Meet the Reader: Snakefingers13

This week I briefly sat down and had a lovely chat with Snakefingers13. So, say hello!

I’m sure you’re familiar with the opening trio of questions. Who are you, how old are you and where do you come from?

I’m Evan Lynch, 16, and I’m from that wilderness known as the North. Even more precisely, Yorkshire.

Quite close to Hatfield isn’t that?

Something like that.

Well that’s what the signs say…

Don’t think I’ve been to Hatfield. I’m sure I’m missing out.

Nobody has, it’s just a place to drive past on the way up the country. What are your TSA ID and where did it originate from?

It’s SnakeFingers13, but for the record, that has nothing to do with Metal Gear Solid.

It comes from me being a musician, and my first instrument is that wonderful piece of metalwork known as the cornet. A friend once commented that my fingers looked like snakes whilst playing, hence the name. Although personally I think Sausagefingers would have been more accurate.

Do you have 13 fingers?

No, just 10. Yorkshire, not Norfolk!

Haha! That’s cool, though. Do you like playing music? I imagine that, being a cornet player in Yorkshire you play in a brass band.

You got that one right. In fact, that’s my next stop later this evening, unfortunately I have to miss the second half of the United game to trek over to Goole and play a concert.

Christmas season is always busy busy busy.

Standing out in the freezing cold, playing from tiny carol books. Sounds like fun!

Yeah, the carol books are out again. For better or worse. I also dabble in playing guitar (and bass) and the odd bit of piano.

So lots of finger music, then. Is music just a hobby? Or do you look at it as something a bit more?

I don’t see myself as a professional musician, but I’m definitely enjoying being an amateur. I like science too much to go study music. Although if one of the top Yorkshire brass bands come calling I’d find that hard to refuse.

You could do musical science! Audiology perhaps? Though that depends on the science you prefer.

Perhaps an Audiology and Nuclear Physics combined course.

Your first major published paper could be on how playing music to nuclear reactors makes them work better… I totally made that up, but it’d be cool. A bit like talking to plants to make them grow.

I think we’re on to something here. A Nobel Prize for discovering that Uranium-235 prefers a gentle baritone.

Most definitely! Well, I’m sure everyone came here expecting us to talk a bit about games. So, not wanting to disappoint, do you know any good card games?

The odd game of Blackjack never disappoints.

I dabble in Cheat.

I love Cheat! Though I tend to break the rules.

Me too! Apparently you can still cheat at cheat. Beyond me.

Isn’t that like a double negative? How odd.

The people who invented it clearly don’t know nothing.

Couldn’t have put it better myself! Oh alright then, lets talk about VIDEO games.

Are you sure? Better not rock the boat here…

It was going to happen eventually. How did you first get into video games?

My first gaming experience would have been when I woke up one Christmas morning to discover a PSOne sat in the fireplace. It was a cold year, we were about to burn it for fuel. My six-year-old frame wrestled it out of the coals, dusted off the soot and found Gran Turismo.

Also, Cool Boarders 2, but let’s stick with the positives.

Good to see you were able to discern good games at an early age!

I was rubbish at Cool Boarders 2, and to this day, I’m still horrendous at SSX.

After that, I seem to remember a helicopter game called Firestorm Thunderhawk or something like that. Then my dad traumatised me by making me play Alien Trilogy from an early age. I still have an irrational fear of facehuggers.

I don’t think that’s too irrational a fear. Certainly quite a rational one in my books.

After that, I’ve remained loyal to Sony, and owned a PS2 and PS3 since. Though I’ve played a few Pokémon GBA games (on a DS, I never owned a GBA) and the odd bit of N64 and Xbox. I still maintain that Star Wars: Rogue Squadron was a better game than Goldeneye for the N64, but only just.

The N64 certainly had some absolute corkers on there. Is Rogue Squadron one of your favourite games, then?

I think it’s going to be up there.

In terms of generations, I reckon the Ratchet and Clank games were probably my favourite for PS2.

Then PS3 has far too many to choose from. Assassin’s Creed is my favourite franchise at the moment, I think. Uncharted is fantastic, but I’m a big fan of open-world games. Besides all that I’m a big racing fan.