City Games

City Games City Games transforms the city into an interactive playground, where challenges, puzzles, and engaging tasks await around every corner. Play local games.

Win local prizes.

Something old is waking up in Grand Rapids.Starting October 3, explore the city’s strangest stories, haunted history, an...
09/11/2026

Something old is waking up in Grand Rapids.

Starting October 3, explore the city’s strangest stories, haunted history, and local legends at your own pace with Haunted GR from City Games.

Some stories are documented. Some are disputed. Some have been told for so long, nobody knows where they began.

You decide what you believe. citygames.co

Long before the West Michigan Whitecaps arrived, Grand Rapids had a surprisingly rich professional baseball history, inc...
09/10/2026

Long before the West Michigan Whitecaps arrived, Grand Rapids had a surprisingly rich professional baseball history, including one team with a name that sounds almost impossible today: the Grand Rapids Homoners. ⚾

The Homoners played in 1924 as members of the Class B Michigan-Ontario League, competing against clubs from cities including Kalamazoo, Flint, Bay City, Saginaw, London and Hamilton. Grand Rapids finished that season with a 60-74 record, but nearly a century later, it’s the team’s wonderfully strange nickname that really stands out.

And the Homoners were far from Grand Rapids’ only unusual baseball identity. Over the years, local professional teams were known as the Bob-o-Links, Joshers, Billbobs and Orphans, among others. Baseball was part of Grand Rapids culture generations before the Whitecaps began playing in West Michigan in 1994.

So the next time you’re at LMCU Ballpark watching the Whitecaps, remember that you’re watching the latest chapter in a Grand Rapids baseball story that stretches back well over a century.

Lucille Ball didn’t just help change television comedy. She also played a surprising role in helping Star Trek reach tel...
09/10/2026

Lucille Ball didn’t just help change television comedy. She also played a surprising role in helping Star Trek reach television. 🖖

After buying out Desi Arnaz’s share of Desilu Productions in 1962, Ball became the studio’s president. Desilu took a chance on Gene Roddenberry’s ambitious and expensive science-fiction project, producing the original Star Trek pilots and sticking with the project after NBC rejected the first pilot and requested an unusual second one. That second attempt eventually led to the series being picked up.

There’s a lot more to the story than the popular claim that “Lucy personally saved Star Trek,” but the core connection is absolutely real. Star Trek was developed and launched under Lucille Ball’s Desilu Productions, the same television powerhouse associated with I Love Lucy.

Without Desilu taking that gamble, one of the biggest franchises in entertainment history might have had a very different future.

🎉 Congrats to , the winner of TWO tickets to see John Mulaney!Thanks for playing City Games, and enjoy the show! 🎟️👏
09/10/2026

🎉 Congrats to , the winner of TWO tickets to see John Mulaney!

Thanks for playing City Games, and enjoy the show! 🎟️👏

Before PlayStation and Nintendo were rivals, they were working on the same project. 🎮Sony’s path to PlayStation began wi...
09/03/2026

Before PlayStation and Nintendo were rivals, they were working on the same project. 🎮

Sony’s path to PlayStation began with a partnership to develop a CD-ROM attachment for the Super Nintendo. The idea was to bring disc-based technology to Nintendo’s cartridge-based system. That means one of Nintendo’s biggest competitors has roots in a project intended to expand what the Super Nintendo could do. PlayStation’s official account.

The collaboration even produced prototype hardware combining Super Nintendo cartridge support with a CD drive. But the partnership unraveled. In 1991, Nintendo announced a CD partnership with Philips, and although Sony and Nintendo continued discussions afterward, their shared project never became a retail product. Sony eventually moved forward with its own independent console. Project history.

That console became the original PlayStation, which launched in Japan on December 3, 1994, and in North America on September 9, 1995. It went on to sell more than 102 million units worldwide. A relationship that began with Sony helping develop Nintendo hardware had become one of gaming’s defining rivalries. PlayStation’s official timeline.

Imagine how different your childhood game collection might have looked if that partnership had worked out.

What was the first PlayStation game you couldn’t put down?

One business per category. Will yours be the one locals discover?City Games turns exploring your community into a game. ...
09/02/2026

One business per category. Will yours be the one locals discover?

City Games turns exploring your community into a game. Players complete challenges, earn points, and compete for local prizes. Your business can be part of the adventure.

Become the exclusive partner in your category for your community’s Suburban Side Quest and get:

📱 Your own branded mini-game with 10 challenges
📣 Promotion across four City Games social platforms
🏆 A sponsored monthly challenge and rotating leaderboard banner
🔒 Your category’s exclusive sponsor spot

Founding partners pay just $79/month for the first 12 months, regularly $97/month. We’re also waiving the $150 setup fee.

Give locals a new reason to discover your business.

Message us your business category and city to check availability. No commitment required.

TRY IT @ citygames.co

Batman has a surprising Michigan connection, and it’s hiding right in the name Bruce Wayne. 🦇When Batman co-creator Bill...
09/02/2026

Batman has a surprising Michigan connection, and it’s hiding right in the name Bruce Wayne. 🦇

When Batman co-creator Bill Finger was developing Bruce Wayne’s identity, he later explained that the surname Wayne came from Revolutionary War hero General “Mad” Anthony Wayne. Finger wanted a name that suggested wealth and colonial American history, and Anthony Wayne provided the inspiration.

Here’s where Michigan enters the story. Anthony Wayne played an important role in establishing American control of Detroit following the Revolutionary era, and Wayne County, Michigan, home to Detroit, was named in his honor. So while Batman wasn’t created in Michigan, the historical figure who inspired part of Bruce Wayne’s name has a very real connection to our state.

From Gotham City to the Great Lakes, that’s a pretty wild piece of Michigan pop-culture history. 🦇

Grand Rapids is your game board. 🎯The new CITY GAMES FIELD GUIDE is packed with easy, out-in-the-world challenges you ca...
08/27/2026

Grand Rapids is your game board. 🎯

The new CITY GAMES FIELD GUIDE is packed with easy, out-in-the-world challenges you can knock out while you’re already exploring the city.

📸 Grab a Downtown Snap
☕ Check in at a local coffee shop
🍹 Score Patio Points
🌉 Cross the Blue Bridge
🎨 Hunt down some public art
🌳 Take a lap through Riverside Park

Every stop is another excuse to get out, explore Grand Rapids, complete challenges, rack up points, and work your way toward local prizes.

You don’t need to clear your whole day. Pick a challenge, head out, and start playing.

PLAY LOCAL GAMES. WIN LOCAL PRIZES.

🎮 Play City Games now. https://citygames.co

08/27/2026

Did you know East Grand Rapids once had a huge amusement park right on Reeds Lake?

For decades, Ramona Park was one of West Michigan’s premier entertainment destinations. Located along Reeds Lake in East Grand Rapids, the park featured roller coasters, amusement rides, a theater, dance pavilion, boat rides and crowds of visitors who came from across Grand Rapids and West Michigan for a day at the lake. The park grew out of the streetcar era, when the Grand Rapids Railway Company helped turn Reeds Lake into a major recreation destination.

At its peak, Ramona Park looked almost nothing like the quiet Reeds Lake waterfront Grand Rapids locals know today. Its famous wooden roller coaster, the Jack Rabbit Derby Racer, towered over the park, while the Ramona Theatre hosted live entertainment and the lakeshore bustled with visitors. The amusement park era eventually came to an end, and Ramona Park closed for good in 1955.

Today, you can spend an afternoon around Reeds Lake, Gaslight Village and East Grand Rapids without realizing that generations of Grand Rapids residents once came to this exact area for roller coasters and amusement park thrills.

Next time you’re at Reeds Lake, picture a giant wooden coaster rising over the shoreline. 🎢

08/27/2026

When Peter Cullen walked into an audition in 1984 to voice a heroic robot truck named Optimus Prime, he already knew exactly where to find the character.

Cullen’s older brother Larry had served as a Marine officer in Vietnam. Before the audition, Peter told him he was trying out for a “hero truck.” Larry’s advice was simple: don’t play him like some loud, stereotypical Hollywood hero. “Be strong enough to be gentle.”

Cullen took that advice directly into the booth. He later explained that he essentially modeled Optimus on Larry, borrowing not only his deeper voice, but his quiet strength, dignity, honesty and leadership. Two weeks later, Cullen learned he’d gotten the role.

So one of the most recognizable voices in pop culture wasn’t really created by trying to sound like a giant robot. Peter Cullen was trying to sound like his real-life hero, his brother Larry.

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