What does it take to create and program a game that appears on the shelves at Toys-R-Us? How are they programmed? How are the graphics, music, and sounds gathered, manipulated, and displayed? Why do video game developers do their best work after midnight? Is the money worth the effort? What kinds of people are behind these crazy, addictive machines? How does the "fun" get into the game? The answers to these questions and yours will be offered in this casual show and tell from a veteran video game creator, developer, and programmer.

Scott Marshall is a 15 year veteran of the video game industry with 18 titles on his resume as a game creator, designer, programmer, sound designer and composer. He's worked on platforms from the old Atari to Sega, Nintendo, Playstation, and Game Boy. He's spoken before on the art and business of video games at last year's New Jersey Mensa convention. He has also given talks on digital cinema, electronic music, and movie history. He's appeared on television as an authority on widescreen movies. Scott is also a filmmaker, photographer, and performing musician and will bring his theremin to the meeting and play a few selections from his video game scores.

RESERVATIONS REQUIRED -- The restaurant wants to know a day ahead of time how many people will be in our group, so please help us out by making your reservation by May 14:

• Reservations by email: princetonacm@acm.org (in your message include your name, e-mail address, and the number attending)
• Reservations by phone: call Dennis Mancl at (908) 582-7086