You could think of it as a Memorial Day gift. Or better as a gift to your family, and maybe your friends' familes, and maybe even your neighborhood.

It's the revised version of amazing, all-encompassing, inventive, creative, inclusive Junkyard Golf Course and Community Building Event with Potluck.

Click on the link below and celebrate each other!


from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith

Labels: events

Obama's hackle-raising reference to the Special Olympics raised several of my own personal hackles, actually, about the Olympics in general, Special or not-so. I rushed to my computer and Googled for the kind of alternative that I'd like to see taking place, an even more special kind of Olympics, and clicked my way over to the Fun Olympics, and I sighed with something like belief relief, saying to myself, as I often do, that there is hope for the healing power of silliness. That despite all the brouhaha, the haha lives on.

from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith

Labels: community, events, fun, pointless games

With a little help from friends and bloggers, I'll be launching a new series of programs about the Fun of Teaching and Learning. The programs will include presentations and workshops that focus on the psychology, sociology, and dynamics of fun in learning and teaching.

As advertised, they will be about the fun of teaching as much as the fun of learning, and I hope to offer them at every level of education.

Some of the concepts and experiences I'll be including in the program:

• Muska Mosston's Slanted Rope theory
• Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's theory of Flow
• My theory of Coliberation
• Ralph Koster's Theory of Fun for Game Design:
• Gary Schwarts' Group Games Model of Learning.
• My collection of Pointless Games.
• My Junkyard Golf game/event.

For me, being in a position to make education more fun has been a lifelong goal. I figure that's a far more sustainable goal. I'll be offering the program for modest, negotiable fees, wherever I can.

I could most definitely use your assistance in word-spreadage.


from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith

Labels: children, education, events, Junkyard Sports, learning

Last May, the 24-26, to be exact, sports artist Tom Russotti, inventor of Whiffle Hurling, at the Tate, as in museum. Allow me to quote from the description:

"Football on stilts, the flipper race, invisible hurdling... just some of the sports that took place at Tate's very own Flux Olympiad, part of a three-day festival of art and performance at Tate Modern. The Olympiad was first conceived by founding Fluxus artist George Maciunas in the 1960s, though never realised until now. The aim of the Fluxus group was to instill artistic values into every part of life, and they went about it with a good dose of Dadaistic humour. TateShots asked artist, sportsman and Fluxus expert Tom Russotti to commentate on the day's activities and tell us about the history of the event"

Tom is already proving to be a potent force in the playful arts. This clip will help you understand why.


from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith

Labels: art, events

A Handheld Skating and Snowboarding Sail, for example, would most definitely exemplify the kinds of new invented sports for which the Horny Toad Invent-a-Sport Contest was conceived.

The site features an inspirational collection of games to get you started. You'll probably notice that almost all of the images are of adults engaged in deep explorations of wackiness. See, for example, Crazy Croquet with its cinder block wickets, Richieball (see the official Richieball site for the full rules,) and the highly evolved, Box Ball-like game of Smack Ball.

The contest has already begun. The entry deadline is August 10.

The world is waiting for you.


via Hugh McNally (ex genius)

from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith

Labels: events, games, Junk, sports

If it's June 28th, and you're somewhere near Venice Beach, CA, then come on down to the Venice Eco-Fest 2008, where you will find:

• Over 100 exciting Eco-Exhibitors with important planet preservation tips
• Sun-powered Sound Stage - All day music, dance, poetry (see schedule below)
• Kid’s Explor-o-rama with exotic animals, and interactive stories, music and FUN for all ages
• Graffiti Artists at work using eco-friendly paints on the world famous Venice art wall
• Food Court with delicious vegetarian delights
• E-Salvage Recycling Truck in Ross Parking Lot for LARGE e-waste
Bring your used: Computers & Monitors, Laptops, TVs, Stereos, DVD & VCR Players, Scanners,
Fax Machines, all kinds of Electronic Accessories, computer and cell phone batteries, etc.
• E-Salvage Recycle Bin on the Beach for SMALL e-waste
**Bring your used: Cell Phones & Accessories, Cell Phone Batteries, Laptop Battery only
• Filtered Water Stations - BYO reusable water bottle!
• Million Trees Campaign Tree Give-away
• Green Outposts for recycling/waste/and compost
• PLUS-- Free Bike Valet on the handball court!

If only they had thought about including a JunkFest, it woulda been perfect.

Via Dr. Toy


from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith

Labels: events, Junk, junkfest

By deep study of the Codex of the Lost Ring, we hope to gather insight into the mystery and vasty significance of the The Lost Sport of Olympia. We seek further guidance from Ariadne, who says of herself: "I woke up in a Labyrinth of Feb. 12. They call me Ariadne." Ariadne, should you consult the Wikipedia deeply enough, also refers to: "Ariadne's thread, named for the legend of Ariadne, is the term used to describe the solving of a problem with multiple apparent means of proceeding - such as a physical maze, a logic puzzle, or an ethical dilemma - through an exhaustive application of logic to all available routes." Ah. Ariadne's thread.

The mystery deepens and at the same time widens. What actually is the Lost Sport? Where is Olympia? Who lost it in the first place?

Perhaps we can deepen our understanding by reading an article titled: 'The Lost Ring' ARG players discover 'lost' Canadian sport.

ARG, don't you know, stands for Alternate Reality Game. Ah, so we are not speaking of an actual Lost Sport of Olympia, but something of a fantasy, something perhaps made up?

Perhaps in deed. But, reality-wise, the reality to which the alternate reality is an alternate, what we actually have is a quite fun game, which, as my colleague, covisionary and general friend Celia Pearce is quick to point out, is very much in the spirit of New Games of yore and ours. See, for example, this.



from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith

Labels: design, events, fun, games, playfulness, theory

Robots. Robots made from junk, like these, from Lockwasher.

I was first introduced to the wonders of junk robots by the artist Liz Mamorsky when I was developing the prototype for Thing-a-ma-Bots.

My fascination with the play value of junk in general, and this junk art form, in particular, has just taken one more small step for Berniekind.

Speaking of giant leaps for mankind, I am now imagining a Terracotta Army, you know, like all those statues of soldiers in formation they found in China? - only made of junk art robots. Huh? How's that for something you'd go to a museum to see (and be proud as heck to see) your very own home-made junk robot join the ranks of?





via Neatorama

from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith

Labels: art, events, fun, Junk

If it's June 6-8, then it's the Summer Come Out and Play festival in New York City, where there will be played, for example, amongst the remarkable range of games that sound new and fun and delightfully pointless, you will find:

The Mother of All Picnic Games:

• Competitive Picnicking

A most Human Card game

• Human Blackjack

The fascinating conjecture of a lost sport of the Olympiads having something to do with running around naked, in a maze, blindfolded.

• The Lost Sport of Olympia

Both/and:

• Super Happy Fun City Bingo
• Urban Bingo

And, especially, from our favorite Aesthleticians, a play performance, as it were, of:

• Wiffle Hurling MV

Did I mention that "Public Fun" has a definite taste that tastes different from all other kind of fun. And when it's really fun, it tastes potentially what this kind of event might taste like - just about as fun as fun can taste.


from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith

Labels: 54 Flavors of Fun, events

Patch Products is once again sponsoring National Backyard Games week, bless their fun-making hearts.

In his Herald Tribune article Come Out and Play, Gerry Galipault catalogs some of the games scheduled for National Backyard Games week:

"Physical Education Hall of Shame (They may try to ban them at school, but there’s no law against them at home: Dodge Ball, Duck-Duck-Goose, Line Soccer, Messy Backyard, Musical Chairs, Simon Says, Spud, Steal the Bacon and Tag. Just watch out for bruised egos.) Office Olympics (Who says you can’t have games at work? Be more like Dunder Mifflin.)

"Old standbys (Capture the Flag, Crack the Whip, Family Flag Football, Frisbee Golf, Hide and Seek, Horseshoes, Hula-Hoop Contest, Jail Break, Kick the Can, Limbo, Marco Polo, Mother May I, Red Light-Green Light, Scavenger Hunt, Stoplight, What Time Is It, Mr. Fox?)

"Suitcase Relay (Pack a suitcase with all kinds of clothes. Participants unpack the suitcase, put on all of the items and run across to a line of waiting teammates. The first team to complete the relay wins.)

"Other relay games (Baby Care Relay, Backseat Driver, Ball Relay, Balloon Head Race, Banana Olympics, Beanbag Bowling, Big Foot, Blanket Carry, Bucket Brigade, Chimp Race, Cup Stack Relay Knock Down, Dizzy Basketball. Water Balloon Volleyball (Throw and catch water balloons over a volleyball net using a sheet or blanket.)

"Other water games (Beach Ball Balance Race, Beach Ball Bumper Pool, Dolphin Relay, Fill the Bottle, Greased Watermelon Polo, Hole In The Bucket, Jump Rope Water Splash, Over/Under Game, Poison Pool Toss, Shaving Cream Shoot Off, Sponge Toss Contest, The Shark & The Mermaids, Trash Target, Tugboat Relay Race."

I, on the other hand, would rather see a National DIY Games Week, where families invent and teach other families completely new games to play. But that's me. And, though the games are mostly competitive, they're so many of them that most playful purposes should in deed be satisfied.

via Yehuda

from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith

Labels: events, Family Game

You know those beautiful crystal-looking balls you see jugglers play with - the kind they roll on the backs of their hands and arms and stuff? Ever wonder where you can get them? Well, wonder no more, or make your own wonders. Try Out Toys not only sells these beautiful acrylic spheres, in many spectacularly different colors (and several sizes, even), and metal spheres, and wooden ones, too; they also promote play, for play's sake.

Here's a bit of what they have to say:

"We believe in promoting the importance of positive play. You could say that our mission is to offer the highest quality toys and entertainment, but really it's way more involved than that. We've developed what we call a philosophy of play.

"There are lots of ways to play, so we'd like to tell you about our approach. Play is an art. The kind of play we promote is interactive, creative, artistic and builds important physical and social skills."

They even organize something they call a "Play 4 All" - a celebration of "skilled play." In addition to their surprising variety of spheres, they also offer a virtual toybox of skill-inviting playworthy stuff.

They perform, they teach, they clearly love the stuff they're doing and the stuff they're selling.

Fun stuff. Good stuff, all.

via Alexander Kjerulf


from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith

Labels: events, fun, toys

I did mention my Fairfield adventure a few posts ago. It began with a radio interview with Monica Hadley on the similarly remarkable radio station KRUU - an all-volunteer FM station, as open source as it is possible for sources to be opened, operating at a mere 100 watts, and yet having something very close to a global following.

This was the first of many marvels I got to witness during my stay. I think Fairfield has more vegetarian restaurants, per capita, than probably India. And a friendlier, more engaged and supportive community than probably anywhere I've ever visited. (You can read more about Fairfield on Wikipedia).

Friday evening, as part of the monthly Art Walk, I got to introduce two new games: Socks and Boxes, and Extreme Pick Up Sticks. Both games were semi-instant variations, created in response to a change in weather from clear and mild, to windy and threatening. Socks and Boxes: build a city out of large cardboard cartons, water bottles and styrofoam packing blocks - make many balls out of many socks - and then use the sock balls to knock the whole thing down. Extreme Pick Up Sticks: take very long (12-foot), and potentially dangerously hefty cardboard tubes from the inner core of carpet rolls, paint them in manifold patterns, stand them up in a large circle (at least 12 feet wide), let them drop towards the center, and then try to pick them up, one at a time, without disturbing any other sticks. Or play tug of war with them. Or jump over them. Or see if you can use them as baseball bats.

Then I did something like a reading/performance of Recess for the Soul at a typically remarkable Fairfield institution called Revelations - a restaurant, used book store, wifi hotspot and town gathering center. The audience was remarkably receptive, responsive, down-right enthusiastic. There was much laughter and something close to complete Grokkage.

Saturday I led a workshop based on some of the concepts in The Well-Played Game. We played, of course, Bernie Found Nirvana (did I tell you that Fairfield is the home of the Maharishi University of Management?). And after a few more games and discussions, we played two different rounds of Junkyard Sports Tabletop Olympics. Very different rounds. The first with a core group of around 30 people. The second with that group and another 20 or so people (with kids, even).

The vast majority of the responsibility for the success of these events rests squarely on the shoulders of Steve Cooperman, who put everything together, and on the amazing spirit of the townsfolk. Fairfield, Iowa. A most remarkable community. A most remarkable experience for your personal Funsmith.


from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith

Labels: events

Games for Health is having its Fourth Annual Conference in Baltimore, May 8-9.

Games for Health, a project of the Serious Games Initiative, asks four questions:

• Can games improve the provision, and quality, of healthcare?
• What existing and emerging game technologies (such as multi-user, virtual environments) might be particularly useful when applied to healthcare issues?
• How can we expand the application of computer-based game technologies to face key challenges in the healthcare sector?
• How do we identify and proactively deal with any social, ethical, and/or legal issues that might arise through the application of game-based tools to healthcare issues?

I have a fifth: Can games make healing fun?

from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith

Labels: events, games, learning, research

As you know, my interest in Improv Everywhere has been high ever since I first heard about their playful public theatrics. Most recently, Improv Everywhere launched a new, shall we say, play, which very well might prove, as they themselves describe it, to be the Best Game Ever.

Start here, with a video of the event. Then read about it. Then ask yourself what it would be like if you had actually been there, been one of the parents, or better yet, one of the kids.

This Best Game Ever is right on the edge of art, theater, and social comment. It wouldn't succeed if not for the playfulness and sensitivity of the Improv Everywhere company - the people who conceived and staged the event. It could have proven insulting to both parents and players, it could have proven upsetting, been perceived as an act of ridicule. But apparently the event stopped short of being ridiculous, just at the point of being almost entirely believable. If not because of the believability of the actor-spectators, then because of the player's willingness to belive. If not by the actuality of the giant scoreboard, then most definitely by the blimp. Why don't we do this for all kids, everywhere - invest great effort and expense, yes, but, for the kids, and parents - to give them one random hour, of sheer, magical, transformational fun. Beyond game and sport. A theater of total participation.

Fantastic fun. The fun of fantasy fulfilled. Ah, delicious.

via Metafilter

from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith

Labels: 54 Flavors of Fun, events, playfulness, politics, sports

Once I learned to see the connections between theater and children's games, I began to understand the wisdom contained in their playful dramas.

Once I started sharing this wisdom with adults, it became the thing I liked to do best - more, even, than designing games or reviewing games or writing about games and fun and stuff. I first discovered this when I was leading a workshop for teachers at the Durham Child Development Center in Philadelphia, and rediscovered my joy in ths at the Games Preserve and at the Esalen Institute.

I play with grown-ups, especially playful grown-ups. We play a kids' game together. I talk a little about the theater of the game - the play and interplay of roles. And then everyone talks about the "drama" of the game, as if the game were really some kind of theater piece - especially about the drama they experienced, personally. Not so much about their own, personal drama, but about about the drama of the game itself, about relationships, about the way of things in gameland.

I like what happens as we play and talk, play and talk - some kind of healing, playful, loving wisdom starts manifesting itself. Because we are grown-ups playing these games. Because of the growing honesty and openness and depth of sharing we are capable of, just the act of playing each game reveals to us a depth, a drama more profound, more personal, a truth more mutual, more freeing.

"I have learned to see children's games as scripts," I write, "for a kind of children's cultural theater. I see them as collective dreams in which certain themes are being toyed with - investigated and manipulated for the sake of sheer catharsis or some future reintegration into a world view. They are reconstructions of relationships - simulations - (myths) - which are guided by individual players, instituted by the groups in which they are played or abstracted by the traditions of generations of children."

I like to do this best. Teach people to see this. The artistry, the clarity, the wisdom of games.

And frankly, I'm hoping that by telling you about it, I'll get to do this more.



from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith

Labels: events, fun, fun studies, learning, playfulness, theory

I have been in touch with the people who've been organizing, running and developing "the Fun Fed" since before they opened their doors in 2005. According to their new website, "The Fun Fed was created with the aim of offering opportunities to adults on the lookout for more joy, upliftment and laughter. We do this by running games, singing, dancing and clowning sessions up to four times a month."

This is a good and much needed thing, this Fun Fed. To catch a bit of the goodness, click your way to their collection of games. See, for example, Stick Swap - a game of exemplary silliness, and purposefulness. I better let them explain:

"Our sessions offer physical activity, laughter, joy, creative opportunities, stress relief, a space to meet new people and the chance to let your hair down and your selves go.

"Most importantly, they offer you a natural high and a feel-good factor without the morning after!

"A question people ask us all the time is 'What kind of people come to your sessions?' – which is so hard to answer. The sessions are aimed at anyone and everyone who would like to be play games and have fun. They are not 'therapy' although of course having fun always makes you feel better, think clearer and smile more. In terms of the demographics, about half of any session is likely to be 28-38 with the other half spread throughout the other ages groups. And people come from all walk of life. The other week we had a session with 20 people, here’s what they did: Student, Coach, Managing Director, Massage Therapist, Recreation consultant, Marketing, Media Buyer, IT Consultant, Fundraiser, Photographer and Unemployed – and we had a fantastic time."

The Fun Fed - yet another gift to all playkind.

from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith

Labels: events, fun, games, learning

As inventor of the Junkyard Sports TableTop Olympics and in my capacity as Bernie DeKoven, Junkmaster, I hereby award the creators of Tabletop Sailboarding permanent position in the Junkyard Sports Hall of Games .

It was at the CPRS 2008, Long Beach conference . And I was facilitating a bit of Tabletop Olympics amongst 5 tables of people who run parks and games all throughout California.

Many most remarkable Tabletop Olympics moments were shared. Many, many events of noteworthy notability and truly silly competitiveness. But there was this one table (I really like to learn your names if you were a tablemate) that happened to have, amongst its various shared personal treasures, some significant conference swag. Namely: a couple battery-operated hand-held fans, and some Lego pieces, and a fingerboard. And they put their stuff together to create a well, Tabletop Sailboard, I guess is what you'd call something made out of the fingerboard, a couple Lego pieces, a toothpick and a scrap of paper. And their Olympic Event was a hand-held-fan-powered Tabletop Sailboard event that proved to be at least as funny as it was demanding of Olympic-like concentration and skill.

from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith

Labels: events, Junkyard Sports, work

"In the Navajo tradition we have what we call Chi Dlo Dil, or a Laughing Party, for a newborn.

"The Laughing Party is the first laugh you hear from a child. It's usually around six weeks. It's the baby's first expression to the world, saying 'I'm ready to interact.'

"Before that, the baby is still in the soft world and you aren't supposed to put anything hard and fixed on the body, or they may take on those qualities. But after the laughing party, you can give the baby jewelry or bracelets or other decorations.

"At the party everybody sits around the baby and has a big meal and plays with the baby. The person who makes the baby laugh first plays an important role in the child's life." - Nancy Evans, Shiprock, NM (Navajo Nation)

From What is Laughing found on the increasingly remarkable site of the Balloon Hat Experience

For more about the Navaho Laughing Party, see this.

from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith

Labels: events, fun

Phil Smith writes:

"We know you've covered our previous work on your website so we thought we'd send you some info about our new publication and, if you're in London at the time, we'd like to invite you to the launch of 'A Mis-Guide To Anywhere', a playful handbook for exploring cities. The book will be launched at the ICA, The Mall, London, on the 8th April, 6pm till 8pm, following an afternoon of walks, each based on a page from 'A Mis-guide To Anywhere' and each 'led' by one of us.

"Numbers for the launch are strictly limited so let us know if you want to come so we can put you on the guest list.

"If you would like to come on one of the mis-guided walks in the afternoon then let us know or contact the ICA direct (places are limited). The walks will each last about 90 minutes and will set off from the ICA: 12.30pm 'The problem of shopping' (Cathy), 12.45pm 'Out of place' (Stephen), 1pm 'Scales' (Simon), 1.15pm 'Masses' (Phil).

"Walking?" I respond, querulously. Phil elucidates:

We have been three years in making the new book, including walks in Shanghai, rural Zambia, Copenhagen, Barcelona, Manchester, Paris, the island of Herm… 'A Mis-Guide To Anywhere' is our new guide to seeking out places of change in the city, the Anywhere that anyone can find. When we published 'An Exeter Mis-Guide' three years ago we were very surprised that it attracted an international readership - it's now taught in numerous theatre, fine art and geography departments in universities around the world. The fact that a guidebook designed for use in a small provincial English city could be used in cities like Bangalore, Melbourne and Washington, inspired the making of 'A Mis-Guide To Anywhere'.

"If you can't join us in London we will be having a local launch in Exeter as part of the Exeter tEXt Festival on Saturday May 13th, 12.30pm at the Phoenix.

"This is a quick stitched together note to let you have some information about various walk-orientated performances, events and objects.

"First of all the show I have written based on my Easter 2007 walk following the route of acorn-planting Charles Hurst a hundred years before will be performed by New Perspectives from mid-February and the tour schedule is here.

Dee Heddon's new book on 'Autobiography and Performance' is now out from Palgrave and has a section on Place and Self which includes material on 'the art of walking' including Crab Walks.

John Davies has published an instant book on his walk alongside and around the M62 at the end of last year called 'Walking The M62' and you can get that as a hard copy or a download.

Alyson Hallett, who has an ongoing project – the migration habits of stones – in which she carries stones around the world – has a new volume of mostly landscape poetry out ‘The Stone Library’ – I loved it and recommend it. You can get it here, or at all good libraries.

walkwalkwalk, based in London, are building up a network around 'walking as art' and are holding regular meetings.

See also some of the lectures and workshops offered by Propeller including lectures on 'Rain' and 'The Look of Things' and a workshop on 'Performing Landscapes.'

Finally, MPA are holding a four day 'Territories Re-Imagined' festival of psychogeography in Manchester in June, details .

Checking out walkwalkwalk, I learn:

"Walk walk walk: an archaeology of the familiar and the forgotten is a participatory live art event, with a walk at its core. The project begins with an exploration of urban routine. Starting from the routes we take to and from work and home, part time jobs and friends houses, we established a methodology for the systematic exploration of the areas in and around Bethnal Green, Spitalfields and Whitechapel. Stepping outside, or aside from the absorption of the day to day in order to examine the places that we pass through and the narrative of pathways afresh.

"Drawing on precedents and ideas ranging from the never performed Dada walks in the 'terrains vagues' of 1920s Paris, to Iain Sinclair’s investigation of Rodinsky’s London walks in the late 1990s, we began to re-explore our walks through and across the east end. Creating a new routine: meeting at the same time and place each week to walk and work we have exhaustively researched this locale. Walking individually, then walking one anothers’ routes has shown us each new spaces, sights and places that alone we might never have encountered.

"Collecting and collating artefacts and anecdotes from our research walks has been the starting point for the ‘archaeology’ of the subtitle. Objects, images and descriptions from the route speak of the real physicality of the city fringe – the places where it extends out into the edge and vice-versa. The walk we have created will take you to the cut off spaces trapped between railway and road, down alleyways that block the less-than-determined from pursuing a route through, past ‘fine art’ graffiti, a Hawksmoor church, numerous taxi garages and abandoned pubs in a continuously evolving cityscape."

I mean, who knew? Walking as art? I mean like a Dada kind of thing even?

So yeah, and most definitely, check out A Mis-Guide To Anywhere. It'll re-open your world.



from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith

Labels: art, events, fun

from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith

Labels: events, junkfest, Junkyard Sports

"Cruel 2 B Kind," they say,"is a game of benevolent assassination."

"At the beginning of the game, you are assigned three secret weapons. To onlookers, they will seem like random acts of kindness. But to other players, the seemingly benevolent gestures are deadly maneuvers that will bring them to their knees.

"Some players will be slain by a serenade. Others will be killed by a compliment. You and your partner might be taken down by an innocent group cheer.

"You will be given no information about your targets. No names, no photos, nothing but the guarantee that they will remain within the outdoor game boundaries during the designated playing time. Anyone you encounter could be your target. The only way to find out is to attack them with your secret weapon.

"Watch out: The hunter is also the hunted. Other players have been assigned the same secret weapons, and they're coming to get you. Anything out of the ordinary you do to assassinate YOUR targets may reveal your own secret identity to the other players who want you dead.

"As targets are successfully assassinated, the dead players join forces with their killers to continue stalking the surviving players. The teams grow bigger and bigger until two final mobs of benevolent assassins descend upon each other for a spectacular, climactic kill."

Ah, yes, death, and then transfiguration. Hence, fun.



via Boing Boing, etc.

from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith

Labels: events, fun, games

from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith

Labels: events, Junkyard Sports

The Cardboard Tube Fighting League, despite appearances and adult-like anticipations, is a highly disciplined, well, maybe not highly, but at least somewhat disciplined play fight.

I exemplify by citing the admirably explicated rules:

1. First Rule of CTFL: Don’t break your tube. In a duel, the last person with an unbroken tube is declared the winner. In the event that both participants break their tubes at the same time, the game is a draw, and both duelists are considered losers.
2. No stabbing. Lunges involving tubes are never allowed under an circumstances. Participants who exhibit this behavior, will be ejected from the entire event.
3. Try not to work the face. Hitting people in the face is heavily frowned upon and can force your ejection from the event.
4. Once your tube is broken you must stop fighting.
5. To participate you must be using an official CTFL tube, which will be provided at the event, and have signed a release waiver.
6. You may not block your opponents tube with your arms hands or legs.
7. Your tube must always be held near the bottom. Holding your tube in the middle at any time is illegal.

See this for more photos, videos and stuff.

via Laughing Squid

from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith

Labels: events, fun, Junk, Junkyard Sports

It was 2007. October 11. The morning of. Let's say mid-morning. In Atlanta. At the North American Simulation and Gaming Association conference. During my workshop, during which I had planned to spend 90 minutes exploring the various learning ramifications of what I somewhat blithely referred to as: The Junkyard Sports Paradigm.

Because it was NASAGA , and because the people who had registered for my workshop had listened to my keynote and were still planning to come, I found myself inspired enough to want to try something brand new - something I had thought about for many a month, but hadn't as yet actually tried.

And thus was held the world's first Junkyard Sports® Tabletop Olympics.

We had three groups of about 5 players each. Each group was seated around a banquet-worthy round table (officially called a "round").

Their assignment: using whatever you can find in your pocket or purse or elsewhere, create a miniature, tabletop, Olympic-like event.

What you are seeing in this photo is one such event - the High Dive Ski-Jump. The Jumper/Diver (a.k.a. "quarter") is being coached by participant Dave Matte to roll between the two blockish objects (hence kept on edge, so to speak), down the notebook-like ramp, hopefully to land in the glass of water. Yes, some points were awarded for hitting the glass or chair, even. A second team-member, the Jumper/Diver retriever, stood off camera, waiting to catch the rolling quarter before it reached the floor, for that critical extra point.

This was, as you have so intuitively grasped, but one of a minor Olympic myraid of tabletop events, such as, for example, the High Cup Jump, depicted here. Unfortunately, so enraptured were we with our collective cleverness and so deeply impressed by our finger-powered feats of athletic prowess, that we forgot to take any other pictures. And so, the memory fades. The world's first Olympic Croquet game, for example - played with many coins and paperclips and things, simultaneously, in the round - now, despite lingering echoes of all that laughter, partly remembered, partly imagined.

Yes, yes, I wax poetic. Because the Junkyard Sports Tabletop Olympics is everyrthing I had hoped it would be, more than I could possibly have dreamed it would become. An invitation to laughter and teamwork, to creativity and sharing, to surprise and appreciation. Regardless of position, age, gender, family, nationality. And all you need is whatever you have. Pocket junk. A table. People to play with.

from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith

Labels: events, Junkyard Sports, nasaga2007, work

Laughing Squid has gone to admirable lengths to share a variety of virtual pathways to this year's Burning Man celebrations.

The Squid comments: "One thing that has evolved quite a bit over the years is the wi-fi cloud at Burning Man. This year we will see even more photos and video being uploaded from the Playa, as well as live video streaming, blog coverage and even updates via Twitter." Noteworthy for those of us who remain amazed by the ever-widening wonders of the web.

Some of these virtual pathways will lead to videos and images that are not safe for some kinds of work or parents, nevertheless I feel it incumbent upon me to point you, albeit indirectly, to this most celebrated of celebrations of play, art and freedom.



from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith

Labels: events

Food as art is a concept that should be at least as close to one's heart as it is to one's stomach.

I know, I know, I've written about this before. But I was recently reminded of the art/food/fun connection again when I got a response to a Craigslist ad I had written for "found object artists." I was looking for artists who wanted to show their work at the First Annual Redondo Beach JunkFest, and one of the responses I received was from a fellow named Bryan Au who thought that his work with raw foods would somehow prove JunkfFst-worthy. "Raw foods," I thought to myself, "how very much the opposite of junk food, and yet how perfectly this art fits into the whole JunkFest concept. I clicked. I read. I laughed. I loved.

For more food art, see also this and these and perhaps for desert some of this, followed by a bit of this.

Then there's Edible Robotics.



via Neatorama, etc.


from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith

Labels: art, events, Junk

One of the especially playworthy aspects of celebrating the Fourth of July is the patriotically-motivated urge to engage the entire family in family gamelike events. These family gamelike events are designed to complement the traditional "Before the Fireworks Family Picnic" and are characterized by activities of the horseshoe ilk. Of all the horseshoe-ilk games, the game of Washers is perhaps the most family-appropriate, and the most American. According to the International Association of Washer Players, "The history of the game is cloaked in mystery but lends itself to colorful conjecture. 'Betcha I can toss this here washer into that oil can over yonder,' someone might have wagered years ago. Most certainly humble roots fathered the game as participants used readily-available parts, a hallmark of the game that survives even today."

The association recommends "standard round metallic washers, 2.5" in diameter with a 1" center hole." In case you were wondering. In case you weren't, you can play Washers with just about anything round and flat, or perhaps not so round or not completely flat.

For those of us who seek immediate, commercially-available, official-looking, moderately-priced gratification, there's Bulls-Eye Washers from Fundex. You don't have to dig any special pits (as the IAWP states: "although not absolutely necessary to the game, pits add an aura of legitimacy, provide for easy maintenance of the soil, and aid in scoring measurements.")

The washers have that perfect heft and pleasantly graphic markings. And the boxes (one might call them "portable pits") are easy to cary and set up. They each contain the recommended 3-point-worthy PVC target, surrounded by a tastefully green carpeted secondary target area. I especially appreciate that the targets are so adjustable - you can put them any distance apart, so that you can play the game almost regardless of age or ability. Some kids find that standing almost on top of the box is more than enough of a challenge.

Wide is the variety and comparative delights of the game of Washers. At perhaps another commercially-available extreme, we have the game of Chuckers.

The people who've developed Chuckers like to call it a "family tossing game."

By "tossing game" they mean a game that involves, well, tossing things, as does, for example, horseshoes, and a variety of bean bag and target games, and of course washers, which is strangely enough also called, "cornhole," and most relevantly perhaps that quoits game where you throw rings around pegs.

So, in a way, if you know any one of these games, you'll know how to play Chuckers. In another way, because it combines different aspects of traditional games to result in a completely different, and, arguably, a far more majorly fun game - because it's a family game.

By "family" they mean a game that can be played by just about anybody - especially if you're kinda loose about the rules. Which you can be, easily. Because the game is almost self-explanatory. Because the game is so well made.

And because the game is as much luck as it is skill. Very interesting - how combining luck and skill, in just the right manner, so that you really half believe that you can master the thing, learn the right control, the precision positioning of finger and ring and foot and eye, while at the same time, you half know that it's really luck, not skill - sheer luck that your ring thing landed around the farthest peg or into the farthest target or wound up leaning on a peg, giving you exactly 21 points! Just enough luck so that anyone, regardless of skill, can win. Even you.

The rings you toss are made of rubber and steel. They've got, what you'd call, "significant heft." The things you toss them into are even more significantly hefty. Thick, sturdy, and yes, what you could only call "industrial strength" plastic. They are connected by a rope which is exactly as long as the recommended distance between the two targets. It's a game you can leave out for a while, at a family party, in a playground, a park, a classroom...

All of which is to say that, in addition to commercially-available inspirations, there are perhaps a minor infinity of washer-like games, that can be made out of a similarly minor infinity of materials - sand dollars and sand pits, old CDs and shoeboxes, dead golf balls and toilet paper tubes.... To we of the make-your-own-washer-game perspective, the entire modern world is an invitation to play. (see also Shoeshoes )

Labels: events, Family Game

Georgia Tech's Emergent Game Group headed up by Celia Pearce, in collaboration with the Design Studio for Social Intervention will present ActionQuest: ATL, an activist Big Game being produced in conjunction with the US Social Forum, taking place in Atlanta June 27-July 1. Built on the premise that "Play is a renewable resource," ActionQuest: ATL takes players around Atlanta for a hands-on experience of what it might be like to realize the USSF's vision that "another world is possible." Players discover and uncover past successes in local activism, and perform activist actions to help make the world a better place in both the present and the future. In the process, they will be delighted and rewarded by this encounter with "serious fun" that dynamically fuses real-world activism with socially engaging cooperative play.

ActionQuest: ATL runs daily from noon to 8PM, June 28-July 1, 2007. Players can register online or in-person at one of two base camps at the Little Five Points Community Center (1083 Austin Ave. N.E. 30307) or Renaissance Park (Piedmont & Pine). Details can be found here and here. For more information or to volunteer as a Game Master, send e-mail

Celia sent me this to share with you. She is a remarkable woman who has dedicated her powerful intellect to bringing more fun into the world. I tend to endorse everything she does, because she brings so much passion and understanding to it. She is also a friend, and advocate, who has written a wonderfully insightful review of my book, The Well-Played Game (which, of course, makes her a wonderfully insightful friend).


from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith

Labels: events

Last November, Philip Ella Juico wrote published an article called "Sports for All" in the Philippine Star. The article was the result of several exchanges we had over the previous months, about bringing sports to the far reaches of the Philippines. Dr. Juico was very active with the major sports organizations in the Philippines, and, because he had access to some of the major players, he thought about organizing a tour in which they would run demonstration games in the nation's villages. This led to many fascinating conversations, a wonderful meeting, and, ultimately, my crafting the following proposal:

A Celebration of Junk is a festival of play - an event that affirms the human capacity to play.

A Festival of Play - a public gathering that combines spectacle with empowerment, that provides a platform for the display of both athletic and artistic achievement, while providing an invitation to equal participation by all members of the community - all genders, ages, abilities - to everyone who wants to play.

A Festival of Play - celebrating genius in body, mind and spirit; genius in sports, in individual and team performance, in individual and collective art and invention, in music and dance.

More

Labels: events, Junkyard Sports

This was going to be a story about, purportedly, the world's largest Etch-a-Sketch, which, according to this story was "was unveiled at the 33rd SIGGRAPH International Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques Conference and Exhibition in Boston." (click on this image to get the whole picture, as it were, so to speak.)

Me, I wasn't that excited, really, about the world's largest Etch-a-Sketch. I mean, it's attention-grabbing, all right, and it did make me wonder about how it actually works, or how any individual audience member experiences any real control. But, then again, I never experienced that much real control, even when I was using my regular old personal laptop Etch-a-Sketch.

What I was excited about was that an entire audience could play, together, using what looks like plastic lollipops on Popsicle sticks. Wireless lollipops, even.

Turns out that a company called Cinematrix has developed a system that can sense individual input. Granted, input is binary, limited to which side of the stick you show, but with enough ingenuity, you can do a lot with nothing more than binary input. Especially if there's a way for the technology to pick up each individual response - not just determine the average, but take into account each participant's input.

They have a small passel of games, for those who are interested in game passel-gathering. And, yes, they have a significant enough repertoire of polling capabilities to warm the cockles of even a board of director's hearts. Audience-pleasing fun, team-building for the masses, participatory art for the many. All-in-all, a technology most worthy of our collective applause.


Funspotting by Elyon DeKoven

from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith

Labels: audience game, events, fun, technology

A little less than a year ago, I wrote about a game of Urban Capture the Flag, hosted by a group called "Newmindspace." And though I find myself sorely tempted to write about the upcoming, Feb. 24th event called "Pillow Fight NYC," I find myself moved to talk about a more sobering event, called "Nightlights." Because of the beauty of the vision, and the sad wisdom contained in this little blurb:

300 LED's were stolen at the beginning of Night Lights.
We are shocked and disappointed that while we were creating this event, a small handful of people prevented the installation from even happening. (These LED's were eventually to be used for fundraising after the evening was over.) We lost over $500.

It is precisely this kind of wisdom, for all its sobering significance, that makes Newmindspace such a valuable resource for anyone contemplating the production of a public event, especially if they are doing so for the sake of art, play and community - because Newmindspace has learned what it is like, playing with the public, in all of its beauty and ugliness, and because they continue to bring us to play, nevertheless.


from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith

Labels: events, fun, politics

Funspotter Noise E. Piranha and I were chatting as follows:

Noise: Last night, at Santarchy, my nephew, dressed as Old St Nick, proposed to his girlfriend, dressed as an elf.

Me: fantastic! did she accept?

Noise: she did. when santa proposes in front of 40 other santas, an elf dare not say no. here's a less-than-perfect photo. a landmark event, santa proposing to one of his elves. mrs. claus wasnt too happy about it

Me: bar crawling seems to be a great platform for many games - I think Urban Golf has that as its central premise (here, oddly enough, is a computer game version of Urban Golf, in which one, apparently, brings one's own)

Noise: i'm not a big fan of bar crawls in general... i only like the cacophony ones because we focus more on the crawl and less on the bar. i think we actually spent more time doing stuff in public than hanging out in bars.

Me: but the bar part is the excuse that keeps the party going

Noise: indeed it is... and the excuse to get many people involved who might otherwise consider it "too strange" i see the bar crawls as "gateway" events to get people comfortable with the idea of finding nontraditional ways to have fun and see how much fun they really can have.

Me, half-hour later, in retro- and intro-spect: the more you drink, the harder it is to see how much fun "you can really have." Because the drunker you get, the less connected you are to the "real you." In fact, for many of us, that's precisely why we get drunk - so we can get away from ourselves for a while. Most games do that for us, too - let us loosen the connection to our "real," mature, grown-up, selves.

Loosen, but not lose. That's the key difference. Loosen the connection, but not lose it. Loosen so we become larger than the selves we have come to think of as real.



from Bernie DeKoven, funsmith

Labels: events, games

CowParade "is the world’s largest public art event. From Chicago and New York in 1999 and 2000 to Kansas City and Houston in 2001 and London in 2002, CowParade continues to evolve, not just in size, but in creativity and quality of art. While the cow sculptures remain the same, each city’s artists are challenged by the art from past events, inspired by the cultural influences of their respective cities, and moved by their own interpretation of the cow as an art object. CowParade is not meant to be high art, however. It is first and foremost a public art exhibit that is accessible to everyone."

You've probably seen a CowParade in the heart of your very own city. But did you know that

"The collection of painted cows is thought and dedicated to open opportunities to all artists in each city, and along the years, it has turned into a real competition among the best and most brilliant artists around the world.

Painters (some recognized, others only beginners) designers, architects or even fine art students all are invited to participate in this open call of artists, sending your submission and design on paper to Maravillarte* | Art Management Services.

The cow Designs on paper will be selected by a group of local art experts that form the Selection Committee. These selected designs will make up the Official Cow Parade Portfolio.

Out of the Official Portfolio, sponsors of individual cows will choose artists and their designs, to turn them into real size fiberglass cows."

Well, did you?

This message brought to you by Funscout Kris Bordessa.

Labels: events

Tom Condon, of the Hartford Courant, writes:

"...the really inspired anarchy of the time [1970s] came from...Sidewalk Inc. Founded by Tim Keating, Ann Kieffer and Bob Gregson, Sidewalk quickly became known for what Gregson called 'art attacks,' improvised outdoor performances of every kind.

"A van would pull up in front of a building and two dancers in evening clothes would jump out and begin a waltz or rumba. A dozen participants would do sidewalk sculptures with folding chairs. A skywriter would write something over downtown. A ballet dancer would leap out of a clump of bushes and perform. A bridge of balloons would appear over a downtown street. Artists performed skits in fountains. There was other wild stuff, such as Carl Andre's Stone Field Sculpture, aka the rocks. I love it/them."

Yes, it's the same Bob Gregson who did the illustrations for Junkyard Sports. The same Bob Gregson I met when I was teaching at Trinity College in Hartford. The same Gregson who is now the Creative Director of the Connecticut Commission on Culture & Tourism. Yes, that Gregson. Bob Gregson of BobGregson.com. My friend and fellow play perpetrator for 30 actual years, who wrote me: "Today, I continue to raise havoc by sending people under tables and having them jump on trampolines as part of my work."

We have much to thank this man for. And much more to learn from him.

Labels: art, events

Capture the Flag, Game One, Kensington Market, July 26, 2005, Toronto, Canada. Game one of three, so far as I can tell from the newmindspace site. A site, if I may say so, worth seeing. A generous site, describing not only how to play Capture the Flag in the middle of a city, but also how to have a subway party, for example, or, yes, a giant pillow fight, and even a city-wide Easter Egg fortune cookie poetry event.

But I like Capture the Flag the best. Because, I guess, I like the game, the poetry of it, the metaphor - the whole "jail" thing, with the guarding and desperation and heroism and laughter. And I especially appreciate how they adapted the rules, how they've incorporated not only the city into their vision, but also the "affordances" of city life - maps, cellphones, access to public and private transportation. And I like even more than that thinking about all sheer, silly drama of it all unfolding against a cityscape, waking everyone in a half-mile radius, hobo and executive, shopper and tourist, to the possibility of fun.

Labels: events, games

Last month I read about a group of people in Baltimore who were going to get together on Saturday, March 4th (two days after Dr. Seuss' birthday), dress up in Seuss-themed costumes, and read "Green Eggs and Ham" at random street corners. At first I thought about driving to Baltimore to join them, but then I decided, why not try to do the same thing in Pittsburgh, where I live?

So I did. And we did. Not a lot of us, mind you, but enough to put smiles on peoples faces and bring a little sunshine to an otherwise cold and cloudy day. "Seuss Mob" it was called.

People smiled and cheered as they walked by. Honked and waved from passing vehicles. Families stopped to listen to us finish the story, and lots of people snapped pictures with their camera phones.

It felt great to be able to bring unexpected smiles and laughter to everyone, and even more so to the random people who joined us. I think this event proved that you don't have to have a large group to share the spirit of cacophony--and a little bit of happiness--with the world. A few dedicated people can get the job done!

photos

from Noise E. Piranha

Labels: events, playfulness

SAN FRANCISCO / Hundreds attend mass pillow fight Yeah. Apparently, that's what happened all right. Hundreds of people. With pillows. It's kinda wonderful and everything with the spontaneity and surprise and hitting. But I dunno, I think maybe helmets with face guards might be required to make the event more fun for the hit-upon, both young and old. I guess the memory of a pillow fight with my sister 55 years ago, and the subsesquent bloody nose, still stains my affection for games that involve whacking people with anything.

Odd, though, when you think how central the idea of "Soft War" was to the founding of the New Games, uh, Foundation. Googling for Soft War, I came across this moment of clarity from "Kellee: "Soft War was a way of allowing people to relieve tension by realizing that it was okay to release primal energy into the air without anybody getting hurt. But, if both sides agree that physically hurting each other is okay, then maybe they still get away without hurting in other ways...Because sometimes, we are still animals that pretend to be civilized."





Thanks for the find, Noise

Labels: events, games

Big Game - the final report from my Experiments in Interactivity class at USC, describes the one exercise that turned out to bring everything together - the ideas, the talents, the people.

The idea of giant playing cards wasn't particularly new or innovative. But the insights the students gathered from the experience, and the solidarity they achieved, made, in fact, the entire class, and all that we had taught or hoped to teach, come together. You can download (right click) this video, made by the students themselves, for an even more vivid, and narrated overview of the activity.

Perhaps the most deeply instructional part of the experience for everyone took place during the event itself. It turned out to be, well, challenging to get other people to join. It was a hard and unanticipated lesson - all earmarks of its success. Both Tracy and I tried to soften the blow by directing the students' collective attention to all the people who came to watch, for the observers were as much part of the event as were the players. But the students wouldn't have it.

This is well-expressed on a temporary student wiki. Here, from temporary student Aaron Meyers, is a significantly representative sample of what they all experienced:

"On the day of the event, I arrived early and helped to get our game active before the official start time. When I got there, some other team members were already involved in playing some Solitaire. It occurred to me that this was possibly not the best way to start off. It wasn't very visible from the pathways through campus that surrounded us and it was also a kind of insular activity. It just wasn't very inviting. So I insisted that we commence with House of Cards-building at once. This was met with some initial success and earned us our first participants. I got pretty into building houses of cards and spontaneously came up with the idea to turn it into a competitive game. We had our pile of cards in the middle of our space and I directed two teams to attempt to build houses on opposite sides of the pile. The winner would be the team with the largest house when the cards ran out. This ended up working out quite well and was played again later during the day. During the rest of the event, I divided my time between directly participating in the playing of games and attempting to persuade passers-by to join in our game. Playing games presented no challenge. We had a lot of energy going between us so having a good time naturally followed. On the other hand, getting strangers to take part in our game proved a bigger challenge. It was a learning process. Certain approaches worked better than others. It was always a lot of work. I'm still not entirely sure why we had to work so hard to convince people to come have some fun. Most of the people who we got to participate didn't actually need that much convincing... just a gentle prod to try something they were already vaguely interested in."

Labels: events, games

Yes, a lot time has lapsed since New Games started in, what, 1974.

And today, courtesy of David Lopez and USC, a time-lapsed view of a New Games / Snoopy Thanksgiving celebration, 30 years later.

Yeah, I know, the parachute and Earth Ball are not the official New Games versions. The Earth Ball had an image of the globe painted on it and the parachutes were usually standard military white or grey. But these new-fangled, multi-colored renditions of the aforesaid make the event look like a work of art. Which it is, in deed.

To see the clip, click here and either download the zipped file (22.4 megs) or click and wait very patiently to see it online.

(thanks Janine for letting me know about the clip, and thanks Tracy and cohorts for making this happen)

Labels: events, games

"The Junkyard Golf experience was a success! We went junk hunting (similar to trick or treating) throughout our Headquarters and collected lots of fun things to use in our golf event.

"We divided up the Teams into nine groups of four. Each was designated a hole. They had 15 minutes to create their miniature golf hole. Then two from each Team played a round of nine holes, and then switched with the next two. They thoroughly enjoyed the game and really got into the creation of their own hole. We gave away Four awards (ribbons) to the most creative hole that truly demonstrated junkyard golf... We also gave one to the highest score and to the lowest (the best golfers) AND to the most enthusiastic Team who really cheered and coached players as they played their Team hole. (We handed out score cards to keep score.... Our Leaders really like competition and this added this particular element for the game)

"Looks like we have an activity that is a keeper for future Camp Cultures. Thank you again for the Guide and most of all for a great idea for a Team Builder, fun event. This fit perfectly with the environment and goal for the morning's activity."

- Cheryl, Director, Leadership Training, Southwest Airlines

(more photos)

Labels: events, games, work

The world premiere of Junkyard Bowling took place Thursday, August 4, in a hallway at the LA Convention Center, during the SIGGRAPH 2005 Conference. The Junkyard Sports event, produced by the Ludica (a game design cooperative) Game Atelier, also included a similarly sweetly significant game of Junkyard Golf. The significance? That we were playing with junk (posters, bags, paper cups, a Rubik's Cube and other miscellaneous exhibitor bric-a-brac) at probably one of the highest of high technology events. It wasn't so much that we were trying to make a particular point, but rather a counterpoint.

Junkyard Bowling was created collaboratively by whoever happened to be in the hallway at the time. The design, manufacture, and layout of the "pins" turned out to be a work of art in its own right. In searching for an object heavy enough to knock our pins over, we came upon a Rubik's Cube of all but perfect heft. Then someone noticed that the cube looked very much like a die, as in one of a pair of dice. Then someone put numbers on the die. And the rest is history. Junkyard Bowling. Played with a die. Your score, the number of pins you knock down, multiplied by the number on the die when it finally comes to rest. And oh, the unanticipated glee of it all. The arithmetic delight of scoring a potential 54 for a single throw (we were playing nine-pin bowling), the subtle properties of the rolling cube bouncing off the wall and into the remaining pins, and, best of all, the unparalleled joy of being part of a collaboratively and spontaneously contrived work of play, made out of junk, in the hallway of the LA Convention Center, during a conference dedicated to heightening high technology!

Labels: events

Katie Salen and Eric Zimmerman (for more about Eric, see my gleeful account of his GameLab) are co-authors of "Rules of Play" (see my all-too-brief). Turns you can actually download sample chapters of this most important book here. Chapter 30, Games and Cultural Rhetoric, includes this insightful account of New Games. I quote, at length:

"A wonderful example of transformative play as a game design practice is the New Games Movement, which utilized play to comment on and experiment with new conceptions of culture and community.

"An outgrowth of 1960s San Francisco counterculture, the New Games Movement believed that the kinds of games people play and the ways they play them are of major significance to society. 'Sports represent a key joint in any society,' George Leonard writes in The New Games Book, 'how we play the game may turn out to be more important than we imagine, for it signifies nothing less than our way of being in the world.'

"The New Games Movement was less about the design of individual games and more about the development of an ethos intended to alter the way people interacted with one another. Its goal was to transform culture by creating opportunities for people to play collaboratively. Play hard. Play fair. Nobody hurt. These three core principles order the design (and play) of any New Games game. The movement organized festival-like 'Tournaments' that brought people together to play cooperatively, erasing (if only for a brief time) barriers of race, age, sex, size, ability, socioeconomic background, and creed. Values of freedom and the creation of community through game play were woven into a utopian rhetoric that advocated new forms of player empowerment.

"As Bernard DeKoven notes in The Well-Played Game, 'No matter what game we create, no matter how well we are able to play it, it is our game, and we can change it when we need to.' This is an incredible freedom, a freedom that does more than any game can, a freedom with which we nurture the play community. The search for the well-played game is what holds the community together. But the freedom to change the game is what gives the community its power.'

"This powerful, poetic rhetoric conflates the act of changing an individual game with changing the larger 'game of society' a premise at the heart of the New Games Movement. Earthball, a classic New Games design, clearly embodies the movement's rhetoric. Created in 1966 by Stewart Brand for a public event sponsored by the War Resisters League at San Francisco State College, Earthball involved a huge inflatable ball painted with continents,oceans, and swirling clouds, guided by opposing teams. The game had a single rule, which Brand explained in the following way:

"'There are two kinds of people in the world: those who want to push the Earth over a row of flags at that end of the field, and those that want to push it over the fence at the other end. Go to it.'

"Intended as a way of formalizing player interaction and victory conditions, when the game was first played these simple rules created a space of possibility with a surprising ideological outcome: People charged the ball from both sides, pushing and cheering. Slowly it began to move, first toward one end, then back to the other. The game got hotter. There was plenty of competition, but something more interesting was happening. Whenever the ball approached a goal, players from the winning side would defect to lend a hand to the losers. That first Earthball game went on for an hour without a score. The players had been competing, but not to win. Their unspoken and accepted agreement had been to play, as long and hard as possible.

"Although the game was premised as a competition between two teams, the play that emerged was radically cooperative (in the sense of player cooperation defined in Games as Systems of Conflict). The emergence of collaborative play from a formal structure designed to support competitive interaction demonstrates the power of the New Games Movement rhetoric. The game may have looked competitive on the surface (two teams facing opposite goal lines), but the players enacted cultural rhetorics that valued collaboration and play-for-play's sake. These philosophies emerged from within the game to transform the game, turning traditional competitive play into something else entirely.

"Later New Games games explored game structures that more explicitly embodied the cultural rhetorics of the movement. For example,the game of Catch the Dragon's Tail (first mentioned in Games as Systems of Conflict), has a definite winning condition and goal, but certain players (in the dragon's middle) are not clearly on one team or the other.The New Game titled Vampire (analyzed in Games as the Play of Simulation, not to be confused with the LARP game Vampire: The Masquerade) also plays with competition, collaboration, and victory conditions. The game can end with the players either all turned into vampires or all cured of their vampirism; in both cases the initially heterogeneous group resolves to a state of homogeneous equality.

"Was the New Games Movement a success? Did it manage to transform society in the way that its founders intended? Yes and no. Although the New Games Movement has waned in recent decades, it asserted tremendous influence on physical education in the United States. If you played with a giant rubber Earthball or a parachute in your elementary school gym class, you can thank the New Games Movement,which helped transform the traditionally sports-based curriculum of phys ed into a more play-centric, cooperative learning experience. Much of the success of the New Games Movement emerged because of its relationships with other forms of counterculture. New Games 'Tournaments,' for example, mixed the communality of a peace protest with the cultural nihilism of an art happening.

"There is no doubt that in many ways the New Games Movement and its game designs emerged out of a particular cultural milieu. But the uniquely transformative agenda of the movement is truly inspiring. Playing with the codes and conventions of gaming and social interaction, the New Games Movement sought to create positive social change through play. It did so not by creating games with explicit political content, but by designing play experiences that intrinsically embodied its utopian ideals. Is there room for a similar movement in present-day game design? The New Games Movement was a function of its historical moment, and could not be revived in precisely the same form today. But the notion that game designers could take on transformative rhetorics, unleashing them in culture as a mighty revolution of play, is by no means unrealistic. It did happen; it can happen again."

Indeed it did. And can. And is. See, for example, this.

Labels: events

28 years later, and I finally have a photo of giant pick up sticks. Courtesy of Marie Martin, who writes "I thought you might like to see another wave (or blow) of your influence....
The Festival of the Wind is a bi-annual event in Esperance. Esperance is on the southern coast of Western Australia and has a vibrant volunteer community. There are about 13,000 people in the town and involvement in over 550 volunteer organisations at federal, state and local levels. Anna and I did work with Esperance Volunteer Resource Centre in 2002/2003 to create a video for 'bridging the gap to volunteering' - helping people become volunteers in rural and remote locations. The Festival of the Wind involves artists, environmentalists and scientists in an event that focuses on one of the strengths (or irritations) of Esperance - it is windy for about 300 days each year! When my family was camping there some years ago we went from the camping ground into town (20 miles) for dinner because the meat kept blowing off the barbeque!"

Giant Pick-Up Sticks in the wind. Next time, they should try it with flags on top of each stick! Kinda like, um, Spellikans.

For more on this game, and Spellikans, see this

Labels: events

I received a message from YellowArrow, about which I wrote previously. I was stirred to quote:

This is a shout out for YellowArrow archers everywhere to have your message heard and your images seen at Art Basel Miami Beach!

As the crème-de-la-crème of the art world descends on Miami Beach for the Art Basel festival, the YellowArrow will be greeting this global art elite at every corner as the public art project that sweeps the show. Projections will roam the city's streets showcasing all the arrows placed by people around the world, stickers will be placed smartly on every beckoning surface, big lightbox versions of the YellowArrow will be installed throughout the city. And we are going to do a video installation on a large public wall on Saturday, Dec. 4 in the Design District, highlighting arrows placed by people in Miami and around the world leading up to the Art Baselfestival.

We are reaching out to people throughout the world, inviting everyone to place arrows that can be seen in this video by everybody in Miami. All images and texts uploaded before Dec. 1 will be included in the show. The video will also be showcased on the web during the festival as well as become a DVD that can be shown locally wherever there is interest.

I tried the video. It made the whole event - the act and the art - wonderfully clear. I found it reassuring to learn that the YellowArrow project is still very much in play.

And, for the bloggers amongst us, he also writes:

We've just added a new element to the site that I'm hoping you will be interested in experimenting with -- we now have RSS feeds that allow you to subscribe to the most recent arrows placed in a certain city, by a certain person, or any combination of the two in a newsreader or to integrate into a website (eg, add a feed of your arrows to your blog, or add a feed of all the arrows in Boston to a site about public art in Boston).

Hmmm. How's he do that?

Labels: events

It's a giant BOGGLE game, and it was played like this: "The teams are up on the 10th, 11th, 12th and 14th floor...The (floor team) shuffles the letters...Then the (other) teams have a set period of time to call in their words via cell phone...Score was kept by the team (floor) on the stairs." Played last July at the Boston Marriott Cambridge Hotel, Human BOGGLE was one of many puzzling events arranged and celebrated by the National Puzzlers' League as part of their annual conference. In case you are wondering about appropriateness of the oddly semi-cooperative play spirit that was apparently manifest by conference organizers and participants, see their article on Sharing the fun for a different, and more inviting approach to puzzle-solving.

I found Human BOGGLE on a weblog written by Nancy White. It was one of those moments of web-induced serendipity. Nancy and I have been correspondents, and friends, since the early days of Technography. She, like I, has been fascinated by any attempts to facilitate actual cooperation in the real and/or virtual worlds. And, in actual, but curiously unrelated fact, she had just recently blogged the publication of Junkyard Sports.

I had been searching for more evidence of the virtual evolution of BOGGLE and found some cause for hope. For example, here's a collection of three "BOGGLER" games (note how the clever addition of the letter "R" completely disguises the actual, Hasbro-owned, trademark-protected name). There's "Classic" (4x4), a 3x3 "Wild Card" version in which one of the letters is wild enough to be anything you want it to be. Which makes for a fascinating, play-inviting experience. And then "Quick" Boggler, 3x3, with a one-minute time limit. WEBoggle, the game that in4mador recommended, and got me started on all this, is an online BOGGLE competition, played on a 4x4 or 5x5 grid. It is elegant, without bell or whistle, and challenging enough to attract any serious BOGGLE player. Playing against anonymous opponents adds a delicious dash of excitement and focus. Another online or solitaire BOGGLEish collection is Jumbalaya. You have to register to play against other players, but you can play the solitaire versions without any ado or adon't, select a grid size from 4x4 to 6x6 - or a novel and implication-full tree-shaped board. This version seems to have the greatest number of geeklike thrills - you can select the time allotted, the minimal wordlength, the intelligence of the computer opponent, and even the method of scoring.

So, ye lords and ladies of puzzledom, you may rest assured. Your world virtually and analogically abounds with a wealth of wordly merriment. Boggle on, dudes!

Labels: events

tIn his article, "The Bankshot Conception of Universal Design," Dr. Reeve Brenner says some things about sports and differently-abled people that explain a lot of the passion behind the Junkyard Sports idea. It's written in support of an other "equipment-based" solution called "Bankshot."

Tennis is exclusionary and conducing to separate-but-equal at its most extreme. It is possible for wheelchair athletes to play against each other on that court. It is possible for able-bodied people to play against each other on that court. But even able-bodied people can not all play tennis on the same level. A tennis player must find the very small sliver of the population with whom to play. The wheelchair athlete cannot play with the able-bodied except artificially in organized pre-arranged circumstances – but never spontaneously.

It's the same vision of "sports for everybody" that I was describing when I wrote "Extra Special Olympics." Bankshot is a working, challenging, cross-ability solution that combines miniature golf with a series of basketball and/or tennis and maybe even pitching goals.

Bankshot basketball is a new game of skill and challenge that is often described as a "mini golf, but with a basketball." Players of all ages and abilities, even disabled participants, proceed through a course of angled, curved and non-conventionally configured brightly colored backboards, banking shots off the Bankboards(TM) and through the rims... Bankshot is non-aggressive and entirely inclusionary.

A Bankshot course consists of a varying number of stations-depending upon the size of the court-each with a uniquely shaped Bankboard. Each Bankshot requires a different banked shot to score. Some shots demand carroms off two backboards, some are ricochets and one diabolically maddening shot has three backboards and two rims. Players use a scorecard to track their score as they shoot increasingly difficult shots at each of the stations.

And it's a better world because of it.

Labels: events, sports

Think of it as YELLOWARROW: [NOUN] A COLLECTIVE SYMBOL FOR PERSONAL COMOMUNICATION. [VERB]TO LEAVE AND DISCOVER MESSAGES POINTING OUT WHAT COUNTS.

Say it out loud a few times. YELLOWARROW. Kinda trips off the virtual.

Learn even more about YELLOWARROW on the YELLOWARROW blog. You can get your ARROWS - numbered arrow-shaped stickers. For apparently free. Email YELLOWARROW - or send even a text message - about where you put your yellow arrow, and why. Tell them about other yellow arrow stickers you find. Send in a picture. learn more.



Thanks Noise.

Labels: events

Pac Manhattan - the actual website for a real-life, virtually-assisted, play-where-you're-not-supposed-to, junkly fun event.

Pac-Manhattan is a large-scale urban game that utilizes the New York City grid to recreate the 1980's video game sensation Pac-Man. This analog version of Pac-man is being developed in NYU's Interactive Telecommunications graduate program, in order to explore what happens when games are removed from their "little world" of tabletops, televisions and computers and placed in the larger "real world" of street corners, and cities.

A player dressed as Pac-man will run around the Washington square park area of Manhattan while attempting to collect all of the virtual "dots" that run the length of the streets. Four players dressed as the ghosts Inky, Blinky, Pinky and Clyde will attempt to catch Pac-man before all of the dots are collected.

Using cell-phone contact, Wi-Fi internet connections, and custom software designed by the Pac-Manhattan team, Pac-man and the ghosts will be tracked from a central location and their progress will be broadcast over the internet for viewers from around the world.

The real story for me is the sheer, unorthodox fun that was apparently had by the Wi-Fi-ant few. I have no idea how they managed to get so much publicity. I've seen stuff about last weekend's event on just about every blog I travel. I'm not sure if it's the silliness or the technology that was so attractive. It may be a small step for play, but it's clearly one big leap for bloggingkind.

Labels: events

It was yesterday, April 18. In the afternoon. In El Retiro park. In Redondo Beach. In California. The South Bay Fun Club's first ever Junkyard Sports event. Where the new, official, Junkyard Sports Banner was formally unfurled, and the game of Simultaneous Sock and Pantyhose Horseshoes was invented.

Pictured here, clearly is not the game of Simultaneous Sock and Pantyhose Horseshoes - the revealing of which was an event in itself. But rather Bernie in the act of launching the sport that becake Simultaneous Sock and Pantyhose Horseshoes.

The game was played thusly: Two teams of four players each stood at opposite ends of the Simultaneous Sock and Pantyhose Horseshoe Field, immediately behind small, open cardboard boxs, placed, o, let's say, 10 meters apart. These boxes were easily large enough to serve as a target for a Sock and Pantyhose Horseshoe, the aforementioned horseshoe being constructed by placing four tightly-balled socks into the toe of a pantyhose leg which was cut from the pantyhose leg somewhere near the thigh area, if you excuse the expression.

One team had the Sock and Pantyhose Horseshoes made from two pairs of black pantyhose, the other from white.

And then, at a mutually agreed-upon scream, both teams threw their Sock and Pantyhose Horseshoes trying to get them to land in or near the above-indicated cardboard box.

And merry mayhem ensued.

Note: playing this with hard things, like iron horseshoes and maybe even frisbees, is not recommended.

Labels: events

From today's Dept. of It Doesn't Take Much, we learn how little it can take to "Turn Your Trade Show into a FUNvention." The article, from Ronald P. Culberson - "director of everything" at "FUNsulting," shows how a little imagination, and an even smaller investment, can transform a large conference or meeting into a memorable event. "Activities that evoke laughter and fun at conventions," Culberson writes, "are powerful ways to keep participants engaged and excited about being there."

My favorite example:

"According to Janet Delph of EXPERT Magazine, CNN Headline News anchor Bob Losure used a talk show format, instead of the typical speech, to interview top executives in a general session at the 2003 OfficeMax national convention. The 1,100 attendees rated it the best session ever."

Favorite, because the whole idea is so easy, on everybody. For Losure, this was a lot easier than preparing a speech, and a lot less threatening. The same is true of the executives he interviewed. In fact, they got to feel "extra special" because it was just like being on TV, almost. For the attendees, it was a welcome break from a long speech, informative, yet in a format that bordered on entertainment.

Here's a slightly more elaborate example:

"During the breaks between general sessions, one government agency showed photos taken at the conference and added funny captions. Two minutes before the start of each session, the music from Jeopardy would begin playing, and a timer would count down the time to the session. Before long the attendees were laughing at the photos and humming to the Jeopardy tune."

And then there's this:

"Lou Heckler, a speaker and coach from Gainesville, Florida, attended a convention at which the 'talk of the conference' was a buffet breakfast table backed up to a "stage" of risers. On the stage was a full bedroom scene - complete with a nightstand, lamps, chair, dresser, and bed with a real person in it. Participants assumed the person was a mannequin until they approached the buffet, and the person said, 'Good morning!'"

Labels: events

Counting myself, Rocky (my wife), Michael Pliskin (my friend the photographer), the photographer from the Los Angeles Times, and four passers-by I collared into the games, there were a total of eight participants in yesterday's world premiere of Socker on the Beach. The reporter from the LA Times was almost there, but, from a distance of more than two feet, it was rather difficult to tell there was an event going on, and sadly, she missed it.

It wasn't, as we had "planned," a true game of Junkyard Beach Soccer. The only thing anybody (I) brought that was anywhere close to Official Junk was my extensive singleton sock collection. Despite the goodly press from local papers, and probably having something to do with it being a Wednesday at 2:22 p.m., no one had brought any junk for us to play with. Nevertheless, a truly auspicious world premiere it became.

We never actually played anything that you'd call soccer, either. But we did play with socks. We really did. Hence, the name "Socker on the Beach."

For me, personally, and I mean "personally," as a participant, there were three events that made the world premiere of Socker on the Beach truly monumental in scope:

1. First, there was playing with socks, the beach, and Rocky. If it weren't for her, I might've never noticed how the sand is really part of the "junk," and that you can dig holes in it for Socker Golf, and even dig trenches and lay tracks for a game of miniature golf-in-the-sand-with-socks. Nor would I have ever dreamed of playing See if You can Get the Sockball Stuck in the Volleyball Net and then See if You Can Use Other Sockballs to Knock it Through to the Other Side. Nor would I have had the chance to see, so vividly, after knowing her for 42 years, what a wonderful, fun, spontaneous, responsive, brilliantly creative player she is.

2. Second, there was playing with these strangers - two women and a pre-adolescent boy for whom English was clearly a second language. We were using sockball-stuffed knee socks as hockey sticks, sometimes swinging, sometimes whirling them around like propellers, trying to hit other sockballs into a sandpit.

3. Third. Playing with the wind. The game of Air Socks that we created, following the discovery that the wind was so constant and strong that if we kinda tossed a single sock into it, towards, the volleyball net, the sock would sometimes just get stuck, and, with sufficient skill and luck, it was possible to get a sock stuck very near the very top of the net. We played this with someone who was about to continue running with friends, whom we cajoled into joining us after our other friends left. (They did feel like friends, those people whose names I never learned, with whom I barely spoke, but played so innocently intimately.)

Labels: events

Did you know that the world record for Stone Skipping is 36 skips? Well, neither did I. In fact, I didn't even think it was something I wanted to know until correspondent Dan (Stork) Roddick told me I did.

Oddly enough, the happy pastime we sometimes know as Stone Skipping wasn't always known as such, but, according to the Official WEB Site of the Mackinac Island Stone Skipping & Gerplunking Club, by the much more mysterious moniker of "Ducks and Drakes." I quote from their equally official History of the Event:

"1583 J. Higins tr. Junius' Nomenciator (N.), A kind of sport or play with an oister shell or stone throwne into the water, and making circles yer it sinke, etc. It is called a ducke and a drake, and a halfe-penie cake. c 1626 Dick of Devon. i, ii, in Bullen 0. Pl. II. 14 The poorest ship-boy Might on the Thames make duckes and drakes with pieces Of eight fetchd out of Spayne. 1730 Swift Vind. Carteret Wks. 1755 V. II. 188 Scipio and Lelius . . often played at duck and drake with smooth stones on a river. 1829 Nat. Philos., Hydrostatics i. 2 (U.K.S.) The common play of making ducks and drakes, that is, throwing a.flat stone in a direction nearly horizontal against a surface of water, and thus making it rebound, proves the water to be elastic. 1842 P. Parley's Ann. III. 15 A shot made a duck- and-drake in the water. b. attrib., as duck-and-drake fashion, sort."

And now, 420 years later, we learn in this article, only recently posted in the venerable Manchester Guardian, citing an article only recently posted in Nature that, according to Christophe Clanet of the University of Marseille, it was discovered that "an angle of about 20 between the stone and the water's surface is optimal with respect to the throwing conditions and yields the maximum possible number of bounces." Of course. An angle of about 20. One should have known. Or, one should have downloaded this paper on the physics of stone skipping, and known even more (or not).

All of which is yet further evidence of the depth and breadth of what we are heir to, we who seek only a little more fun.

Labels: events

Reportedly this guy, comedian Mac King, invited a crowd of people to a game of "Whisper Down the Lane" yesterday in an attempt to establish a new Guinness World Record. An event of this proportion, while raising certain doubts about the collective maturity of Los Vegas entertainment aficionados, gives a certain sense of hope to those of us who believe in the spirit of fun and the power of play.

The article explicates: "The current record is 564, but Mac's hoping 800 people turn out Tuesday at Harrah's Carnaval Court to whisper their way into the record books. Mac King is thinking the whole thing will take a little over an hour."

It is with a certain somber certainty that I surmise that this record can only be established if in deed the last person in the chain of whisperers is able to repeat the very words whispered by the first. Though true to the spirit of world records, it has always been my experience that the fun of the game is in discovering how wrong the last person is.

In fact, when I play a similar game, I personally revel in the dissimilarities twixt the twain. My favorite variation: I ask the myriads to meander and mill, with, in fact, their eyes closed. I then instruct them, whilst they are milling, to whisper something to anyone they happen to bump gently in to. Then, to recommence general millage, whispering what they thought the last person said to the next person they encounter. If you ever happen to hear anything remotely similar to what you thought you heard before, you experience what can only be called a minor miracle. This version has no point at all. Which, of course, is precisely that: the real and only point of it all.

Labels: events

RoboCup is our second stop in the exploration of the Human-Technology-Fun (H-T-F) connection. Like the PowerSkip, it gives us premonitions of a very different sports experience. Unlike PowerSkippers, the athletes are robots. The H- and -F parts of the H-T-F connection have to do with getting to design and control soccer-playing robots.

Though the organizers of the event have a different idea of the intended outcome, the fact is that the whole idea of robot soccer fairly reeks of fun. It most definitely points to the development of a new era in sports, as well as the emergence of a new class of athletes. And I don't mean the robots.

The RoboCup people explain: "RoboCup...is an international research and education initiative. It is an attempt to foster AI and intelligent robotics research by providing a standard problem where wide range of technologies can be integrated and examined, as well as being used for integrated project-oriented education...In order for a robot team to actually perform a soccer game, various technologies must be incorporated including: design principles of autonomous agents, multi-agent collaboration, strategy acquisition, real-time reasoning, robotics, and sensor-fusion. RoboCup is a task for a team of multiple fast-moving robots under a dynamic environment. RoboCup also offers a software platform for research on the software aspects of RoboCup."

Let us, however, not be fooled by all this high-tech ambition. RoboCup is one small step towards yet another giant leap for funkind.

Labels: events

I found this 1998 Nike ad in a remarkable resource for wacky videos called "BryceWilson.net." It's a game of Airport Soccer as it might be played by champion soccer players while waiting for their delayed flight.

The flight is clearly one of fancy. Playing around the checkout counter is one thing. But playing on the airfield itself...? I suppose if you're a group of champion-soccer-playing airport employees with a death wish, it might be something you might want to consider.

No, no, it is nothing I would recommend, nor would I even hint at the apparent funnitvity of the concept. On the other hand, it is quite possible that a form of airport-appropriate soccer could in deed be played. Clearly a nearly empty concourse could become a most satisfyingly surrogate soccer-field. Obviously, the least dangerous of all airport soccer games would take place in an abandoned airport. Depending on which parts, and how much of the airport gets used, the game can become immensely challenging and fascinating. The ticket counters, baggage claim, the whole baggage handling system, and, but of course, the hangars, and the runways - each offer an environment that could prove conducive to soccer-like games unlike any other soccer-like games. In fact, given enough people, and soccer balls, we could probably create a soccer event that would prove far more compelling, imaginative, and fun than anything Nike has yet imagined. A soccer game for 10,000, perhaps, with a thousand soccer balls, maybe those soft soccer balls, with everyone wearing one of those padded sumo-wrestler suits so people can get really crazy, smashing and rolling each other across maybe 100 acres of empty airport....

Labels: events

They called it "B.U.G.". B.U.G.? Big Urban Game. Obviously. "A citywide game that turns the Twin Cities into a 108-square mile giant game board. Three teams race three giant (26 feet high) inflatable game pieces — Red, Yellow and Blue — from three different starting points along three different routes between checkpoints in Minneapolis and St. Paul to a shared destination." Apparently, you could: "Join a team....vote for a route for your team," and then "come down to the checkpoints and roll the dice at the end checkpoints to give your team a speed boost."

A project of the Design Institute of the University of Minnesota, the game's avowed purpose was to "promote visual awareness of the Twin Cities' urban environment, frame new perspectives, provoke fresh perceptions and encourage wide input on how the Twin Cities' public realm design could be improved — from streets to transit to parks and other urban amenities. As the three oversized inflatable game pieces are carried (by a team of volunteer MOVERS) through a series of checkpoints, they will act like giant beacons or 'cursors' pointing out features of the diverse neighborhoods they pass through, and attracting attention to the Twin Cities in general."

Well, it sure got my attention. As well as the attention of 3306 registered online players. It is reassuring to learn that, given the efforts of a few crafty visionaries, for five whole days fun was alive and enlivening in the Twin Cities.

Labels: events

This from the San Francisco Chronicle - "Anarchy rules! Flash mobs -- big, spontaneous crowds that celebrate organized chaos -- are fast growing around the world. Their mission: to have fun. Their message: There isn't one."

200 people form an instant game of Duck-Duck-Goose in San Francisco Dolores Park. Why? Because they wanted to.

All organized via weblog, email and word of mouth.

Their instructions:

-- At precisely 2:07 p.m., form giant standing circles, holding hands, on the main lawn.
-- Sit on the ground.
-- At precisely 2:09 p.m., something will happen. You will instantly know how to play along. Play until 2:17 p.m.

I've known about Flash Mobbing for a while, but this is the first report of people actually playing a game. Duck-Duck-Goose was a very important game for me personally - bringing me my first and biggest lesson about the "theater of games." So you can understand why this story caught my attention.

All of which is to point out that this Flash Mob fad is a legitimate new play form, worthy of the silliest of us. In case you haven't followed the evolution of this new Internet-spawned game-like event, click on over to a site called "Cheese Bikini?" (yup, that's what it's called, all right) and this more eponymously named site: "Flash Mob Info."

Labels: events, games

Games Night, sponsored by the Los Angeles People Connection, is one of the most elaborate and playful game event I know of. Well-documented, even, with pages devoted to previous games nights and the games played therein.

During the last of our five meetings at Esalen, Sunday morning, we talked a lot about how to extend this experience of playfulness and creativity, trust and intimacy to family and neighborhood and probably the rest of the world. One of the ideas we talked most about was the Games Night. Once a month, maybe. With family, friends, neighbors, workmates. A night devoted to playing games just for the fun of it.

We talked about how we liked the board games - especially Curses and thepollgame - alot. But not as much as the other kind. And that kind, the pointless kind, without equipment, is really the hardest to get started. Especially in people's houses. So we talked about using board games, but in some kind of off-beat way. Like combining them.

For example, the deck of Curse Cards from Curses would make a game like thepollgame funnier than it already is. And the voting cards in thepollgame would make Apples to Apples significantly crisper. In fact, the Curse Cards and voting cards would make almost any game - Scrabble, Monopoly, Diplomacy - funnier, more fun, more like the kind of fun we had at Esalen, without any props.

I also recommended that our kind of Games Night be hosted by someone different each time. And regardless of who hosts, a potlucky relationship where people bring food and games and goodies to share is definitely worth nurturing. Who knows, with the way things are going, and coming, any kind of Games Night where people can get together and feel safe enough to play is an event you'll definitely be wanting to know about.

Labels: events

I've been thinking about "intergenerational games" - I guess because I had an inquiry from a publisher about said same. And because son-in-law-Tom is so involved in the aforementioned. And maybe even because it's something I had thought about before, years ago, when I came up with what I called "The Picnic Initiative."

I was trying to find a family-based equivalent for the New Games Tournament. A smaller, more intimate scale event that was in its way a kind of intergenerational celebration in which fun was actually supposed to happen. Which turns out to be the traditional family picnic. You know, the eat-togethers we have usually in summer, sometimes in a park, sometimes on a beach. Private affairs, for the whole extended family and friends, usually in public places.

The more I read what I had written (which, I admit, is both cute, a little strange and a bit sketchy), the more I started liking the idea, thinking maybe it was inspired or something. Something that shouldn't be forgotten or overlooked or unlinked to. An easy, approachable, important thing for us to do together in family as extended as we are.

Labels: events

It turns out that there are several organizations who have successfully made the peace-play connection. One such, Peace Games, "is a... violence prevention program that empowers elementary school students to be peacemakers. The ... Peace Games approach uses cooperative games and community service activities to teach students how to create their own safe schools. Peace Games has opportunities for volunteers and AmeriCorps members to teach."

Then there's the Footbag Peace Initiative, "dedicated to the sport of "FOOTBAG" (known widely though incorrectly as "Hacky Sack") and to the healing, dancing and playful impulses aroused in us when we play."



And Play for Peace - which sees itself as "a process of community building. Rather than being an event or program, it is the creation of ongoing learning partnerships that free each child to build positive, life-long connections with others. Especially among people with a history of inter-cultural tension, cooperative play is one of few bridges that promotes cross-cultural relationships."



Play on, o playfully peaceful warriors, play on!

Labels: events