How do you throw a Rock Band party ?

[ShledsOne]

Every two months, I invite friends in my house, and we play Rock Band on my PS3 all night, we're like 10-16 people, aged between 30 and 45 years old.

It usually goes very smooth, with no rules, where people play a couple of songs, and then they pass the instruments around, there is no framework, point systems, battle of bands, or anything like that.

The word is getting out, and people are inviting other people, and it looks likes I will have over 25 people coming in my house for playing Rock Band in two weeks.

With so many people, I am setting up a second room where people will be able to play, and someone will bring their PS3 and another 40+ LCD screen.

Since there was never any competition before, I am wondering if the no-rules will still work with so many people, and having 2 different rooms setup for partying. I tried the online competition this weekend, like score duel and tug of war, but I only saw player vs player, not Band vs Band. Some of the people coming over never played RB2 before, and some are playing at expert levels.

How can I make it a bit competitive? Anybody else made a rule set before? like bands have to play the same songs, and the best score wins? or anything like that? Should I create like 7 bands of 3 or 4 people, and create battles? rankings? Or should I favor an individual challenge, where everyone register their 3 best songs through the evening?

I am just worried that someone will hog the drums for 2 hours, while others wanted to try but were too afraid to do so, since they were too intimidated by the better players.

So if anyone had made a rule set for their home parties, and were succesful, or disastrous, can you share your experience?

[r00db0y]

Curious how your party turned out. Did you end up creating a more structured competition or did you go with your usual free for all?

I have smaller get togethers with about 6-10 people and we just do free play.

But my daughter wants to have a RockBand birthday party in April (she is turning 10, but has a few older friends that are fairly good too) and was trying to think of how to put together a party that would be fun for them.

Was wondering if you found a format that worked where there was a little competition involved.

[GaryMac]

Something I've been thinking of doing..don't know if it'll work or not.

Make a list of everyone there.

First person on the list picks a spot in the band, followed by the 2nd and 3rd. Fourth person takes the last spot.

Singer picks the song/tour setlist.

If a band member gets through the song without failing and needing to be saved, they stay for the next song/tour set and go up one level on the easy/medium/hard/expert scale.

If someone does fail and gets saved during the song, they are replaced by the next person on the list for the next song.

Anyone coming in does their first song/set on easy and moves up a level of difficulty with each new song/set they pass.

To keep a variety of songs flowing, it's probably best to start a new band run through a tour. Anytime a song/setlist gets five stars at a certian level, don't allow it to be repeated at that level.

[pixidrizzl]

Excellent suggestion! I think we may implement your idea at my husbands birthday part tomorrow night (with some alterations).

Thanks for posting this!

Something I've been thinking of doing..don't know if it'll work or not.

Make a list of everyone there.

First person on the list picks a spot in the band, followed by the 2nd and 3rd. Fourth person takes the last spot.

Singer picks the song/tour setlist.

If a band member gets through the song without failing and needing to be saved, they stay for the next song/tour set and go up one level on the easy/medium/hard/expert scale.

If someone does fail and gets saved during the song, they are replaced by the next person on the list for the next song.

Anyone coming in does their first song/set on easy and moves up a level of difficulty with each new song/set they pass.

To keep a variety of songs flowing, it's probably best to start a new band run through a tour. Anytime a song/setlist gets five stars at a certian level, don't allow it to be repeated at that level.

[SniperBait728]

i always use the play-to-stay rule. if you fail bad enough, we take pity and you get to try again. we never play with no-fail turned on though.