Yeah, this is really old code. Not only old, but it's the first app I built with Rails when Rails was something like 
0.11.0. Be kind.

GETTING IT RUNNING
* Make sure you have Rails 1.2.6 - there might be some gems needed too
* Create the database
* Run rake db:migrate
* Run script/server
* Go to localhost:3000
* Click the huge JOIN button
* Signup
* Run script/console
* u = User.find :first
* u.role = "admin"
* u.save
* Go to localhost:3000/instances/new
* Fiddle with the settings and create an instance
* Make sure you enter settings for all numeric fields (nil default causes issues)
* Go to localhost:3000/instances/choose
* Join the instance you created.
* Done.