Seattle Center

Basic Information

Seattle Center is a fairground, park and arts and entertainment center in Seattle, Washington. The 74-acre (300,000 m²) campus is the site used in 1962 by the Century 21 Exposition (aka 1962 World's Fair). Seattle Center is located north of downtown, in the Queen Anne neighborhood.

Attractions and Landmarks

• The Space Needle
• Seattle Center Monorail terminus, connecting Seattle Center to the Westlake Center mall downtown.
• Several museums:
  • The Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame
  • Pacific Science Center, home of the Boeing IMAX Theater, Eames IMAX Theater, and Seattle Laser Dome
  • Children's Museum
• The International Fountain: located in the middle of the campus, the fountain operates all year round. Built for the 1962 World's Fair, the fountain was built as a modernist water sculpture. With over 20 Spouts, the fountain goes through programmed cycles of shooting water patterns, accompanied by recorded world music. The music is changed every month, and chosen to coordinate with the water patterns.
• The Fun Forest amusement park with roller coasters
• multiple sports arenas
• multiple theatrical stages and art studios
• an entire high school
• pavillions, amphitheatres, conference rooms, etc
• Sculptures, murals, and artwork

There's a lot there. It's entirely possible to think you really know the place, and be surprised years later to find out you missed plenty.

Before the World's Fair, one of the largest buildings (now known as Center House) was an armory.

Across the street from the EMP/SFM edge of Seattle Center is a place that does tours of Seattle and Lake Union from a DUKW.

Sources

Bibliography

1. Wikipedia

2. Seattle Center website and map

3. Ride the Ducks

Game and Story Use

• All kinds of festivals and performances happen at Seattle Center. If you need an event in the campaign to take place in Seattle, but don't have specific place in mind, just set it at Seattle Center.
• Conveniently, all these sub-locations being in close proximity makes chase scenes and mysteries here real fun. Scenes and chases can quickly change venue, and it's just a short walk to the next point of interest.
  • Any of the craziness listed in the Game and Story Use sections of the Space Needle or Sci Fi Museum pages are likely to spill over to other nearby locations.
• The DUKW tour is goofy fun, but these sturdy amphibious military vehicles may prove more useful than fun if a major disaster happened. PCs could use them to escape into Puget Sound or crash over zombies.