Friday Links - 28 May

Has it been another 7 days already? No need to respond to that in the comments, we already know the answer (it's "yes" btw). So stretch out those pointer fingers and get ready for some link clickin'.

Flash Game of the Week: Enough Plumbers - well why the hell not? It's multiplying Marios. Really, this is a good old fashioned waste of time. It's not like you have work to do today, it's almost Saturday!

Late Night Go Game at Brixton Village

Last Thursday, Mei and I trekked down to Brixton Village for a game at their Thursday late night series. You've probably wandered through Granville Arcade (as the covered market at Brixton is also known) without even knowing it. The market area has been around since the 1930s, but the number of shops had dwindled during the past decade.

These days, thanks in part to the Space Makers Agency, the place is making a serious comeback with delightful independent restaurants and shops popping up alongside the butchers, mobile phone stalls and Jamaican groceries.  Most of the restaurants in Brixton village stay open until 10 pm on Thursdays and we were able to include many of them in our game.

For the game, teams could "pop-in" and play whilst they explored all the market had to offer. And oh yes, there were some terrific prizes from the local shops. In addition to the Go Game, there was a diverse musical lineup that played, and rapped all through the evening. Here are some of our favourite photos from the event...

Teams played around with perspective:

Made beautiful music:

Our top team even got into some Urban Twister:

The generous shop keepers in Brixton Village provided us with phenomenal prizes:

 - Japanese tea party for 4 with Imayo, 82 Brixton Village
 - Coffee and Cakes for 2 at Fed Coffee, 46 Brixton Village
 - Meal for 2 at Etta's Seafood Restaurant, 85 Brixton Village
 - A Pizza at Agile Rabbit, 24 Brixton Village
 - Meal for 2 at Cornercopia, 65 Brixton Village
 - Meal for 2 at Bellantonio, 81 Brixton Village
 - £10 Gift Voucher for Leftovers, 71 Brixton Village
 - Sustainability Goodie Bag from Community Shop, 6 Brixton Village

Come out and support local businesses...we'll be back to Brixton Village for another late night Thursday session. Hope to see you there!

Friday Links - 21 May

We recovered from our game last night in Brixton in plenty of time to bring you another dose of your favourite medicine: Friday's Link Dump! You know our slogan around here: Helping you waste time on your Friday's since...2010!

Shameless Self-Promotion Department:
Come play Go Games this weekend in Brighton! Get a free pass simply by saying hello on Facebook [Battle of Brighton]
Read about our adventures last week at City Hall for the Go London Social Innovation Competition finals [Blog]

Go London Social Innovation Competition

We headed to City Hall on Friday to participate in the Go London Social Innovation competition held by NHS and Future Gov. As one of five finalists in the contest we spent the day working with a team of experts in various fields to refine our idea.

The view from the top of City Hall is quite nice and the 9th floor conference room was gorgeous. It's great to see how Boris lives (at one point during the morning there were unsubstantiated rumours that he was making a phone call on the terrace).

Mei Searches for Boris

Amidst all the splendour we had an idea: run a series of Go Games for the public to help encourage physical activity and promote the NHS goals of 30 minutes of activity 5 days a week. With our panel of experts in tech, media, health and interactivity we added on the idea of creating open-ended games that were not location specific so that people could log in to play any time.

I ended up confusing people with my term of 'non location-specific location-based challenges', but the idea was to incorporate the everyday tasks (say, walking to the post office) and educate participants(check out this new leisure centre) whilst they played the game. The missions would be delivered on a mobile phone, the computer or from packs that could be picked up in public places like libraries.

That may sound confusing, but we wrote all of our ideas down...as Mei demonstrates:

Fun tip: demonstrate the legitimacy of ideas with Post It Notes

In the end we had 7 minutes to pitch our idea to a swelling room that included 9 judges. These guys evaluated us dragons-style and asked the tough questions. Luckily, thanks to our fantastic team, we were prepared for everything they threw at us.

Sadly, we didn't win, but there was free booze. Plus the idea the judges selected is phenomenal. In fact, they decided to combine two of the ideas to form a hybrid even more fierce than a liger.

The winning idea is the combined brainchild of Danielle Ramsey's 10,000 steps plan and Ingrid Bergson's Pop-Up Fitness applet. The plan is to encourage teams of people to walk 10,000 steps in the workplace. Participants will be reminded to exercise via a pop-up on their computers that will suggest activities and provide feedback. Danielle and Ingrid will receive support from NHS, M&C Saatchi and a host of other business leaders.

Here we are saying goodbye to our day of big timing at City Hall. Good luck to the everyone who participated!

UPDATE: The official Go London blog has been updated with more info about the day...check it out!

Drop-In Go Game at Brixton Village on Thursday!

We at The Go Game are all about cool urban spaces, fun and playful environments, partnerships with interesting people and organisations, and of course, tasty snacks. With a few of our favourite things in mind (no bright copper kettles or warm woollen mittens unfortunately), we're partnering with Space Makers Agency to put on a Go Game as part of their project at the indoor market at Brixton Village.

This indoor market, also known as the Granville Arcade, is chock full of cool shops and restaurants (selling delicious edibles from cupcakes to coffee to pizza to Filipino fried potato-covered chicken drumsticks...yum!) and art collectives and more. We'll be running a game this Thursday evening (20 May), from about 7pm-10pm. We'll be trying out a new drop-in style of gameplay, where you don't have to be around for an entire 3 hour game but can just come by our booth in the centre of the market and pick up missions and clues. That way you can come have a wander and meet some fun people, but if you want to stop for a snack we totally understand.

You'll be able to take the usual Go Game creative photos and videos, some of which we'll screen in one of the stalls and the rest of which we'll upload to our website. We'll be working with some talented shop owners and students and artists to plan the game, so come check it out!

Here's the info from the Facebook event:

'On Thursday 20 May, from 7 – 10pm, Brixton Village (aka Granville Arcade) will be showcasing some of London’s best interactive escapades and technology-fuelled fun as The Go Game hits the covered market!

As part of the new Late Night Thursday Market programme, Space Makers agency has invited The Go Game to produce one of their creative and innovative adventure games in the Night Market. Small teams will read ‘missions’ on a mobile phone, sending them to discover hidden secrets, seek out new shops, and create their own photos and videos in response to the quirks of this uniquely playful and DIY environment.

Players might encounter a local artist with a secret password, a vintage store proprietor with an intriguing secret, or a Jamaican chef with a delicious surprise! The creatively challenging location-based game all ends with a viewing of the photos and videos taken throughout the evening, where players will get to vote on the most brilliant submissions in a special one-night pop-up presentation room. You’ll make new friends, you’ll laugh, you will have the opportunity to eat at one of ten restaurants serving food from all around the world (bring your own alcohol), you’ll get a firsthand look at the magic and mystery of Brixton Village, and you’ll have a massive amount of fun. '

Come play with us and the rest of the cool folks of Brixton Village. Hope to see you there!

Friday Links - 14 May

We're off today for the finals of the Go London competition, being held at City Hall by the NHS. Woohoo! To keep you occupied in our absence, we suggest you read through these links! Enjoy...

Shameless Self Promotion Department:
There's still lots of Go Game to play at Brighton Fringe [Battle of Brighton]

Flash Game of the Week:
Bloons Tower Defense 4 - Aaaah, please someone make me stop playing this game. I'm seeing monkeys throwing darts in my sleep. N.B. that last sentence will make sense if you play the game.

Friday Links - 7 May

I was off last week for a nice holiday in the country, so I hope you didn't lose too much sleep when the links didn't appear last Friday. Here's a list of what we've been checking out on the interwebs this past week:

Shameless Self-Promotion Department:
If you're in Brighton for Fringe, come play our first game this Sunday [Battle of Brighton]

Flash Game of the Week: Super Mario Crossover - Forget playing as Mario, can you beat SMB as Link or Bill from Gryzor/Contra?