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Old forum comments

(The Ludocity website previously had integrated forums, but they fell into spam-covered decline and were shut down in 2015. The comments in this section have been automatically converted from that forum.)

Sandpit #10 - April 22nd 2009

The Sandpit is back at the ICA this month, with a theme of "The End of the World". Scheduled games will include Prophecy, The Surveillance Game, Ponzi!, Moveyhouse, Bacterius, Monster Hunt and Rubble.

The full programme is at http://sandpit.hideandseekfest.co.uk/events

Doors open at 6:30pm. Tickets for the evening are £4, and are available from http://www.ica.org.uk/Sandpit+19364.twl --Kevan (talk) 2009-04-16 13:48:10


Welcome to the Forum

Ludocity now has a discussion forum built into it, to encourage conversation, game reports and collaborative game design.

(Old users should note that the login system has been overhauled, and we've changed the locks. If you had a wiki account under the old system, you'll have to take a moment to create a new one at http://ludocity.org/forum/signup - you can then use this both to post to the forums and edit the wiki pages.)

If you've got any thoughts on all this, or suggestions on features you'd like to see altered or added, leave us a note in this thread. --Ludocity (talk) 2009-04-16 18:37:36

Test post. --Kevan (talk) 2009-04-18 16:48:50

Hi! I'm just leaving a comment letting you know I am inspired by this site. I have started a group in my area dedicated to running games like these on a regular basis. So far we have played Checkpoint, and we're going to play Soho Stag Hunt relatively soon. :D --dotmatrixhero (talk) 2009-06-10 05:26:13

Great to hear it. Let us know where this area of yours actually is, and feel free to post about any upcoming games you're running - you might get some other local players crawling out of the woodwork to join you.

(And designers always like to hear that someone's run their game - you're welcome to add your event to the Checkpoint play history.) --Kevan (talk) 2009-06-10 10:48:31

Hi there,

just wanted to let you know that your rss and atom feeds arent working!

marcus --Guest (talk) 2009-10-05 13:21:47

Thanks. It looks like MediaWiki RSS feeds break if there's any whitespace at the end of an extension. I've fixed it.

(For the benefit of anyone searching for a solution to the same problem, the error message was "XML Parsing Error: XML or text declaration not at start of entity", and I found the rogue extension by just commenting them in and out of LocalSettings.php, one by one, and checking the RSS feed of an individual page's history - the main "recent changes" RSS feed seems to be cached, so you can't use it to test this). --Kevan (talk) 2009-10-06 16:59:48

Good morning all!

I'm rather new to pervasive gaming, having only ever been to a couple of events previously (most memorable was at the V+A last year) but I find the entire concept really inspiring and engaging!

This is why after being selected to be part of a task force that organises my works next team building event I have been ploughing through dozens of articles relating to pervasive gaming.

The idea of the event is to ensure employees network with each other and have fun whilst doing so - pervasive gaming (however you define it) has the potential to do both very well ...

I've joined this forum in the hope to get chatting to experienced game designers that could perhaps offer some advice an guidance on this event.

We've got lots of grand ideas and a outlying theme but we lack the practical experience in organising events of this type!

Any help that anyone could offer would be really appreciated!

Cheers --eyeseaewe (talk) 2011-05-17 10:47:39


Sandpit #11 - May 3rd 2009

Sandpit #11 will take place on Saturday 2 May 2009, at BFI Southbank, for an evening of James Bond-themed play and adventure. Come along to sneak, seduce, negotiate, observe, betray and defend. The night will run 6:30 to 10:00, unticketed (so no need to book), and is free to enter.

Games will include Bond Multitouch, QNTMFSLC, Surveillance (a variant of the Playmakers/Test-Case/Shrine game), Watch Your Back, For Your Ears Only, Earpiece, I've Been Expecting You, Property of a Traitor and Lose the Tail. --Kevan (talk) 2009-04-27 16:52:31

invitation to all games designers

went to sandpit #11 at bfi last night superb fun

spoke to other players about their experience asked a few designers if you had a gathering and upon hearing you hadn't my friend and i would like to host a night for you all

first things first am i in the right place? would be nice to invite all the designers is there a newsletter or something?

thanks for a superb night :) --happyseaurchin (talk) 2009-05-03 13:36:00

Ludocity is a global site, with designers from all over the world - if we get together, it's in subsets at local events like the Sandpit, Iglab, Barg, and at bigger festivals like Hide&Seek, Igfest and Come Out and Play. Some of these can be a bit hectic, if people are actually running their games, but even at the one-night events, there's usually time to wind down and compare notes at the bar, after the games have finished.

If you're in a city that doesn't yet have a pervasive gaming group, though, feel free to pick a venue and a date and tell everyone about it. --Kevan (talk) 2009-05-04 20:05:27


w i d e o p e n s p a c e - May 9th 2009

BARG's w i d e o p e n s p a c e is an afternoon of fun, games and picnics around the Curzon Street area of Birmingham, including Bocce Drift, The Lost Sport of Olympia, Human Snake and a hat-based variant of Lumenatio. There's a suggested donation of at least £3 to help fund future BARG events.

More information at this web site. --Kevan (talk) 2009-05-04 20:27:48

This looks like it was pretty great - so far there's some photos up, plus someone's writeup here. No idea how to make those hats, which look a lot less uncomfortable than the original Lumenatio swimming caps. --Holly (talk) 2009-05-10 15:45:16

Cheaper too!

Pindec is the Hat Meister, but they're basically your bog standard paper hat (http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Make-a-Paper-Hat) fitted with "an anti-wind mechanism" so as to preserve hat integrity. (Yeah, ok, pieces of string...). There were also a few extra details in the folding and the number placement to reduce wind effects. Hat-testing was done before the event!

The event itself was great - good weather; good fun; about half the players were people we'd never met before; really positive reaction to the spaces we used; strong interest in more of this sort of thing; and, by the end of it, a foregone conclusion that we'd all be doing it again!

Documentation's starting to appear in various places, with http://www.flickr.com/groups/barg4/and http://twitter.com/bargbarg being the main places to watch for now. --genzaichi (talk) 2009-05-10 17:24:25

Gosh, they looked much more stylish than that. I suppose the string gives them more shape...

Glad to hear there's going to be more - I obviously still haven't managed to make it along to any of them, and very much want to. --Holly (talk) 2009-05-10 17:52:28

Oh, that's just the inherent sartorial splendour of the average Brummie making the hats look good :)

I need to email you to sort out sandpit/emergent game stuff (hectic week coming up, will try and do it soon) and then once those dates are confirmed/otherwise we (other we: BARG we) can plan the next few BARG events around various commitments coming up - you're welcome to join us any time! --genzaichi (talk) 2009-05-10 19:50:56

Flickr machine tag bug

Only 3 of of the 8 photos I've tagged with ludocity:game=propertyofatraitor are showing up on the relevant Ludocity page.

When I go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/amuchmoreexotic/tags/ludocity:game%3Dpropertyofatraitor/ (my photos with the tag), I see 8 photos.

But when I go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/ludocity:game%3Dpropertyofatraitor/ (all public content with the tag), it only shows the three that are showing up on Ludocity.

So it seems like a Flickr problem. I've tried untagging and retagging, with no luck. Is there anything else we can do? --benhenley (talk) 2009-05-08 00:03:22

Digging through the Flickr help forums, people seem to have been having this problem for years - two years ago there were some bright-eyed Flickr admins briefly saying "This is fixed!", but the more recent threads are full of shoulder-shrugging, and suggestions that there are "various reasons" why this might happen.

Looking at the content of the pictures that aren't appearing, is it possible that Flickr is suspicious of the fact that they're scanned pieces of paper rather than "photos", and is assuming that people don't want to see them in a tag photostream? I know you can flag other people's sketches and screenshots to stop them appearing in search results - did you flag these as anything yourself, at any point? Or if you scanned the images in, is there EXIF data that tipped Flickr off to them being scanned pieces of paper? Might be worth flushing them through an image editor, and uploading them again.

It seems a bit mad for Flickr to automatically hush up anything that went through a scanner, but from the help forum threads, this seems like a fairly voodoo-heavy area. --Kevan (talk) 2009-05-08 12:58:23

Hmmm, will look into this - I think I may actually have told Flickr that they were scans. --benhenley (talk) 2009-05-08 17:30:59


Hide&Speak makers session - June 1st 2009

Hide&Seek hosts an evening of discussion about making pervasive games. This is a chance for makers and potential makers of pervasive games to talk about what works, what doesn't, how to get people playing, how to stop them from being run over, where to buy cheap ribbon or sports bibs, and anything else related to making and running pervasive games.

There will be a couple of hours of 15-minute talks about different practical aspects of making pervasive games, speakers including:

Alex Fleetwood talking about the Playmakers project Gethan Dick talking about how to make playful collaborative artwork good Holly Gramazio talking about exciting things that can go wrong with your pervasive game James Wallis talking about storytelling and pervasive games Manar Hussain talking about moderating games Simon Katan talking about designing for the game versus designing for art

After the talks there'll be time for everyone to chat more generally about pervasive games, hunt out the speakers and ask them questions, and meet other people who make or are interested in making pervasive games.

The event will take place in the Hub, a few minutes' walk from King's Cross.

Book your place at http://hideandspeak.eventbrite.com. --Ludocity (talk) 2009-05-20 11:13:44

Argh, I'll miss this by nine days. Will the talks be recorded? Since there doesn't seem to be a Book On Making Games, perhaps it would be good to start accumulating resources like this.. --gwyn (talk) 2009-05-21 03:23:27

Ivo will be there to film, I think, since Alex will be talking about Playmakers - I'll see whether he's up for filming the rest of it too.

And yeah, sorry about timing, but I do think there'll be another one! --Holly (talk) 2009-05-22 17:18:41

BOGfest - May 23rd 2009

BOGfest will be taking place on Saturday 23rd of May as part of the Brighton Fringe festival. Games will include Clock the Doc, Treasure Hunts and Fruit Farmer from LocoMatrix, and culminating in a FlashMob bubble blowing extravaganza at 18:00. --Ludocity (talk) 2009-05-20 11:18:12

What is a pervasive game?

It'd be interesting to try to pin this down a bit. How do people define the term "pervasive game"? What counts and what doesn't? --Kevan (talk) 2009-05-28 16:24:31

Hmmm... To me, pervasive is actually misleading. From what I understand, the leading definition of pervasive is "to become spread throughout all parts of: Spring pervaded the air." [Dictionary.com]

Now, if you mean that the game is common, and therefore easy to spread, then I guess I'd rather call the games a completely new name entirely. It seems to me that this category (pervasive games) does not fit into LARPs, RPGs, boardgames, or parlor games. It seems to be a mixture of all of them... I found this site while looking at your games on BoardGameGeek, and I'm very pleased to have found it since my favorite game is Werewolf (or Redscare as we play it - rethemed with the Cold War). Werewolf can pretty much be considered a parlor game, although it did not originate during Victorian times. However, I notice that Werewolf is considered a pervasive game by this site, to some extent...

Maybe you should tell us what it means to you? It seems that there is quite a confusion over this label...

EDIT1:

Below I have included your own definition (to the best of my knowledge). From those couple of paragraphs, I can now see where you are going with these games. They are my favorite kind as well, so I hope I can help. Forgive my "longwindedness" as I proceed:

After reading that, I can say that I still see pervasive games as not being clear enough, yet, I see why there is such a struggle to put a name on an awesome genre such as this... My suggestion is that we simply brainstorm new names as a community until one fits (or we have a vote). It will be hard, I mean, Werewolf doesn't even match the definition that I have pasted below... Hmmm... --BigBur (talk) 2009-05-28 20:53:31

"Ludocity is a collection of pervasive games, street games and new sports - social forms of play that take place in public spaces, such as city streets, parks and public buildings.

Some of the games on Ludocity overlap with theatre, painting, dance, and other art forms. Some of them use balloons, lumps of coal, huge sheets of paper, mp3 players, elaborate costumes, and short-range radio broadcasts. All of them have been released under a creative commons licence, giving everyone permission to run that game for free, wherever and whenever they like."

NOTE TO SELF: Always read front page of websites before commenting in the forum :) --BigBur (talk) 2009-05-28 21:09:00

The traditional meaning of "pervasive" here is that the game pervades its environment - one way of interpreting that is that it uses the pre-existing city as a playing area, and can unfold around unwitting members of the public. IPerG talk of games which are "tightly interwoven with our everyday lives through the objects, devices and people that surround us and the places we inhabit".

I'm still working on my own definition. It's currently "a game that pervades its environment or its spectators, or is social to the point of performance" - if a game I'm working on is lacking all of those, then I need to change something. Basic around-a-table Werewolf fits into the last of those, but a lot of other games do as well (right back to Victorian parlour games), so there probably needs to be a clearer line drawn to find a useful definition in there. --Kevan (talk) 2009-05-28 21:13:33

Okay, okay, I see your point. A vote and change is not needed then. I wasn't sure if you coined the term or another did, but now I see that it is something that has been around for awhile.

The question still remains about the dividing line, like you said. I'll have to think on this one a bit and do a little more research... --BigBur (talk) 2009-05-28 21:19:43

I have a rant about this stored up - having spoken to some interactive/promenade theatre people, I think 'pervasive games' describes a particular area of the graph of all social/fictive performance events. I need a diagram to explain it, though. Could write up as a piece for the Sandpit blog? --benhenley (talk) 2009-06-22 13:25:18

I'd love to see the rant, Ben - Please do a write-up! --BigBur (talk) 2009-06-23 19:28:17

I agree with you, Kevan. I think pervasive games have to use the environment in which they are played. That includes scenery and people. I wouldn't really class Werewolf as a pervasive game, though: I think it crosses over with boardgames to much. However, Werewolf does have that all important 'active' factor: people are chatting over the top of the game and bantering. I think that makes a pervasive game as well: several layers can be happening at the same time. Strategy, 'serious' talking, teamwork and tactics all happen alongside fun, bantering and messing about. When I first found this site through Project Wonderful, I thought "Wow! A big site full of wide-games!" However, now I realise Pervasive games can be more than that: they can make you stop and think and make points points and political comment. Just my tuppence. --Peads (talk) 2009-06-24 10:28:39

Well, I think pervasive games can contain board game attributes. Peads, what you're referring to is metagaming. Yes, games like Diplomacy and Werewolf transcend the boundaries of a "normal boardgame" because you find yourself trusting and doubting people on account of things they have done outside of that particular game. Therefore, I see both of the aforementioned games as being pervasive. However, Diplomacy can be argued either way because it actually HAS a board, as opposed to Werewolf which can be played with only a few bits of paper (effectively making it a "parlor-type" game). Games like Standoff can't be considered pervasive if we consider Werewolf a boardgame, so I'm still of the definite opinion that Werewolf is not a boardgame... --BigBur (talk) 2009-07-14 18:52:22

I've changed my mind since my last comment... I think Werewolf/Mafia are actually pervasive games as they cause meta-gaming (as you've said) between players. It's more than player-interaction: it takes to a much grander level where people are not looking at people's actions but the thought processes behind those actions. Also, what's your BGG username, BigBur? Mine's Peads (same as here). --Peads (talk) 2009-07-15 21:36:38

I don't have a BGG account now. I mean, I used to, but this guy started stalking me, and I was just spending too much time on there anyway, haha. But yeah, sorry if I sounded really cold in my last post on this thread. I was just trying to say that I consider that type of game a pervasive game. --BigBur (talk) 2009-07-16 07:16:27

You didn't sound cold at all! Anyway, I think for a board/card game to be a pervasive game it has to be, as you've said be very minimalist, therefore encouraging role-play. --Peads (talk) 2009-07-16 14:18:50

After the Weekender, someone (I think Simon Katan?) used the term "social games" to describe Werewolf and the Werewolf killers. Now, although you could argue that any game you play with other people is 'social' in some sense, I like that term, because a big part of what makes these games compelling is that the rules create situations where social cues are important, in a way that traditional boardgames don't.

Mind you, under that definition, poker is a social game.

I'd also say that, if a game can be pervasive if it requires "considering the thought processes behind a player's actions" or "trusting and doubting people on account of things they have done outside of that particular game", poker must therefore be a pervasive game, too.

I'm not sure that Werewolf, Ponzi! etc. can really be deemed pervasive games without stretching the definition of 'pervasive' so far that it includes lots of traditional games.

It's a tricky one. --benhenley (talk) 2009-08-03 17:33:59

I tend to describe Sand Pit as social *and* pervasive gaming to avoid having to go further than this: any game which is not exclusively a board game, a card game, a dice game or a computer game...

I suppose I need to think about where to draw my line...

Are we maybe looking at a large collection of sub categories though, which have varying amounts in common other than that they are newish and playful and not that numerous? In which case, maybe the group will more obviously spread out over time and we'll have a series of game styles.

It feels a little like we're physical anthropologists trying to piece together the evolution of H.sapiens with only a handful of samples - you want it to be a continuum but the evidence looks like separate species, but then you get more samples and you start to struggle to insert divisions... ho hum. --Apolobamba (talk) 2009-08-06 13:58:21

Hi there Jaakko Stenros and Markus Montola have published alot excellent material on this subject. They have both worked alot with development of pervasive games. Check out their arcticles and books - It opend my eyes to what Pervasive Games is

Cheers

-U --uni.askham (talk) 2009-08-20 09:57:27

check out:

Pervasive Games: Theory and Design 2009 (Stenross, Montola and Waern)

Playground Worlds. Creating and Evaluating Experiences of Role-Playing Games 2008 (Stenros and Montola)

Beyond Role and Play. Tools, Toys an Theory 2004 (Steenros and Montola)

They have also published relevant articals in some of the KnutePunkt books --uni.askham (talk) 2009-08-20 10:03:50

Hey

On www.pervasivegaming.ning.com Tom Söderlund suggest four definitions. One of them is about pervasive gaming:

"Pervasive Game: a digital game that blends with the player's everyday life." Link: http://pervasivegaming.ning.com/profiles/blogs/2036717:BlogPost:181

I think it is close but personaly I do not think you have to use a digital media to play those types of games.

Kind regards Jakob --laCour (talk) 2009-08-25 15:00:23

Other Websites

Are there any other websites besides http://www.pervasive-gaming.org/index.php and this one that deal with this genre of games explicitly? --BigBur (talk) 2009-05-28 21:21:41

http://pervasivegames.wordpress.com/ --genzaichi (talk) 2009-05-29 09:26:21


Sandpit #12 - June 3rd 2009

The Sandpit is at the Soho Theatre this month, focusing on interactive storytelling and including a day-long workshop.

Games include Soho Spy Squad (which is the latest incarnation of Playmakers), Epit, Youdunnit, Theatre of Alienation, Greg McLaren’s Shoebox of Death, Conversation Piece and Search and Replace.

The main games are now fully booked, but you can still come along and pick up the pick-up-and-play games, talk to other pervasive gamers, and spectate on the games that play out in public space. --Kevan (talk) 2009-06-02 20:52:49

would be nice for us all to get together in some way perhaps before we split up into small groups... but i can understand that this might be unmanageable wrt venue --happyseaurchin (talk) 2009-06-04 16:17:53

How was it? Were the new games fun? --Peads (talk) 2009-06-07 17:58:41

I think Theatre of Alienation was OK, but I wish I had laid more traps in the script, and given them a props box to work with. The teams seemed to have fun, and the few players who got the chance enjoyed watching themselves and the other teams on video. I am having one of my Lovely Assistants put together a highlights video of the funniest bits, with cleaned up sound, which I hope will turn out quite watchable. --benhenley (talk) 2009-06-11 16:58:30


Copyright for images uploaded to Ludocity

The Special:Upload page says "Please do not use copyrighted images for [a image]; either provide a photo you've taken yourself, or find one on Flickr that's been issued under a Creative Commons licence".

I'd like to use some graphic design I've commissioned myself to represent Runaway. However, I would like myself and the designer to retain full copyright - ie unlike the rules, the image would not be CC licensed, but just old school '(c) Ben Henley and Natalie Catchpole all rights reserved'.

It's unclear from the instructions if this is OK - do all the images on Ludocity have to be CC licensed, or can I upload a game image but retain full copyright? --benhenley (talk) 2009-06-11 16:56:14

You can retain copyright, that's fine - the bits of the wiki that are CC-licenced are explicitly flagged as such, and this doesn't automatically include the images. --Kevan (talk) 2009-06-11 16:58:59


Sandpit #13 - June 24th 2009

From the Sandpit website:-

On 24 June we’re back at the Southbank Centre! This time there’s no theme - it’s just a night of games and play and South Bank glee, based in the Spirit Level of the Royal Festival Hall.

The Sandpit is Hide&Seek’s monthly event for playing new games, reliving old favourites, and generally having fun. This time there’s no need to book in advance - just turn up ready to grab a programme. You can join in with the scheduled games, watch what’s going on, or play games from our pick-up-and-play booklet with a group of friends. Scheduled games will be running between 7pm and 10pm, and the venue will remain open until 11pm.

The night’s going to include a frankly ridiculous number of games, and it’s the last Sandpit before the Hide&Seek Weekender at the end of July, so do come along and play! Remember we’re on the Spirit Level, which is the floor BELOW the main Royal Festival Hall public space (we’ll be in the foyer, the Blue Room and the White Room, and we should be pretty easy to find).

Three Ludocity-posted games are getting their first playtest at the Sandpit: The Potato Game, The Grand Emperor and Capetown. --Ludocity (talk) 2009-06-22 16:08:55

And it looks like tonight's Playmakers incarnation will be Scoop!, with teams of television journalists roaming the South Bank in search of good stories, and each other. --Kevan (talk) 2009-06-24 15:02:26


Iglympics - June 24th 2009

The interesting games lab celebrates sports as part of the Watershed's Let the Games Begin season. We are holding a mini Olympics of street games, interesting sports and mucking about.

Hosted by the Watershed, June's iglab will bring you some of the best street games and pervasive games to have been developed around the the theme of sports. Heading the Line up will be a mini tournament of Korean Lazer Ball. Like some kind of sport from a sci fi future, Korean Lazer Ball pits two teams of lazer gladiators against each other leaving them to shine bounce and dodge their way to the top of the league. We will invite the current world champion teams to defend their title against all-comers. More games in the iglympia will be announced closer to the date.

More information... --Ludocity (talk) 2009-06-22 17:50:29

Games wanted for Manchester’s first pervasive gaming event!

Larkin’ About needs game designers for Manchester’s first pervasive gaming event on Saturday 5th December 2009. Games can take place inside or outside, must last between 1-2 hours, and must be able to accommodate large volumes of players (up to 200).

An all day pervasive gaming festival Larkin’ About is a day of flashmobs and audience participation in labyrinths, conspiracies, chases, clues, impossipuzzles, Connect 4 challenges and urban adventures.

In addition to games from established intenational designers, Larkin’ About will programme original games from local designers, putting a Mancunian stamp on the twelve hours of around-the-clock urban adventure and social gaming.

Game designing is a great way to support the festival and put your creative twist on it. Don’t worry if you have never designed before – get in touch with your idea and we’ll go from there. --Tricia (talk) 2009-07-31 13:01:45

I test trailed a game not knowing anything about pervasive gaming before.

It was called The Street Novel, it was done in a gallery as an interactive art concept...

Have a look at the blog and tell me if you think it has potential:

www.thestreetnovel.com

Q.C.W --quinceysconcept (talk) 2009-07-31 20:00:55

200 players per game?! What kind of gig _is_ this?

LaserTrap can handle, at most, 2 players every 3 minutes, or about 80 players in a two-hour session. Other games I've run can handle twenty or thirty.

I'll see if I can't devise something on a grander scale. Are any more details on the festival available? --gwyn (talk) 2009-08-02 21:49:25

RE Street Novel: I have had a quick look and it looks really interesting, though I am not sure I completely understand how it unfolds...! Is there anything else I could read on it? Would it be possible to do an amended version over just one day?

We are expecting 200-350 at the event and we don't expect that many to be playing at any one time but we don't want to turn people away. We are already programming games alongside other games so there are options on what to play - I will just have to be careful how I manage this so everyone gets to do something.

I'll post weblinks and print up when it is done - it will be hosted at greenroom in Manchester www.greenroomarts.org --Tricia (talk) 2009-08-03 16:34:34

I'm working on a new game - lemmings - which might be suitable for large numbers of players. Though I would suggest that running many games simultaneously is the way to go. --simonkatan (talk) 2009-08-03 17:47:02

I agree with the others that making sure the games can accommodate 200 people will be very challenging. There are a few games on Ludocity that could proooobably scale up that far: The Potato Game, Lumenatio (except it's a pain to score even with 40), Soho Stag Hunt (given enough helium balloons and maybe two or three stags instead of one), maybe Search and Replace (with a longer playing time and a bigger playing space). Plus Journey to the End of the Night has certainly run with several hundred players - but it needs a whole city as playing area, and at least fifteen or so actors.

Traditional scavenger hunts and capture-the-flag style games tend to take an enormous amount of players easily enough, as do commercial treasure-hunt games. Plus ambient games like Trap Street and City Blocks can take loads of people easily enough, though most players are only engaged for a few minutes each.

It's a tricky one! From a curatorial point of view I would probably go for having, say, four largeish games at the same time, and running a couple of times each, rather than a few enormous games running one after another - but it's an interesting design challenge, I'll have a think about possible new games.

There are plenty of games that aren't on Ludocity that can take that many - Noah's Lark, And I Saw or the Go Game, out of things that ran at the Hide&Seek Weekender, for example; and Cruel 2 B Kind or Blast Theory's Day of the Figurines from last year. I'd be happy to talk about these, or the logistics of scheduling or running this sort of event, if that would be useful - my email address is holly@hideandseekfest.co.uk . --Holly (talk) 2009-08-03 21:26:23

And separate from the specific issue of the Manchester event, it's interesting to think about what sort of games scale well. They mostly seem to have at least one or two of these characteristics:

1. Distributed widely over space or time (the V&A/wikipedia photographic game over time; Journey to the End of the Night and most big scavenger hunts/treasure trails over space, ARGs and SF0 over both). Games that are widely distributed over time can often be joined by players at any point.

2. Players are split into largeish teams; those teams tend to split into groups of two or three; overall aim is to either distribute an item or collect up that item (Potato Game, Soho Stag Hunt, Capture the Flag).

3. Very simple rules - well, this one is a bit of a given, as explaining complicated rules to 200 people wouldn't be very much fun!

4. The game consists of many smaller missions (Noah's Lark, The Go Game, Ravenchase and all the rest of the commercial treasure hunts, SF0, Journey).

5. The main emotion the designer wants to conjure up in the player is glee or jubilance - a lot of the stuff from the New Games movement from the 60s, for example. Really simple rules, bright colourful props, no real way to do it "wrong" or desire for strategy.

Are there any other common characteristics of games that work well with 100+ players? --Holly (talk) 2009-08-03 21:37:18

Great advice guys - Simon let me know a little more about Lemmings - I'm intrigued!

Holly, thanks for these links. I went to H&S08 and played some of these and am planning on programming Journey as the finale game and Cruel 2B Kind, but I will def check out the other leads. I'll drop you an email in the next few days with my questions but thanks so much for your advice!

Cheers guys! --Tricia (talk) 2009-08-04 10:12:09

Explaining games

Prompted by the discussion in the Potato Game thread, I've been thinking about explaining games and whether we could work up some sort of explanation guidelines based on our collective experience? And then maybe turn it into a proper Ludocity page. A few initial notes:

Some general thoughts

I think it's good to have both printed and spoken rules, if possible. That way people will be able to figure out stuff you've missed and teach each other; and some people learn better by reading anyway. I tend to give the ruleset out either at the start while people are gathering, or at the end at the same time as I'm giving strategy hints.

Ideally you should be able to stay in one place so people can come back if they have questions - or alternatively perhaps put a phone number on the rules.

If there's a bit of the rules that's really tricky for people to get a handle on, see if there's a different way to look at it (for example "for any group of size N, you can carry N-1 potatoes" versus "in any group, one person needs to have their hands empty"). Kevan is really good at these. What I tend to do, when I'm being organised; I'm sure there are better ways

1. Establish the setting/characters, if relevant ("you are all lizards"), or else a sentence summarising the game ("this game is a bit like a scavenger hunt, but you're not just the hunters - you're also the hunted")

2. The aim of the game ("to win, you need to be the first person to find all of the people whose minds you can read")

3. How to do this - the bulk of the rules

4. Any twists or interesting bits or difficulties that can be separated from the rest of the rules ("but here's the tricky bit: if the other team figures out your message first, then they're the ones that get the points")

5. 30-second summary: ("So, to summarise: SETTING or PREMISE. WIN CONDITION. SINGLE-LINE SUMMARY OF GAME PLAY. Some explicit THINGS YOU ARE ALLOWED TO DO, possibly. Some things you are NOT ALLOWED TO DO but might try to - the obvious ways to cheat or misunderstand.")

6. Any questions?

7. "Anything else? No? Okay. A couple of strategic hints (HINT 1 and HINT 2)". This bit only if I think there's something to do with how to play that is non-obvious, but more fun if you realise (and if the explanation hasn't already gone on too long).Generally phrased as "you might want to..." --Holly (talk) 2009-08-04 13:01:40

I would also suggest that if it is possible to delay explaining a rule until it's needed, do that... e.g. if the players are allowed to purchase bonus lives in round 3 of your game, but they don't need to take that into account in their strategy for rounds 1 and 2, it might be better not to mention bonus lives at all until you get to round 3. --benhenley (talk) 2009-08-04 14:03:31

Hey. This list is just what we (and by we I mean 'I') need!

Do you think you need to explain what is actually going to happen at any point? For example, "You will be split up into teams and given bibs" or "You will need to collect a sticker and a camera from..." or is is normally easier to make that clear in the rules section?

I'm not so sure about the 'not mentioning rules' idea: I think it works OK with children who tend to question less and are used to being told what to do but (in management at least) it's a bad idea not to tell people what's coming up as it breeds a lack of trust and, inevitably, complaints. --Apolobamba (talk) 2009-08-06 13:25:18

Regarding whether you should explain what is actually going to happen - I think if possible it's better to do this at the same time as the thing actually happens, so instead of "you will be split up into teams and given bibs", it should be "okay, I'm going to need you to split into six teams... right, a few more here... okay, that's about even... and now each team is going to get a different coloured sports bib [give them out]". It's easier to take in something when it's happening than to queue it up in a big list of Stuff That Will Happen Later.

Regarding only telling people things when it's relevant - I think it depends a lot on the game. I think it can be really useful to let information become available only gradually - it certainly allows you to have a more complicated ruleset. But if the thing you find out in Round 3 will make you wish you'd behaved differently in Round 1, then I think it's better to let people know in advance; and if you really can't, then at least to say something like "I haven't told you all the rules - in Round 3, there's going to be another rule that comes into play. I'm not going to explain it yet, so remember to keep your options open because things are going to change before the game ends".

The other thing with this is that it's important that the players feel on an even footing, so if half your players have played before and know the Secret Round 3 Rule, you should make sure they all do. --Holly (talk) 2009-08-06 13:53:35

[ Ah, I posted this at the same time as the previous comment, so it covers some of the same points... ]

Delayed rules can be tricky. Even if you've designed the game to make sure that the Round 3 extra-life sale has absolutely zero bearing on player activity in the first two rounds, you can't predict how players will feel about it. If a player thinks that it would have had a bearing - or if they genuinely took an approach you hadn't anticipated, and had somehow used up all their money/stamina/allies by Round 3 - then they'll feel a bit cheated. (Players don't like surprise rule changes, particularly if they've spent some effort investing in a strategy which is suddenly invalidated.)

It can work if you tell the players that some information will only be released later, and if they know what kind of thing it's going to be. An early draft of Minkette's "Prophecy" game required a lot of fiddly "how to survive apocalypse event X" rules - rather than infodumping them on players at the start of the game, they'd have been gradually handed out as government information brochures over the course of play. But the players would know they were coming, and could infer from the first one what kind of thing the others would tell them.

I think the only other contexts it can work in are collaborative games (in Property of a Traitor, a spy setting fire to the whiteboard would be a challenging step forward for the group, rather than setting back the individual players who'd gone for the "write stuff on a whiteboard" strategy), and games cut into clear, scored rounds, where it's more like you're playing the game again but with a new rule (so yes, you can buy extra lives in Round 3, but whoever's winning at the end of Round 2 gets full credit). --Kevan (talk) 2009-08-06 14:07:23

I would emphasise the "if ... they don't need to take that into account" bit of my comment.

In one of the possible variants of Ponzi!, players can buy "stock tips" for a small number of tokens from the second round onwards - this doesn't affect the first round significantly (players want to get as many tokens as they can anyway, and half the stock tips are useless anyway) so explaining it up front would just cause confusion.

But I agree that if a rule would give players some reason to regret not knowing about it earlier, then it should definitely be announced at the beginning. --benhenley (talk) 2009-08-06 17:51:15

Sandpit Tour - Autumn 2009

In Autumn 2009, the Sandpit is on tour across the UK. We’ve brought together some of the best games developed over the past year of the Sandpit, and we’re taking them to ten UK venues and festivals.

All events are free.

   Edinburgh - Forest Fringe. Wednesday 26th August, 2 – 6pm
   Cardiff - National Theatre Wales. Thursday 3rd September, 6.30 – 10.30pm
   Brighton - Lighthouse. Wednesday 9th September, 6.30 – 10.30pm
   Bristol - IGFEST. Sunday 13th September, 1 – 4pm
   Liverpool - FACT gallery as part of AND festival. Thurs 24th September, 6.30 – 10.30pm
   Southend – Village Green Festival. Sat 26th September, 11am – 6pm
   Stratford-Upon-Avon - Royal Shakespeare Company Waterside Space. Wed 30th Sept, 6.30 – 10.30pm
   Nottingham - Broadway as part of Gamecity Festival. Wed 28th Oct, 6.30 – 10.30pm
   Sheffield – Sheffield Doc/fest. Thurs 5th November, 6.30 – 10.30pm
   Newcastle Upon Tyne - Wunderbar Festival. Thurs 12th November, 6.30 –10.30pm

--Ludocity (talk) 2009-09-01 12:47:00

Newcastle designers wanted

On November 12th, Wunderbar Festival and Tyneside Cinema are hosting the first ever visit to Newcastle by Hide & Seek’s Sandpit, as part of their UK tour.

The Sandpit is Hide & Seek's legendary evening of social games and playful experiences that have become a fixture at London’s ICA. It's a chance for audiences to take part in new, playful work; and for artists to try out ideas that apply game design to other cultural forms.

The tour will bring some of Hide & Seek’s most exciting and successful games to the Tyneside and the streets outside the building.

We are seeking to give a North East creative the unique opportunity to make a new game for the Sandpit supported by Hide & Seek’s creative team and to become part of the Wunderbar Festival programme.

Resources:

There is no fee for creating a game for the Sandpit. Hide and Seek will provide a small budget for materials and their creative team will support you in the development and delivery of your game idea. Tyneside Cinema will provide space and technical support and advice. Wunderbar Festival will pay for the successful applicant to travel to take part in the Sandpit in Nottingham on the 28th October, to experience first-hand some of Hide & Seek’s pervasive games and playful experiences.

How to apply:

Please send a draft proposal for a game, max one side of A4, and a web link or similar of your previous work to takepart@wunderbarfestival.co.uk by the 10th September 2009. This short deadline will allow you to meet the Hide and Seek team on their site visit on 14th Sept.

To get an idea of Sandpit games look at http://hideandseekfest.co.uk, or at http://ludocity.org, a wiki with the rules for many different pervasive games.

But don't feel constrained by what's there – a pervasive game can involve anything from smuggling sculptures to sneaking around behind actors to following characters on Twitter and finding them in the real world; from flag-waving messages and treasure hunts to music distributed throughout a city or stories written in UV ink on carefully selected noticeboards.

There are few ‘rules’ but we would suggest that a successful Sandpit game should:

   be playable in an hour or less
   involve some element of public space or performance that distinguishes it from board games and parlour games
   enable its participants to have a meaningful way to affect the outcome.
   be for anywhere between 5 and 50 players.

Wunderbar Festival is a dynamic new festival of contemporary interactive performance, visual art and extraordinary happenings, which will take place across the North East from the 6th – 15th November 2009. It was originated and developed by Fierce Earth and forms part of NewcastleGateshead's world-class festivals and events programme developed by culture10.

For further information please see http://sandpit.hideandseekfest.co.uk/ http://www.wunderbarfestival.co.uk/ http://www.tynesidecinema.co.uk/ --Ludocity (talk) 2009-09-01 12:49:20

Igfest - 10th-13th September 2009

The Bristol pervasive games festival Igfest have just announced their 2009 programme.

They've got some great stuff lined up - this year's Friday-night Journey game is La Noche de los Muertos, with players being hunted down by cloaked figures and a mariachi band, there's a whole collective noun of moose to hunt, and Sunday closes with a return of the high-octane spectator sport of Korean Lazer Ball.

Are any Ludocity users planning to attend? I'll be there from Friday, and the Sandpit crew are turning up to run games on Sunday. --Kevan (talk) 2009-09-02 14:23:28

I'll be there from Friday 6pm! --gwyn (talk) 2009-09-10 07:19:32

Hi guys,

If, like me, you had a brilliant time at igFest (or you'd like to know what it was like) - there's a pretty good article up on Wired.co.uk.

Check it out here. --Guest (talk) 2009-09-17 17:35:15

Thanks for the link.

And yes, Igfest was great. They did a fine and thorough job overhauling Journey to make La Noche - losing the infection mechanic took some of the edge off of the paranoia, but it gave them a lot of space to ramp up the theatrics and safe-zone challenges, and to make sure that everyone had a good time out there - it felt like a really well-rounded experience for the team of hardcore zombie-hunters and cautious newbies I ended up with. And the routemaster/graveyard finale was pretty amazing. --Kevan (talk) 2009-09-17 17:53:12

Halloween Iglab - 30th October 2009

Bristol's Iglab returns for Halloween at the end of this month, taking place at a secret location in the city, and possibly involving pumpkins.

Full details on the Iglab web site. --Kevan (talk) 2009-10-03 12:20:59

BARG Playtest - 10th October 2009

BARG are heading over to Birmingham's Bull Ring shopping centre to try out a few ideas including musical sculpture and shopper control.

   "Ingredients for playing with include, but are not limited to: 3 levels of shops; the escalators in between; the outdoor bit down the middle; the square next to St. Martin’s church; a department store with some silver discs stuck on it; and a large statue of a bull."

Full details in this BARG blog entry. --Kevan (talk) 2009-10-04 23:09:39

Halloween BARG: call for games

We're looking for people who'd like to run games at the BARG Halloween event on Saturday 31st of October.

The event will take place outside in the dark at Moseley Park, Birmingham. Full details and photos/map of the site available here: http://barg.org.uk/make/halloween_call_for_games/ --genzaichi (talk) 2009-10-12 12:05:24

Blank dice

I'm looking for eight sided blank dice of varying colours. But having no luck. Does anyone know of a good supplier ? --simonkatan (talk) 2010-02-23 12:41:01

Can't speak for the quality of the supplier, but from a bit of Googling (with the secret bonus keyphrase "D8") this place has single blank white eight-sided dice (which I'd guess were 25mm, from US sites offering similar "jumbo" dice) - not sure how easy it would be to colour them yourself, though. Is it important to colour the whole die, rather than to just use different coloured inks to write the numbers or symbols onto them?

This site offers a full set of blank polyhedrals in three colours. --Kevan (talk) 2010-02-24 09:49:05

Game for a youth group event

In a few weeks time, a few local youth groups are meeting up for some widegames, and I've been tasked with the game(s). There should be ~30, perhaps less. We're thinking of playing Haggis Bandits, as it's a game I know well. But I want to play something a bit different.

So have you guys got any ideas for any games to play? I was thinking of Bacterius or Day of the Thing, both of which look fairly easy to put together and play. The players will be about 11-18, and (as I said before) there should be about 30. The playing area will probably be a woods or a park, and playing time should be about 1h 15ms, possibly with two different games in two places and switching over after half an hour.

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated,

Pe-ads --Peads (talk) 2010-05-28 22:34:17

I'd recommend The Potato Game for sheer simplicity-to-strategy ratio - it's very easy to set up and explain, but has room for a lot of deep tactics and on-the-spot innovation from players. It does require some props, but could double up with Haggis Bandits.

Hunt the Scavenger takes a little more setup and requires a scavenger-hunt style list of objects to find in the wild, which may or may not suit your terrain. For a game with barely any setup, though, Holla-Lulu is maybe worth a go.

Have fun. --Kevan (talk) 2010-06-01 20:31:58

Thanks for the info; I would have answered earlier but forgot to check the post.

I had thought of The Potato Game, but initially abandoned it for lack of depth: however, after rereading the rules now, it does seem to have more depth than I initially thought.

I ran Hunt the Scavenger with my dad for my little brother's birthday party (about 8 12-year olds). It worked okay for that group but I thought it was a bit meh. Besides, it requires lots of pencils, sheets and bags...

Holla-Lulu looks interesting: hadn't considered it before. It seems fairly short? It could be longer, but people shouting for 10 minutes would get very hoarse throats. Perhaps for use as a 'filler' game if we have any time left at the end.

Thanks a lot,

Pe-ads --Peads (talk) 2010-06-03 21:07:43

Running games at GenCon (Indianapolis)

Hey all, I'm new here. I am planning on running various ambient games at GenCon in Indianapolis early August this year. Thanks to this site, I plan to run both Cake Hunting and The Man Who Was Thursday.

Additionally, I have an untested variation on Journey to the End of the Night which involves zombies/infected and weapon cards. I plan to test it before GenCon, but might not get to it.

Anyone else going? --griff (talk) 2010-06-11 23:58:38

Creating a new group

Any advice on creating a group of like minded people for these types of games? I'm in Chicago, and we do have http://www.chicag0.org/ here, but they don't seem to be super active.

Cheers --griff (talk) 2010-06-12 00:00:47

Fleet Street Play Day - Monday 17th January 2011

After extensive research and conversations with local residents, it has been decided that Fleet Street needs rescuing. Its previously buzzing personality is under threat of being trampled by commuter traffic and blinkered pedestrians.

So... we are going to bring some old-style Paparazzi madness back onto the street!

We will combine two tried-and-tested games - PhotoRun and Stickerazzi - for an hour of silliness and fun. We will meet at 1pm where someone will explain the rules and hand you your stickers. The game will run for just under an hour, so we should be finished by 2.30pm.

You will need to bring a digital camera/camera phone, everything else will be provided on the day.

If you want to join in, email me at info(at)rebeccasteiner(dot)co(dot)uk and I will send you the details.

See you on Monday! Rebecca NB. This is part of a university project and will be documented online. Images may be posted on Flickr following the event.

Game outlines:

PhotoRun In Photorun you are a Paparazzi. The game involves chasing down your friends and stealthily attempting to capture them on camera, in order to sell their image to the newspapers. The first person to capture all the other players wins - but remember, they are all trying to catch you, too!

Visit http://ludocity.org/wiki/PhotoRun for details and to watch a video of the game being played. Stickerazzi Similar to the above, but with stickers. Players are in two teams: Sticks and Paps. Two teams means two winners!

Sticks: Each Stick has a pack of coloured stickers that they can place as they wish around the street. They win points every time their sticker is photographed by a Pap - double the points if it is photographed on a moving object (vehicle/person/anything in motion!). However, if a Pap catches them placing a sticker, they lose points. Paps: Paps try to win points by photographing stickers of any colour. The Pap who captures the most stickers wins. Extra points for capturing a Stick in the process of placing his sticker! --DesignerSteiner (talk) 2011-01-15 17:21:53

Larkin' About in 2011!

Saturday 26th February, 6pm greenroom bar & 10pm, Nexus Art Cafe, Manchester.

This event will take place in and around greenroom bar from 6pm onwards, until 10pm when players will arrive at Nexus Art Café to play the final game Stranger on the Eleventh Floor.

Games include:

Utilitarian Geography Nick Howard

Have you ever wanted to move a few places around? Maybe it would be more convenient if Glasgow was on your doorstep? Your girlfriend lives in London and if it were closer, you could save on the train fare? What about moving Salford down to Cornwall for the sunshine? Or have you been gripped by the desire to make Stockport disappear entirely? Change the shape of the UK – Utilitarian Geography is a communal attempt to redraw the map for the better.

Free Manchester’s Monsters! Andrew Wilson

Use a Magical Monstervision Machine to look for invisible monsters living in the streets around you! Show off your monster spotting skills by answering some much-asked monster-related questions, and set free your own monsters for other players to find.

My Friend, the Art Critic Nick Howard

Crisis! The art critic party of the year has been booked for the same night as all these new exhibitions and performances! You can’t miss the shindig, but your reputation is on the line if you don’t see the shows – the only option is a ridiculous game crossing an art centre programme with chinese whispers.

Stranger on the Eleventh Floor Doldrum 10pm, Nexus Art Cafe

Somewhere in the city an innocent woman hides out. Falsely accused of a crime she did not commit, she awaits for help. She is safe – for now. But time is running out.

The real criminal doesn’t want you to find her, and may be right behind you. He has eyes and ears everywhere. You must not let him catch you.

Players will descend upon Nexus Art Cafe to gather a set of clues before making their way to a nearby secret location to solve the mystery. But beware! You will most certainly be being chased.

Stranger on the Eleventh Floor is a noir-esque alternate reality game (ARG). An ARG is an interactive experience which takes place in the real world. By taking part you become part of the narrative and can have a real influence on the outcome of the game.

For all updates follow @larkinmcr

  1. eleventhfloor on Twitter

Stranger on the Eleventh Floor Facebook event. --Tricia Coleman (talk) 2011-02-23 11:04:12



playARK - Games festival and talks

playARK is Cardiff's very own games festival. At the end of September we will be bringing together a mix of games, from Street games to computer games through to board games. (with everything in between). Split between two days the festival will also hold the first series of talks of it's kind in Cardiff, see below for further details:

DAY ONE - TALKS - Friday 30 September - 9:30am-3pm A ticketed event. Ever thought there are ways of making work and systems more fun and engaging? In this series of talks from world renowned play and gaming experts we will look at how games and play has been used to increase creativity and improve services. Full details TBC.

DAY TWO - GAMES - Saturday 1 October - 10am-5pm A fun day for all the family. Join us at CHAPTER to play street games, board games, and computer games. Your chance to relive your childhood and turn your environment into a new playground. Whether it's by using the latest technology or no technology at all. From games that challenge your grey matter to those that are just indulgently fun. Full details TBC.

GAME PREMIERE - WHITESTALKER - Saturday 1 October - 6-8pm A Ghostly happening, everyone has a story don't they? Will you free them? You will have to play to find out...

This event is brought to you by thinkARK and through the kind support of CHAPTER Arts Centre --playARK (talk) 2011-05-31 18:39:07



Looking for Zombie-player for Arte Tracks

Hi there,

we from the popcultural TV show Arte Tracks(http://www.arte.tv/de/104524.html) would like to do a short documentary about the next zombie-game 2.8 hours later, organized by slingshoteffects in Leeds at the end of september. Therefore we a looking for a player who knows the scene of pervasive games a little (maybe you have participated in a few games already or even travelled around a bit to play) but hasn't played this particular game yet.

If you are interested, contact me at christianuschka@gmail.com. Participating in a documentary is usually a lot of fun and you would be in the unique position to get professional footage of your hunt. I am looking forward to hearing from you. Christiane --chrizzle (talk) 2011-08-22 11:19:43



Looking for Zombie-players for Arte Tracks

Hi there,

we from the popcultural TV show Arte Tracks(http://www.arte.tv/de/104524.html) would like to do a short documentary about the next zombie-game 2.8 hours later, organized by slingshoteffects in Leeds at the end of september. Therefore we a looking for a player who knows the scene of pervasive games a little (maybe you have participated in a few games already or even travelled around a bit to play) but hasn't played this particular game yet.

If you are interested, contact me at christianuschka@gmail.com. Participating in a documentary is usually a lot of fun and you would be in the unique position to get professional footage of your hunt. I am looking forward to hearing from you. Christiane --chrizzle (talk) 2011-08-22 11:20:26



PlayFair 3 At Electric Picnic festival Co. Laois Ireland

hey, just want to let you know that there will be outdoor games played at the Electric Picnic festival in Ireland next weekend, the 3rd of September at 2pm and 4pm at the Project Arts centre Theatre Tent. We will play Stag Hunt from Hide and Seek and a new game called We've lost Arthur..again. http://hilser.tumblr.com/post/9079458837/wellies-and-picnics-playfair-number-3 --playfair (talk) 2011-08-28 21:59:07



playARK Games Festival & Talks

playARK is Cardiff's very own games festival. An exciting event that brings together a celebration of games and play and all things fun. Split between two days (30th September - 1st October 2011) the festival will hold the first series of talks of it's kind in Cardiff with world renowned speakers from across the UK discussing the impact and possibilities of developing systems and ways of thinking through games and play in business, education and society as a whole. Speakers included Alice Taylor, Matt Locke, Dan Dixon, Dr Gareth Loudon, Wendy Keay-Bright, Mark Stevenson and David Sharp.

The second day brings together a unique mix of games from digital games, retro games and board games to physical games that are played in everyday spaces.  The city will become your playground and the streets your hiding places.  To end the day we will be premiering a pervasive game called 'everwake'.  Online content for everwake goes live on 14th September 2011..

. For more information you can visit http://www.thinkark.co.uk/playark --Allie John (talk) 2011-09-13 12:55:52



Dispute Topic In Winter – UGG Boots 5815

The latest chapter in the dispute began on December 23 when Deckers issued a letter explaining their copyright and ordering the Iversens to stop using the name UGG Boots . But the family’s legal team is confident they will beat the US giant.Ms Owen, who is representing the Iversens and another local manufacturer, said the copyright attempt was like trying to register the term “sandshoe”.”The fact is all the traders in Australia seem to use it.”Their humble beginningTHEY’VE become the must-have footwear for the millennium.But far from the glitz and glamour of super-models and rock stars, the humble Ugg Australia Boots traces its origins as far back as World War I.Local manufacturers say the first Ugg Australia Boots, a thigh-high version called “fug- UGG Bottes “, were worn by Australian fighter pilots as early as 1917.

Aupie Sheepskin UGG Boots attract people’s Eyeballs all the time. However, to ensure your believed could possibly have the ability to arouse a lasting impact, we should do something to show our capabilities that Ugg Boots are uniquely appealing in appearance.

The craftsmen in Australia were costumed to make up the sheepskin shoes on the side of New Zealand, nevertheless, this man who had talent to do business try to take these Australian traditional shoes into America. At that moment, he just took several pairs of Ugg Australia Boots, had his bosom filled with blood and self-confidence, and began to sale his shoes on the street in New York. However, it was unlucky at first, he couldn’t sale even one pair of shoes in a day, but he didn’t dejected, even maintain that he would succeed with adamancy. He firmly believed that there must be some room for his Ugg Australia Boots in American market. Then he decided to move to the west-California to find some chance.

When he got there, he found that there were some people like him, took the familiar Ugg Australia Boots to sale on the beach. In here he sold forty-eight pairs of shoes to five consumers for the first trading. Of course, it can be said that the upgrowed sport of surfing in California had attracted to these excellent ugg boots which came from Australia. Form this time, ugg boots were necessaries to those people who went to disembark after surfing. And then Brian Smith enrolled the first ugg brand – UGG Classic Tall Boots I 5815 Pink in America. Evermore it became popular slowly to all over the world

http://www.australia4ugg.com --daodaolaa (talk) 2011-10-16 06:07:39



The Visitor pervasive game by Invisible Flock play in Bradford October 2011

Ways of Looking, a new photography festival in Bradford, is inviting you to play four new adventure trails around the city, created by Invisible Flock.

'The Visitor' is a citywide pervasive game using emerging technology such as RFID and augmented reality software that audiences can experience directly through their smart or mobile phones. The routes begin at Impressions Gallery, Centenary Square, Bradford, and are free to play Tuesday to Sunday until 30 October 2011.

'The Visitor' brings together a mix of old technology including a sea telescope; existing technology including the Bradford BBC Big Screen, and emerging technologies such as augmented reality software to change the way we perceive existing landmarks. The walking-routes are designed to be accessed using mobile and smartphones, with one route devised for non-mobile-phone users. Audiences are guided around the city by text message, phonecall, objects installed in unusual spaces, and audio recordings triggered by visitors.

'The Visitor' involves four routes taking in the city’s relationship with film & photography; its hidden architectural gems, the former Bradford Odeon and a secret location never usually accessed by the public; and a range of cherished spaces including Bradford Cathedral Gardens and the Midland Hotel, where the artists have prepared some entertaining surprises for visitors.

The four routes in the game you can choose from are:

• ‘The Visitor’ sets in motion a hunt for John Ruskin’s ‘lost daguerreotype’ (an old photograph) believed to be located somewhere in Bradford. • ‘Words in Stone’ considers the architecture of the city and our relationship to it and draws comparisons between Bradford and Berlin. • ‘Look Again’ takes visitors on mysterious Victorian Gothic horror quest, through the backstreets of the city. • ‘The Monster’, designed for families and non mobile phone users, is a quest to help a talented surgeon make a monster to protect the city from a giant spider.

Choose one route or feel free to play them all!

The Visitor is FREE TO PLAY, drop in from 11am to 4pm, daily throughout October 2011 (except Mondays)

Find out more about the making of the game and the ideas behind the work at the free Artist Talk and Walk on Wednesday 19 October 2011 at 6.30pm http://bit.ly/nyaHsH

Developed and created by interactive artists Invisible Flock in partnership with Impressions Gallery.

Funded by Arts Council England through the National Lottery and Bradford Metropolitan District Council. Supported by The Culture Company's Artimelt programme, The Midland Hotel, National Media Museum, Bradford Cathedral, Waterstones, Pop Up, Fabric, Theatre in the Mill, The University of Bradford.

  • Standard text and call charges apply on some routes. Spare mobile phones are available on request. --waysoflooking (talk) 2011-10-17 19:31:07



Love Sucks Event Dublin

http://www.projectartscentre.ie/programme/whats-on/1506-love-sucks

LOVE SUCKS

Forget romance, have fun this Valentine's day and play with us. Love Sucks, two interactive games from Make and Do.

Love at First Sight

During which players try to seduce as many partners as you can!! (don't worry it's a game, you won't need to really seduce anyone!) by Invisible Playground

Peoplehunt

A smartphone icebreaker game (bring your iphone for this one!) by Crowdscanner.

Follow us on Twitter @playfairire or Like Make and Do on Facebook! for more events. Admission is free but places are limited and must be booked in advance.

To book your place contact Box Office on 01 8819 613 or by email to box-office@projectartscentre.ie --hilser (talk) 2012-02-03 14:01:17


playARK Alternative Games Festival 2012

playARK games festival Saturday 7th July 1pm-6pm CHAPTER ARTS CENTRE CARDIFF Free

playARK are back this year with The Alternative Games; a festival that twists your expectations of games and doesn’t require the wearing of lycra. (Unless you really want to) playARK’s unusual games swap the running track for the streets, the baton for the mobile phone and the bike for the spacehopper making every space in the city your very own playground.

playARK will be host to a superabundance of games from around the world created by some of the best and innovative game makers. There will be games suitable for the die hard street gamer right through to the first timer who just wants to find out what it’s all about. There will also be a number of games that the whole family can play.

Festival highlights include 'Blow Football' an exciting augmented reality football game from Make and See and of course there will be some old favourites; Human Bingo, Unparking the Parcel and Search & Replace. playARK will be joined once again by the guys from Rules of Play who will providing you with a selection box of board games for you to play when you are resting. The HEADLINE game this year comes from Wall Four, who are fresh from the SXSW festival, with their amazing mass multiplayer game RENGA. RENGA is the world’s first 100 player co-operative laser game that interacts directly with the cinema screen. Players must work together towards achieving a collective victory. Definitely something not to be missed. RENGA kicks off the festival at 1pm - free tickets will be allocated on a first come first served basis.

Keep an eye on playARK's website for exciting announcements about the festival programme: www.playARK.co.uk --Alliejohn (talk) 2012-06-11 15:16:01

This is in Cardiff, yes? Your website is a little opaque on the actual city... --Kevan (talk) 2012-06-12 15:40:11

Hi Kevan, Yes the festival is in Cardiff - will make this more clear on the website. Thanks for the comment :-) --Alliejohn (talk) 2012-06-12 15:49:38

REVERIE - Pervasive Game

Sat 25 May (advanced showing) + Mon 27 May — Sat 1 June | 7pm Tickets available from Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff 029 2031 1050 £16/£12 This game is strictly for the 18+ among us.

Beyond wake and sleep lies a place tangled with sweet reveries and twisted nightmares. A place where we find ourselves lost, victims of our vivid imaginations and memories. Reality is altered and darkness falls. Lost in reverie will you ever wake up? Only one man has the answer. Tom Watson.

From the co-creators of playARK and following on from the sell out success of their previous production Everwake, yello brick returns with Reverie. Reverie is a new type of entertainment and narrative; mixing roaming theatre, street gaming and online storytelling to create a rich world of memories and vivid experiences. It involves a mixture of puzzles, running, intregue and theatrical happenings. Uncover the story online before becoming part of it in the real world.

This event starts at a secret location in Cardiff Bay and requires participants to move between several locations in small groups. When booking please ensure that you provide Chapter with an email address and phone number so we can contact you with pre-event details. Participants are advised to book tickets in advance in order to interact with all parts of the story. To find out more visit www.reveriethegame.co.uk

Get ready for an experience that will stretch you to your limits. Listen, play, explore and RUN... Run like your soul depended on it.

Reverie is a yello brick production and a collaboration with Gerald Tyler and would not have been possible without the support of The Arts Council of Wales, Chapter Arts Centre, Hoffi, thinkARK, National Theatre Wales and Wales Millennium Centre. --yelloallie (talk) 2013-04-05 14:06:22

THIS WEEKEND 2 for 1 tickets on THE SITUATION ROOM at SHOREDITCH TOWN HALL

To all Pervasive Gamers in London...

The Situation Room is Oscar Mike's latest fusion of theatre and gaming that casts you the audience member as senior decision makers in a 1961 global crisis. Playing for either the Soviet Union or the USA, can you liberate an oil-rich Middle Eastern nation whilst avoiding nuclear war? Or will you choose to win at all costs?

This weekend only we're offering Two For One tickets to all Ludocity gamers for our two Saturday shows (4pm and 8pm) and Sunday too (6pm).

All the event details are here:

http://www.oscarmike.org.uk/wordpress/

To take advantage of the ticket offer, simply go to the event booking page:

http://www.ticketsource.co.uk/event/34370

Select the number of full price tickets you require and then enter the discount code '1961'.

Hope to see you there! The team at Oscar Mike. --Oscar Mike (talk) 2013-04-12 23:40:10

Play:Vienna 2013

WE’RE BACK!

Play:Vienna has woken up from its beauty sleep and is back for more fun in 2013! You may have noticed that we already had our first Game Clinic this year, but today we bring bigger news:

THE FESTIVAL Play:Vienna 2013 will take place 30 August – 1 September 2013! We are happy to announce our base will be situated in Raum D at the Museumsquartier again, thanks to our partners from monochrom! The festival will take place across the whole city of Vienna however, so get your walking, playing and dancing shoes out and let’s play the city together!

CALL FOR GAMES To find out about our CALL FOR GAMES visit our homepage: http://playvienna.com/ --gameconspiracy (talk) 2013-06-11 11:25:02


Solid Interfaces and Urban Games Workshop in Madrid

Solid Interfaces and Urban Games: Digital Games in the Public Space has a Call for Collaboration on 4 selected projects in Madrid (including my own