When Tim Leary died, his last words were "why not?" This game is basically an expression of that. Total insanity giving way to refreshing mechanics and surprisingly deep arcade gameplay. See, you´re a garden gnome, or maybe a building, and you use tether physics in conjunction with left/right movement to knock these little bastard Christmas elves off of you. If one can climb up and get in your chimney, like a Santa of doom, then you lose. Each wave gets more crazy and loaded with elves, then they get the flying sleighs out and the black cats you never know quite what to do with. Then there´s this guy´s face popping up in moments of hysteria to reward you with a bonus token and a perpendicular sound effect. All in all, a wholly aesthetic mosh.
What´s interesting about the gameplay is how the indirect nature of your primary weapon (the titular garden gnome) forces you to battle your own psychology. You´ll have the elves getting really close to the top and you start to panic, if you try to pick them off you´re less likely to succeed. For instance, you have some guys climbing on the left, you push left, to try and get at them. But the physics of your tethered gnome-mace do not follow that kind of linear reaction. Often, you´ll ward off danger just by standing still. So despite all the mania of the games theme and screen-cluttering ways, it´s really some kind of meditation exercise. A meditation on Christmas elves invading your brick building, and a meditation of the sublime nature of gnomes who inanimately and selflessly serve as a defensive bludgeon.
