A playful Sandpit #4 last night, doing its bit for the “multi-artform bingo blowout” of the Battersea Arts Centre’s Trashy party, with a number of Chesterton-themed and other games running along the top floor, and out into the wider, wilder spaces. The spirit of G. K. Chesterton was invoked through false moustaches, pince-nez glasses, cigars, bon mots, fugitive poetry, Table Gype and several innovative ways to eat asparagus.
The game of Conversation Piece. Photo by Holly.
Poets versus Policemen ended up tied at one-all at the final postbox collection, although we’re told that one of the beat officers apprehended a suspiciously thoughtful-looking character in the bar, only to discover that they’d caught an actual poet who wasn’t playing the game. And The Man Who Was Thursday revealed herself at the stroke of midnight, after hiding out in a corner of Battersea Arts Centre for most of the last half hour, avoiding the attention of the straggling Wednesdays and Fridays.
Sandpit #5 will be running at the Hayward Gallery in just three weeks’ time, on Friday the 30th of May. Game details and signup forms will appear nearer the date.
Sunday May 11th, 2008 by Kevan in blog | No comments »
Sandpit #3 is over — false moustaches fallen to the floor, living rooms successfully smuggled, manila envelopes handed over, and misleading maps drawn. (If you have any pictures from the night on Flickr and want other players to be able to find them, tag them with sandpit3 and they’ll appear in the sidebar on the site.)
A section of the Trap Street map, at the end of the night.
Sandpit #4 will be at the Battersea Arts Centre on Saturday 10 May, as part of the opening night party for the Burst festival. The party itself is going to be full of playful events, and if you’re interested in running a game we’re particularly looking for anything connected to G.K. Chesterton, who called Battersea “the most beautiful of human localities”, and wrote about Sandpit-style games long before they existed in the real world. Expect anything from balloons, books and buses to chaos and common sense.
Sandpit #5 will be at the Hayward Gallery on Friday 30 May, to coincide with the opening of their Psycho Buildings exhibition. It’ll be full of games that can be played among the exhibition, both inside and on the outdoor terraces surrounding, and if you’re interested in running a game yourself this is a good Sandpit to pick, since one of the games will chosen to receive a budget to run again at the Hayward as part of the Hide and Seek Festival in June.
Thursday April 17th, 2008 by Holly in blog | 6 Comments »
There are only a couple of days left to dust off your trenchcoats for Sandpit #3: Spying and Lying on Wednesday. If you’re planning to attend but haven’t signed up for any games yet, you might want to do that now - there are only a few spaces left for the scheduled games. If you’re too late, you can always put your name on the reserve list when you turn up; there are generally a few last-minute cancellations.
Of course, there’ll be plenty of unscheduled games that you can play without booking, including some of the favourites from last time (including Paper Telephone and Nomic), plus some new ones (1000 Blank White Cards and Foldover) and a special spy-themed variant of Werewolf, where the loyal spies are trying to root out the double-agents.
Dossier is also recruiting members of the public to be “targets”, which the game’s players will have to find in the crowd, using only a blurry photo. If you’d like to be a Dossier target, contact the game’s organiser at sandbagger.three@googlemail.com for further information.
Finally, if you’re stuck in a safehouse and won’t be able to come out at all on Wednesday, with no way to while away the evening except to draw false moustaches on a picture of yourself in Photoshop, you can play an online preview of Numbers Station Bingo.
Monday April 14th, 2008 by the Sandpit Team in blog | No comments »
Psst. Over here. No, here. And keep your voice down… The schedule’s now live for Sandpit #3: Spying and Lying, which will be running in the usual corners of Shunt on Wednesday 16 April from 7:30 onwards. As usual, there are some games with limited numbers that you might want to book a place for (including Sheer Lunacy’s ever-popular Manila and a new, social card game from Minkette), but even more that you can just turn up and play on the night - a few popular favourites are returning from previous months, along with a mix of games that are new to the Sandpit, and a special spy-themed variant of Werewolf.
It’s an exciting night at Shunt even apart from the Sandpit, with films, performances, installations and Pinball Geoff’s gaming machines; so when you combine that with maps, melodrama, sneaking, deception, badly-written spy novels and moustaches, why wouldn’t you want to come?
There’s no particular obligation to dress up as a spy - but there’s also no particular obligation not to, which is as good an excuse as any.
Tuesday April 8th, 2008 by the Sandpit Team in blog | No comments »
Sandpit regulars Coney are running four evenings of A Small Town Anywhere at the Battersea Arts Centre next week, taking what they’ve done with the Gossip Game (which made an appearance at Sandpit #1) and adding further levels of plot, drama, intrigue and hats. Each player is given an occupation in a small, anonymous town full of secrets, and it’s up to them how they react to the rumours that begin to spread, and the letters that get delivered overnight.
Small Towns have been run before, and Coney are using the week to develop the game even further, testing out new mechanics and twists, and working in some elements of Mafia/Werewolf to keep the townspeople on their toes. If you were a fan of the Gossip Game, or if you want to try out your Werewolf skills in a broader narrative environment, the Small Towns Anywhere will be right up your street. And if you’re new to the game, it’s certainly an interesting way to spend an evening.
The games are free, and run each evening at 6pm from Tuesday the 15th of April to Friday the 18th. This is the same week in which Sandpit #3 takes place (on the Wednesday), so it’s a chance to get two evenings of gaming in, in the same week. The Small Towns website has contact details for the town crier - places are limited, so book your place now.
Monday April 7th, 2008 by Kevan in blog | No comments »
YaD Arts are running an afternoon of treasure hunting in the East End on Sunday afternoon, setting out clues and signposts to help players explore the Jewish history of the area, with the promise of theatrical interludes, soup kitchens, live music, tea and bagels along the way. Whether it’s an area you know well or a part of London that you’ve never explored before, adding some game rules to an afternoon’s walk is always good for looking at the city in a new way.
Thursday April 3rd, 2008 by Kevan in blog | No comments »
Photo: Tate Britain by JohnJobby.
As if it wasn’t enough that those of us aged 26 and over have our young person’s rail cards torn from our trembling hands, Tate Britain has organised a game of Art Bingo that’s only open to people aged 15 to 25. If that’s you, then you’ll be encouraged to “explore the construction and destruction of images” on the 14th of April.
However, the attempt to prevent the rest of us from exploring the construction and destruction of images has failed, failed!, because there’s a ruleset for the game online:
9. This process will continue until all 9 forms of destruction have been done.
Take that, Tate Britain! We can have fun without you! Alternatively we could just go to the other Tate for the Here We Dance exhibition, in which “bodily movements and gestures, collective actions and games are examined”, all about the use of public space for purposes including play.
Friday March 28th, 2008 by Holly in blog | No comments »
The Coney team are running a couple of free games at the Shunt Lounge this Wednesday and Thursday, if any readers are feeling the need for some inter-Sandpit gaming.
The Gossip Game
Wednesday, 8pm and 9.30pm
The game of swapping filthy secrets to out your rival returns from the first Sandpit, but now in twin towns. Two games will be run, one at 8pm and one at 9.30pm. To reserve places for either, email filthygossip@gmail.com in advance, or ask at the bar on the night for ‘the Actress and the Bishop’.
MPT
Thursday, times to be announced
A game so new that its rules are secret even from its makers. It may involve earpieces and stalking. Exact playing times to be confirmed - to sign up, ask at the bar for Dr Savage and be ready to say ‘I’m all ears’.
Update: MPT may not be running this evening.
Also on at Shunt this week is Rotozaza’s headphone-directed Etiquette performance, for anyone who missed their appearances at the Barbican earlier this month.
Tuesday March 25th, 2008 by Kevan in blog | No comments »
So, it’s… kind-of weird that most discussions of women and games (a) frame it as an Interesting Gender Issue in the way that “men and games” isn’t, even (especially?) when the discussion is about areas in which there are as many women players as men; and (b) call those women “girls”. Which isn’t objectionable exactly, and it’s usually a self-identification rather than a label applied from outside; it certainly seems more common in events arranged by women than in events arranged by men. It’s just widespread enough that it’s difficult to ignore.
That said, let’s ignore it, and go onto Games for Girls, a free event tomorrow night at the Wellcome Collection Conference Centre on the 26th. There’s people from Pixel Lab, Mind Candy and Nik Nak Games presenting, among others, as well as “wine, nibbles and chat”. Discussion topics include “so, er, should we still be making such a big thing of the fact that women play games sometimes?”, which should be interesting. Booking via the non-obvious orange button on the side.
Tuesday March 25th, 2008 by Holly in blog | 3 Comments »
Gosh there’s a lot of playful stuff going on in London this weekend.
For children, there’s the usual Easter Egg hunts at the Imperial War Museum, Battersea Park Zoo and Kew Gardens, among others.
For non-children, Hide and Seek friends Lost & Found are having an egg-rolling competition (only visible to Facebook account holders, unfortunately, but if you turn up at two today with a decorated hard-boiled egg you can’t go far wrong). Then on Saturday there’s a 15:03 pillow fight in Leicester Square. Time Out’s 2008 Treasure Hunts are up and running this weekend as well, with five different locations across the city.
For game designers — any thoughts on strategically interesting pillow-fight variants?
Friday March 21st, 2008 by Holly in blog | 2 Comments »
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