light on. 

Felix could set their watch by when the light would go on and off throughout the day. 



Card 8 


Queen of Spades: Shopping, Shopping, and more shopping

The local story was, before the area was turned into a theme park, it was a semi-commercial district where people would monger fish, fishing equipment, and other goods to the real fishermen. But during the 1920’s when other parks were springing up, the landlord decided to turn the area into a theme park, and advertised it as one of the few places in town with electricity.

The locals were mad, but he allowed them to keep their stores, provided they changed what they were selling. Over time they became gift shops under the guise of being hand-made goods by the locals, but only the tourists are fooled. 



Card 9


5 of Hearts: A Maintenance Building 

The door is disguised to blend in with the large painting of people enjoying a party in complete Deco style. Felix knew exactly where it was, they had been there many times before. 

Search Roll: 6! Flashlight found 

Their flashlight was right where they left it, on a crate near the door. 



Card 10 


Joker: Exit Gates, 

You may only leave when you have all 3 items.



Card 11


Ace of Diamonds: To the Moon and Back, Favorite Ride, you can search twice 

To the Moon and Back is the park’s only dark ride, and despite complaints from parents, is the biggest draw to the park. It was conceived to look like a black-and-white movie, so the lights are dark so the guests also appear to be in black and white. It was cheesy, with a goofy voice over about how people were traveling to the moon, and old yellowed cotton clouds. 

But there was only one reason people went on the ride. It was dark, it was private, and they were alone. 

Felix had taken many twinks, twunks, himbos, herbos, femms, mascs, thems, theys, and everything and everyone in between onto this ride, and they knew all the right places to stop, start, and go full speed ahead. 

Roll: 4, Success! Uniform Found 

Felix found the uniform shirt they had torn off in a fit of passion and threw against one of the dancing cardboard animatronics. They were lucky their partner of choice had a jacket they could borrow for the rest of the shift. 

Roll: 6! Walkie Talkie Found! 

Felix didn’t remember why their walkie talkie was near the entrance of the ride. They figured they must have set it down without thinking when they joined Kory for their trip this afternoon. 

They were so lucky they saw it as they were leaving or else they would have been searching all night for it. Felix remembered the last time they lost it and didn’t want to get written-up again. This would have been the 4th time they set it down somewhere without thinking. 



Card 12


Joker, Again! 

All three items found! Time to leave!

Felix was late leaving the park, but the security guard knew them well by this time and just rolled his eyes as Felix trotted out towards their car. 





Top of Page