Events/History

July 2008

Saturday 26th

• Sandpit games at Duty Free at Stoke Newington International Airport (note: not actually an airport), London, England map

An afternoon featuring bands, a barbecue, and juggling from the Airport crowd, with an assortment of mostly-new Sandpit games running on-and-off between 4 and 8pm.

August 2008

Sunday 10th

• Kensington vs Chelsea in Kensington and Chelsea, London, England

Kensington and Chelsea face each other down once and for all in a game that stretches from Chelsea Embankment to Holland Park. Pledge loyalty to the Blue Boar of Kensington or the Silver-Winged Bull of Chelsea, then chase down your enemies, or dodge past them; work alone or with dozens of other players to carry the emblems of your team into the enemy stronghold. With ribbons, balloons, sneaking and spying.

Designed and run by Holly Gramazio.

Thursday 21st

• Sandpit #6 in Brighton, England

For Sandpit #6 we’ll be venturing out of London for the first time, and heading to Brighton. We’ll be at the Lighthouse on 28 Kensington Street, BN1 4AJ. Doors (and bar) open at six, scheduled games begin at seven.

It’s a busy programme, including Festival favourites Checkpoint, HipSync and the Lost Sport of Olympia, as well as new games Tourist Trap and City Blocks, a repeat of Standoff, and more. Full details are up on the Sandpit events page.

September 2008

Friday 19th - Sunday 21st

• Igfest in Bristol, England

igfest is the festival of interesting and experimental games, with a particular focus on Street Games and Pervasive Games. Taking place as part of the Bristol festival, the event is dedicated to bringing urban games to the public and allowing them to rediscover the city through play.

Submissions are now closed but if you're keen to get involved, we are looking for festival volunteers. Bristol festival events, you’ll be fed and watered and (the killer offer) get a free igfest octopus t-shirt how could anyone resist… contact us at info@igfest.org for more details.

Saturday 20th

• Bees in London, England

Holly will be running three games of Bees at the Southbank Centre during the afternoon on Saturday, as part of their Festival of Food. The game has been rebranded as Be a Bee, and is being pitched at children.

Friday 26th

• Bootleggers in Berkeley, California

1pm - 2pm, meet on the steps of Wheeler Hall. Smuggle things across the border from Dwinelle Hall to Wheeler Hall, but don't let the Border Patrol catch you! Inspired by the premise of Andrew Field's Checkpoint, this is a variant of that game adapted for the UC Berkeley campus. Cookies will likely be provided. Facebook event information here.

Saturday 27th

• Checkpoint and People Watching in Southend-on-Sea, England

The game's designers will be running both of these games in a Southend park as part of the Village Green festival, with a lot of other music, film and live events happening.

Checkpoint is running at 2.30pm, with furniture being smuggled into a rose garden.

October 2008

Saturday 11th

• Night Watch in London, England

6:30pm - 8:30pm

A mysterious game of prisoners sneaking across Hampstead Heath, and escaping to freedom. This is the plan. Join the Facebook group if you want to play.

Wednesday 29th

• Sandpit #7 in London, England

6:30 - 10:00pm

We're at 01zero-one in Soho as part of the London Games Fringe. We'll be playing Day of the Thing (reskinned for halloween as Night of the Vampire), the teleporting chase-game Mr Smith, Privacy is Dead, Musical Hopscotch, mp3-tech Earpiece and Surpass the Parcel. The evening will also include a demonstration game of the Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen roleplaying game, which was relaunched this month.

Full programme here.

November 2008

Saturday 1st

• Cruel 2 B Kind in London, Manchester and Plymouth

2pm-4pm, £4 donation required

Those nice people at the Agency are running three games of Cruel 2 B Kind across the country on Saturday afternoon; a fitting game of benevolent assassination, with all profits going to Cancer Research UK.

More details on the Operation Sleeper Cell site at http://www.operationsleepercell.com/c2bk

Sunday 2nd

• SF Street Turf in San Francisco

3pm-7pm, Panhandle (Westside) - Shrader between Fell/Oak

Get your streetwise spirit back by claiming some serious SF Street Turf in an all-out massively multiplayer real world game of Capture the Flag, in the streets and green spaces of San Francisco. Free to play, and free T-shirts for the first sixty players.

Find out more at the Facebook event page.

Thursday 27th

• Rear Window in London

6pm-7pm

As part of the "With a Small P" programme ("Can playing be a political gesture?"), Checkpoint designer Andy Field is running Rear Window, "a chillingly exiting social experiment, drenched in Hitchcockian suspense and rooted in Stanley Milgram’s cynical spirit of experimentation. Inviting participants to test their courage and their resistance to peer pressure, Andy dares the audience to find out how long it takes before one intervenes against the status quo..."

More information at http://www.delfinafoundation.com/exhibitions_and_talks.html

December 2008

Tuesday 2nd

• Rear Window in London

6pm-7pm

As Thursday 27th of November.

Tuesday 9th - Saturday 13th

• A Small Town Anywhere

8pm onwards

A Small Town Anywhere has no performers, only you and the other audience members - the playing audience. Become the residents of this small town, where amenities include a pub, a prison and a working postal service. You’ll talk to friends and strangers, mostly one-on-one. Or you can skulk in the shadows and write letters. But let’s hope you’re not forced to leave town…

Coney are running their full-on, bells-and-whistles version of The Gossip Game at BAC five nights this week, developed with the support of the National Theatre Studio. Full details and ticket booking at http://bac.org.uk/whatsonresult.php?id=3233

January 2009

Tuesday 27th

• Iglab Seven in Bristol, England

7:30pm onwards at the Pervasive Media Studio

The Interesting Games Lab returns to the streets of Bristol for 2009, with "the future of pervasive computing", the new game of CARGO from Simon and Simon, and some mulled cider.

More details on the Iglab blog.

Thursday 29th

• BARG

A gathering of folks who’d like to discuss social games and playful things with an aim to either designing their own or just getting involved in playing some interesting stuff. Story-tellers welcome.

Old Lamp Tavern, Digbeth, Birmingham. B5 6AH [Map]

Thursday 29th from 7pm.

more information

February 2009

Tuesday 10th

• The Fun Fed in London, England

Games ranging from high energy tag games to wink murder, word games, physical games, creative games and rhythm games.

£10.00 per person

Friday 13th - Sunday 15th

• Can You See Me Now? in Murcia, Spain

Blast Theory's street-versus-virtual chase game is running as part of the Arco 09 International Contemporary Art Fair in Madrid. If you're not in Spain, you can play the online half of it here.

Wednesday 18th

• Sandpit #8 in London, England

February's Sandpit will be taking place at the ICA, on the evening of the 18th. The schedule includes Privacy is Dead, Press Gang, Paparazzi and Standoff (which all started life on Ludocity).

March 2009

Saturday 7th

• Sandpit #9 in London, England

The Sandpit will be at the Barbican for March. Games will include Mr. Smith, Watch Your Back, City Blocks and Semaphoria.

April 2009

Wednesday 1st

• Iglab Eight in Bristol, England

Games include Midnight Tennis Trial, Monochrome, Camera Tag and Rodeo Frown.

http://iglab.urbanantics.net/www/

Saturday 11th

• Crypto-Zoo Playtest in San Francisco

90-minute prototyping event for Jane McGonigal's new pervasive game.

More details on the Avant Game blog

Saturday 18th

• Lost Sport of Olympia in Berkeley, California

Run some labyrinths and play some student-designed games at UC Berkeley's "Cal Day 2009" event. A wonderful opportunity to baffle thousands of people at the same time. (Hopefully we'll be listed in the official program.)

Wednesday 22nd

• Sandpit #10: The End of the World in London, England

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

Doors open at 6:30pm. Tickets for the evening are £4, and are available from http://www.ica.org.uk/Sandpit+19364.twl

Thursday 30th

• Hurt Playtest in Bristol, England

They have come looking for you and they know the truth. Hurt is an escape game. Can you get out?

More information on the Simon Games website

May 2009

Saturday 2nd

• Sandpit #11: Bond, James Bond in London, England

The Sandpit is at the BFI Southbank, with a theme of Bond, James Bond. Games will include Bond Multitouch, QNTMFSLC, Surveillance, Watch Your Back, For Your Ears Only, Earpiece, I’ve Been Expecting You, Propery of a Traitor and Lose the Tail.

Games run from 6:30pm to 10:00pm, and the event is free.

Saturday 9th

• w i d e o p e n s p a c e in Birmingham, England

An afternoon of play and picnics in the Curzon Street area of Birmingham including Lumenatio, The Lost Sport, Bocce Drift, Human Snake and others.

Full details on this blog post

.pdf of programme and map downloadable from here.

organised by BARG

Thursday 14th

• Hurt in Bristol, England

14th May is a big night for simons', Hurt our new street game is being premiered at Mayfest in Bristol but we are also launching a new game managment engine that drives Hurt and enables players to share their game experience with their friends through their online social network.

More information on the Simon Games website

Saturday 16th

• The Go Game in London, England

Game begins at 12:30pm and ends at 4pm-ish at The CosmoBar, 50-54 Clerkenwell Road, EC1M 5PS. During The Go Game, teams of 5-8 players compete with one another to complete a sequence of missions in the most ingenious, daring, and creative fashion imaginable. Teams receive messages via a web-enabled mobile phone and document the experience using digital camers in a technology-fuelled adventure. You will have to decipher hidden clues, stage creative exploits, match wits with an undercover agent, or even encounter a speedy superhero...

£4 entry fee. Learn more and sign up at http://thegogame.co.uk

May 2009

Saturday 23rd

• BOGFest in Brighton, England

BOGFest is Brighton's first outdoors games festival.

http://bogfest.org.uk

Saturday 30th

• CityChase Portugal in Lisbon, Portugal

The City Chase is a unique urban adventure that requires participants to exhibit teamwork, resourcefulness, determination and the ability to make decisions on the fly as they search for ChasePoints scattered in unknown locations throughout the city.

http://www.citychaseportugal.com/main.htm

• Go Game for Good in London, England

The Go Game for Good is a technology-driven team experience which will stretch your creativity, teamwork and problem-solving skills - all whilst helping a good cause and having a massively fun time! Profits are going to two great causes - Raleigh and The Prince's Trust.

http://www.thegogame.co.uk/community

June 2009

Monday 1st

• Hide&Speak makers session in London, England

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.

Speakers include Alex Fleetwood, Gethan Dick, Holly Gramazio, James Wallis, Manar Hussain and Simon Katan.

Book a place at http://hideandspeak.eventbrite.com/

Wednesday 3rd

• Sandpit #12: Interactive Storytelling in London, England

The Sandpit is at the Soho Theatre, focusing on interactive storytelling and including a day-long workshop. Games include Soho Spy Squad, Epit, Youdunnit, Theatre of Alienation, Greg McLaren’s Shoebox of Death, Conversation Piece and Search and Replace.

Booking details at http://sandpit.hideandseekfest.co.uk/sandpit-12

Friday 5th

• CryptoZoo Night Chase in San Francisco

Follow mysterious tracks through city streets and gardens on 1-mile chase of the nocturnal cryptids. The trail will lead you to a secret meeting spot, where we'll see if we can lure a few more species out for 1-block chases in the secret heart of the cryptid city...

Sunday 7th

• CryptoZoo Sneak Preview in San Francisco

Before the game's official launch in New York later in the month.

Friday 12th - Sunday 14th

• Come Out And Play 2009 in New York

Come Out & Play is happy to announce that we're turning New York City into a playground yet again! The festival will run from June 12-14. The Tank, a wonderful non-profit arts space, will play host and serve as our central headquarters. This gives all Come Out & Players easy access to nearly every subway line, Times Square, Hudson River piers and pedestrian greenways along the West Side Highway, and of course Manhattan's crown jewel - Central Park. We're going to have such a great time!

http://www.comeoutandplay.org

Saturday 13th

• Journey to the End of the Night in Lancaster, England

Carnival of Culture are running this game across the city of Lancaster tonight. The journey begins at 7:30pm.

http://www.carnivalofculture.org.uk/journey

Sunday 14th

• BARG#5: Market Pong, in Birmingham, England

Starts at 5pm, suggested donation £2 (so we can fund the next event).

Kicks off with a BARG-style ping pong tournament in, on and around the empty stalls of the outdoor market and then, via cabbage-rolling and Synapse shenanigans, to The Wellington pub and hopefully a prototype cake orchestra (no promises).

Details at http://barg.org.uk/make/market_pong/