Archive for May, 2010
Spy Games
Wednesday, May 26th, 2010
We play an awful lot of parlour games at Hide&Seek. And we play quite a lot of spy games – it’s a great theme if you want to sneak, decode or use a gratuitous number of walkie-talkies.
But we haven’t, as far as I know, ever managed to play parlour games with spies, which is why I’m so impressed by this passage, from Claud Cockburn’s autobiography Crossing the Line. Here he’s discussing a time during the Second World War in which he – a notorious Communist – was sent to the US as correspondent for the Daily Worker, on the same boat as an assortment of other dignitaries and journalists…
A voyage which might have been otherwise almost intolerably tedious was transformed into a pleasure chiefly by the accomplishments and charm of Sir John Balfour, who had been British Minister in the Embassy at Moscow, and was now being transferred to the same position in the Embassy at Washington.
I reminded him of how, years and years before, when I was a student in Budapest and he was Second Secretary at the Legation there, we used to play a game which might be described as a kind of literary Consequences. I have forgotten just how it was played, except that it involved inventing the title of a book, inventing a suitable name for the author of such a book, and writing a long review of this non-existent work.
This game we now revived, and for hours on end four or five of us sat at a table in the corner of the saloon, scribbling and passing our sheets from hand to hand.
The amusement of the game was enormously enhanced by its effect upon the spies who hung around the table with flapping ears and bulging eyes. The scene, they obviously felt, must mean something, must have some kind of international significance. How could it be otherwise than significant than to have there, huddled round the corner table of that rolling saloon, writing notes to one another, concentrating deeply or bursting into laughter, the new British Minister to Washington; the diplomatic correspondents of The Times and the Daily Mail; a notorious Communist; Mr Cecil King, the effective controller of the Daily Mirror; and Professor Catlin, who was believed by many to be on a secret mission from the Vatican to the State Department.
The spies’ nerves were fraying fast. Day after day they crept nearer and nearer, breathing down our necks.
I’m going to leave it on that cliffhanger – but if anyone can suggest a set of rules for playing the literary Consequences game, maybe I’ll add the story’s denoument…
(Picture from Flickr user ocularinvasion)
Hide&Seek documentary released
Monday, May 24th, 2010
It’s with great pride – and something of a blush – that we announce the launch of PlayMakers, the documentary which charts Hide&Seek’s adventures into the world of collaborative game design. You can read more about the project on its site, or – much more to the point – watch the whole documentary here. It’s about as good an introduction to the nature of pervasive games as you could wish for. Thanks to ThinkPublic, NESTA and Ivo Gormley and team for an amazing job.
Tate Trumps hits App Store
Monday, May 24th, 2010
Tate Trumps, the first iPhone game from Hide&Seek, in now available in the App Store. Commissioned by Tate Modern, the game turns touring the gallery into an adventure, as you collect the artworks you think will score highly in one of three modes and meet up with friends to play out a fast, strategic game of trumps. You can read more about the game here and download it direct from the App Store. Do let us know how you get on.
221B cleans up at awards!
Monday, May 24th, 2010
We’re very chuffed to announce that 221B has brought home three awards. It was listed In Book for this year’s AD&D awards, and brought home a bronze medal from the Clio Awards and an Interactive Pencil from the One Show. Many thanks to our partners at Warner Bros and AKQA, Johnny Two Shoes and Existor, and to all the fine people from Hide&Seek who worked on the project. The game is still available at www.221b.sh – have a play!
Come Out and Play
Sunday, May 23rd, 2010
Come Out and Play, the New York festival of pervasive and street games, looks amazing this year. They’ve been adding more and more games to the line-up, from last year’s favourite Circle Rules Football to dozens of entirely new games. We’ve spotted a couple from London designers:
- Claire Bateman with Sidewalk Wars
- The Coney diaspora with Necropolis Family Tree” and CounterDemo
There’s also:
- Disguise game Smersh
- Alternate-universe assassination game The One
- Cunning public interaction with People Watching Plus
…and obviously an awful lot more, so do take a look.
Hide&Seek Weekender
Monday, May 17th, 2010
This year’s Hide&Seek Weekender runs from 9-11 July at the magnificent National Theatre on London’s Southbank, in partnership with London International Festival of Theatre.
There’ll be running, hiding, drawing, thinking, laughing, hat-wearing, nonsense, internationality and cleverness for everyone. And it’s all free. Except the party. But that’s cheap.
Check out the programme here!