ePlaya

The best laid plans of mice and Brainy Barbarians.... we had such high hopes for 2020, but the world threw us all a whole bunch of curveballs. We are feeling confident and excited that Burning Man's going to happen this year and the Brainy Bar is planning to be there.



Our plans are still in the process of forming up. A few things we can share.... Each day we'll have one featured boozy drink, one non-alcoholic beverage (because we've all got friends who may not drink alcohol for one reason or another, and we want them to feel welcome and refreshed), and one topic of conversation (chosen on the day by the campmate running the bar). The topics can be anything (well, maybe anything except politics), and tend to be on the fun and silly side. The Brainy Bar space is a nice, shaded-yet-well-ventilated, loungey little spot with places to sit and relax. In 2019 we expanded the size of the lounge space, and that worked out really well. We'll use that expanded lounge space, as well as an elevated and shaded observation deck that we built on top of a shipping container. Elevated and breezy and with a great view of the neighborhood.



Occasionally in the mornings we'll serve fresh-baked cinnamon rolls, so if you're in the neighborhood on your way to or from one of the neighborhood coffee spots it might be worth stopping by. Spin-it to win-it and a few other games are in the works, too. Once again, we'll have FANCY SHMANCY S'MORES on a few evenings during burn week. That's where we take the american campfire classic and turn it on its ear using artisanal cookies and marshmallows as well as posh chocolates, apply fire, and the results are yum!!!

Our awesome RUBBER STAMP BAR will be back for more! We will retire a couple older stamps, and make some new ones as well as re-ink the stamp pads....



It's a sign!


We're just announcing our intentions and sharing our plans so far, and we are not actively seeking new members right now. I encourage camp seekers to read this post, we look forward to seeing everyone on the playa!

Nice! I'll try and stop by. We are bringing Camp DOA back again this year too. Come by for some wine tasting / wine tasting classes.

Definitely going to stop by!

Do you allow morons in your brainy bar? If you do, I'll try and stop by

I’ll be stopping by

Years ago it was your camp that helped inspire me. Passing by the camp, it was so sharp and neat. Very cool display and graphics. It was very professional, in the good sense. Thought out, well planned in advance. It showed how dedicated and serious people can be about a beautiful frivolity. And, like me watching Joe Satriani play guitar, I said, well, I'm never going to be able to do that. So I'm gonna have to take it another completely different direction.

Thanks for your service here, and Salud!

@HandJamMasterC - that's great to hear on both fronts

@The Rod - most definitely! Other than 21+ and old enough to drink in Nevada we have no requirements

@LonesomeBri - glad to be of help or inspiration in any way. A lot of our campmates either are currently or have in the past been graphic designers as day jobs and they really have taken to the idea of crazy design projects without any client or corporate overlords to tell them that's silly. It's totally been a team effort though. We also get to stand on the shoulders of previous generations of the camp (and designs and things we've liked from those years)... I've been involved in leading camps since 2005, and my partner since 96 or 97.

I want to join your camp and put an Art installation up for you.

Hey, I'm making an Art installation for 2022: mailbox of secrets. People put their darkest secret in anonymously.
It's has three 8' tall murals for sides. I'm featuring dead celebrities from the past year. I can use anyone you want. Am I feeling a Gilbert Godfrey vibe at your camp?

Should be fun. It's me and my buddy Javier. I already have early entry and a ticket.

This sounds like a most excellent time.
I really hope I remember to find you all when burn week comes around!

Just curious...

How big is the camp and how long to build?

@addison4 - that sounds like an interesting piece, but not sure it would be a fit for us. Good luck with the project!

@RevDusty - we hope so too, and completely understand. Event week gets crazy and it's a seemingly-endless supply of art and awesome camps!

@art walsh - we're usually a hundred feet wide and go back a fair bit. Construction time can vary quite a bit. While several of us are seasoned playa veterans, it ultimately depends on playa conditions, work schedules, and other factors.

I am very excited to announced that Brainy Bar has been placed! We will be located in the 3:00 & G Plaza. It will be our first time in that area, but we think we're up for the challenge and think that observation deck will make for some great mutant vehicle (and people) watching! Huzzah!

I had some camera issues in 2019 and didn't take a whole lot of pics - but here's a shot one of my campmates got of our frontage with the observation deck...

trilobyte wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 10, 2022 11:22 am

I am very excited to announced that Brainy Bar has been placed! We will be located in the 3:00 & G Plaza.

Congrats, great placement! Space Goats just got placed in the 7:30 & A plaza. Do you know what's up with that 500 foot circle around the plazas this year? The central holes are still 200 feet across, like previous years. Are they making a new ring road around each plaza? Trying to figure out possible shapes for our placement is really messing us up today.

Thanks! We're excited and looking forward to making it work. I'm a bit lost on the shapes too, I'm going to reach out and see if I can get any more info about the dimensions. If they want an accurate-to-the-foot map for container placement, I'm going to need something a little more detail hehe.

They mention those rings in the city plan. Those are are pedestrian bike pathways, I believe. Too narrow for MV's, emergency vehicles or any other larger thing, just bikes and peds.

trilobyte wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 12, 2022 10:50 am

They mention those rings in the city plan. Those are are pedestrian bike pathways, I believe. Too narrow for MV's, emergency vehicles or any other larger thing, just bikes and peds.

No, the rings aren't mentioned. Just the narrow paths at the :15 and :45 positions, which are still drawn with double lines and space between, connected to the main roads. The rings are drawn with a single solid line. The best guess we have is that some of the Esplanade camps that were moved back into the city might be given a whole radial chunk facing the plazas, leaving some weird shaped camps behind them (perhaps eased by a weird shaped porta potty bank or two).

trilobyte wrote: ↑

Fri Jun 10, 2022 11:22 am

I am very excited to announced that Brainy Bar has been placed! We will be located in the 3:00 & G Plaza. It will be our first time in that area, but we think we're up for the challenge and think that observation deck will make for some great mutant vehicle (and people) watching! Huzzah!

Camp DOA is just down the road from you - 2:45 and G. We will come say hello for sure!

maladroit wrote: ↑

Sun Jun 12, 2022 9:26 pm

No, the rings aren't mentioned. Just the narrow paths at the :15 and :45 positions, which are still drawn with double lines and space between, connected to the main roads. The rings are drawn with a single solid line. The best guess we have is that some of the Esplanade camps that were moved back into the city might be given a whole radial chunk facing the plazas, leaving some weird shaped camps behind them (perhaps eased by a weird shaped porta potty bank or two).

Actually, they are mentioned in the 2022 city guide. In the very first paragraph where it says New for 2022.

Main arteries 3:00, 6:00, and 9:00 benefit from having adjacent short radials at the :15 and :45 positions to mitigate traffic. In most other locations, we have replaced short radial streets with community walks for pedestrian and bicycle traffic only (these are the narrow paths between Fugue and Kahlo at the :15 and :45 positions on the plan).

The wording is a little awkward, but from the conversations I've had those are intended as narrow bike/ped footpaths. The shifted Esplanade camps and villages have been floating all kinds of conspiracy theories (the funniest one I've seen yet suggested that the double wide block was a new creation for this year). There has always been a double-deep block in BRC, it simply expanded this year to accommodate a growing number of large camps and villages seeking placement. If you look at the 2019 map on this page, things are a little kerchunkity between E & F, with some village blocks and some regular streets interspersed along those radials, with what were very unpopular T intersections. On the 2022 map seen on this page, it's a double-depth block all the way around.

@HandJamMasterC - glad to hear it, it's sounding like a great part of the city to be in.

They're talking about the thin radials in the outer streets at :15 and :45, the rings around the plazas at 9, 7:30, 6, 4:30 and 3 are not discussed. They are talking about replacing most of the T-intersection radials with narrow paths, but leaving some of them as full roads near 9, 6, and 3. That all makes sense and tracks with what is on the map....the circles around the plazas remain unaddressed.