Wild West melds with 21st century tech
Sean Gleeson
Combining work and play is a challenge to many people but not to Sean Gleeson, OCCC’s Page Design and Animation professor.
In 2004, Gleeson designed a web site that features a game of cards that was popular in saloons of the old west called Faro.
Faro was first played in France during the 18th century and quickly spread to England.
It reached its highest popularity in the United States during the 19th century.
Faro was a game that was easily learned and was often manipulated by the dealer.
The web site, www.gleeson.us/faro, explains how Gleeson chose Faro and how he approaches making the site look authentic.
It is the only site on the web that offers the game, which was the main attraction for Gleeson.
He had just programmed a deck of playing cards and needed a use for them.
When he found out there was no online version of the game, he knew he had found the format in which to display his cards.
He refers to his site as Wichita Faro.
Recently the television network TNT featured the game online to complement their web page on the series, “Into the West.”
After the game was featured on that site, the TBS network asked Gleeson to program a Texas Hold ’Em game to be used on the TBS.com web site for a new show called “My Boys.”
Gleeson said programming the Texas Hold ’Em game was much harder than the Faro game.
“It was huge compared to Faro. Much more programming was involved.
“[Programming the Texas Hold ’Em game] was like going from drawing a smiley face to painting a mural on a ceiling,” Gleeson said.
Gleeson is currently working on a new game called “Dashabooja” which comes from the Hindu word Dashabhuja, which means 10 arms.
A 10-armed figure will deal cards out to the players.
It will be his own variation on Texas Hold ’Em.
The site is currently under construction.
Gleeson is a native of Chicago.
He graduated from Loyola University with a major in marketing as well as a minor in art.
Staff Writer Spencer Livingston-Gainey can be reached at StaffWriter1@occc.edu.
