Go Game at the Hide and Seek Weekender at Southbank Centre!

What do you get when you combine over 2000 people, 75 games, thumb wrestling, huge balloon sculptures, werewolves and monsters, sleazy politicians, and The Go Game? Welcome to the truly fabulous Hide & Seek Weekender 2009, a 3 day festival of social and pervasive games that took place at the Royal Festival Hall, part of the Southbank Centre on the Thames.



We had an absolute blast running the video screens and watching all the gaming go down right before our eyes. After two days of observing high-speed parcel passing, massive multiplayer video gaming, and the adorable antics of stuffed animals, we got the chance to show off The Go Game on Sunday!

Since we knew we had a die-hard group of experienced and up-for-anything players, we emphasized team interaction and public performance a bit more than usual. To that end, we created missions where people had to sing to strangers, shake the hands of random passers-by, create a 'thank you' dance for the Hide&Seek volunteers and, of course, play Ring-Around-The-Rosie in a public fountain. We had 14 wonderfully hilarious teams stage all kinds of creative exploits. Here are some of our personal favourite photos from the day:

Team CrazyGoNuts (pronounced with a thick Italian accent) went crazynuts in the fountain and had the highest scoring photo in the 'Cliche' mission, a hilarious rendition of 'A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.' I don't even want to know how they got that pigeon involved.



They may have had the cleverest photo, but Team OMG!!! won the adorability contest with a photo starring the cutest player of the day. Here they give us 'Navelgazing':




We loved the all-ages team of the Geek Squad, who did a fabulous Indiana Jones finger movie as well as an absolutely awesome reverse rendition of Torvill and Dean winning Olympic Ice Skating gold. Here's their team enjoying a lounge on the outdoor furniture on the Southbank:



One of my favourite parts about the Southbank Centre was the multiple rooms filled with foam furniture and beanbags that you could move around any way you liked (I happen to really like soft things). We had a mission to set up a scene that everyone would recognise using these blocks and pillows and we particularly liked Team Talde's rendition of the London Eye:



Lastly, this intrepid soul from the Pink Tomatoes really took one for the team with the 'Bad at Hiding' Mission. Well done, you.




Fantastic job, everybody! We had such a great time running the game and hope to see you all again sometime soon!

Cheers and happy gaming from Mei and Chris.