Come Out & Play has been running since 2006. At the time of this post the 2010 weekend event includes 40+ different events and games; the variety and creativity and fun is spectacular. I’ve tried several times to write a sentence that somehow captures it; I got nothing. Go. Look through the list. Then shake your head a little and note the smile on your face.
What I can easily highlight is that a number of the games and events require handheld personal technology like GPS units and smartphones. This is further evidence to me that we are on the cusp of a new trend of technology-infused play that will be both very social and intimately linked to real world settings.
Come Out & Play Festival 2010:
We’re very excited to announce that the Come Out & Play Festival is coming to Brooklyn in 2010. The festival will run June 4-6, 2010…
Come Out & Play helps people rediscover the city around them through play. The festival offers a chance to explore new styles of public games and play. We show how much fun can be had by combining elements like GPS, sidewalks, chalk, smartphones, kickball, SMS, capture the flag, bluetooth, and treasure hunts in a dramatic urban context like New York City. Best of all: the games we feature are not just for kids (though kids are of course welcome)!
Why street games? Why a street games festival, you ask? Fair questions. Well, we like innovative use of public space. We like games which make people interact in new ways. We like games that alter your perception of your surroundings. But most importantly, we think games are great way to have fun.
Each year the Come Out & Play settles in a different neighborhood and explores the limits of play and games in that space. We’ve played among the galleries of Chelsea, played amidst the thriving nightlife of the Lower East Side and navigated the throngs of tourists in Times Square. This year the festival lands in Brooklyn to explore a new set of challenges. We will explore the potential for play in a converted 100-year old bathhouse. We will find ways to engage a residential neighborhood like Park Slope with games. We will discover the playful uses of a post-industrial swath of warehouses and canals like Gowanus. And we’ll make games from the rich texture of a historic public cemetery like Green-Wood.
(via Bernie DeKoven)