McChuckles

To be human is to play. Whether in music, board games, reality, video games, or something else. Humanity loves to play. We are a species of game makers and game players.

McChuckles believes the growth mindset and hustle culture has eroded our humanity out from under us. With no sure footing of who we are and what we do, it has become easier for us to fall under the spell of productivity for the sake of productivity. It should be fun for the sake of fun.

Play comes in many forms. From pranks to video games to weird ideas. There are many ways that humans engage in play. Often we make games out of it all.

McChuckles is a play & games website.

The story

Hello, my name is Phil. I was born in 1983 with a relatively calm childhood and punk-ish twenties.

I was a member of a noise band for a while then I self-published three comic books thinking I was going to make my living in that field. Plans changed as they often do.

In my thirties, I found myself combating mental and physical health issues that pretty much wrecked my plans for that decade. On top of that I lost three important people within the span of seven years.

What kept me afloat during that time were friends, family, video games, movies, and comedy.

Feeling better, I created McChuckles originally as a comedy nerd newsletter but quickly felt constrained.

I expanded the newsletter from comedy to weird movies to people making fun things. However, I couldn't capture what I wanted to say until I recalled a memory from my mid-twenties.

I met a man who had built a barbershop in an old ice cream truck. He had simplified his life to the bare essentials and cut hair a few times a day, if that. He told me his goal in life was to just play. It struck me as revolutionary then. And remembering it now that seems more so.

I realized I wasn't interested in humor but people having fun, playing, and games. And thus, McChuckles was reborn.