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!

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!

Nike GRID explained. Mostly.

The official info on the Nike GRID game...

Curious to find out how they're going to score and track all the runners, plus prevent cheating. I guess there could be a minimum time set between each phonebox, then if you clock in at a faster time you're obviously cheating. Like if you're claiming to have run between 2 checkpoints faster than Usain Bolt at his best, you've obviously hopped a ride on your cycle or jumped the night bus.

Let us know if you're going to play, we want to hear how it goes!

Interactive Nike Running Game Takes To The Streets

The text message came that afternoon. It read: Mei L. It's Time. Grid is Waiting. Be at the Village Underground at 7:15pm tonight. Show txt for entry.

Curious. I'd responded to a friend's query via Twitter about London-based people interested in games and running. Soon after, I'd been contacted by an event organiser to chat about my experience with interactive street gaming (an activity I often produce and very much like) and running (an activity I do quite poorly and kind of detest). But, interested in running more often and having an incentive to do so, I sent along my details and then received the mysterious text. Last Thursday, I followed the instructions and made my way down to the Village Underground - home of the super cool tube car office of our friends at Inspired Flight - to find out what was up.


Along with about 100 other people, I filed into a smoke and flashing-light filled warehouse space to watch a few performances and a video on the upcoming Nike Grid game. Here's the deal. It's an all-night, all-out 24 hour running game across London from 8pm-8am on 23 April. 40 postcodes, 10 each for North, East, South and West London. You run between phone boxes in the postcode and type in a secret code to prove you did it and earn points for speed and stamina. Exact details aren't out yet, but the idea is to win your postcode for fame, glory, and hopefully bountiful prizes of Nike gear.


Pretty sweet idea. I'd love to duck out late night on 23 April, clad in all black like a deadly running ninja with a band of roving marauders to claim E2 for the win. I have visions of myself dashing through the streets, hopping fences and parked cars, dodging rival gangs, and feverishly dialing up secret codes in phone boxes like Jason Bourne with a bag full of semi-automatic weapons.

Only 2 problems.

1. I suck at running. More likely, I'd be the one huffing and puffing on the street corner shooting dirty looks at the other marathon-fit competitors speeding past me with smug smiles on their faces. But I'm trying to run more often, so I'd risk the humiliation and do it anyway, except...

2. I'll be in Paris on the 23rd of April. Not running. More likely, eating my way through a mountain of croissants.

Even though I can't play, I'm definitely going to keep an eye on the game since I'm excited to see what happens with it. I wonder how many people will play and whether you'll be able to see other people playing out on the street. I wonder whether they'll have people stationed around the game zones as random characters or helpers or authority figures. I'm envisioning live-action video game on the streets of London, but I'm also wondering if it'll be likely that you even run into any other players during the course of the evening.

But beyond the game itself, the main topic of conversation on everyone's lips was: How do we cheat? I chatted with some serious gamers from Capcom and Zoe Mode and all sorts of questions came up. What's stopping you from driving/hopping the bus/skateboarding/biking/horseback riding/unicycling while juggling flaming chainsaws instead of running? Or dispersing all your mates via text message to be at specific phone boxes throughout the evening? It's interesting to poke holes at it from a game design perspective and brainstorm ways to cheat your ass off as well as ways to prevent people from doing so. The organisers claim to have cheating covered, but I'm sure a lot of curious folks will do their best to beat them at their own game. So I'll be interested to see what happens...

Here's a brief video (of a video) from the launch event:

If you feel like taking part in a city-wide 24 hour street game, check out their Facebook page and website for more information. Time to lace up those trainers...

The Big Kid London Easter Hunt is EGGstra EGGcellent!

Sorry, we can't stop ourselves with the Easter puns. We know everyBUNNY is HOPing we'll stop, but we're just so EGGcited about how EGGstraordinarily fun the Big Kid London Easter Hunt was on Saturday! We're pretty EGGstatic about it.

Games, Games, and More Games!

Check out this awesome awesome video about the Hide & Seek Weekender featuring all our UK gaming friends like Alex, Holly, Simon 1, Simon 2 (sadly not Simon 3), our best buddy Tob, and a bit of The Go Game! We're at minute 1:30 and I am sounding particularly unable to speak the English language. But hey. At least we look damn good in our orange boiler suits.

Video is originally posted here with more info.

Hide&Seek Weekender 2009 from Hide and Seek on Vimeo.

Go Game Writeup on the Kiva Blog

For some hilarious player perspective on the Kiva Go Game a few weeks ago, check out our friend Kieran's take on the game. His writeup (with photos and links and all that good stuff) was originally published on the Kiva Blog.

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.

Community Game Recap: The Super American Spectacular Go Game!

WOOOHOOO! AMERICA!!

The Go Game UK and Europe hosted the Super American Spectacular Go Game this weekend! As a community game open to the public, it was a fantastic Saturday getting everyone to get together to have a good time. For the U.S. expats in the crowd, it was a chance to honor the 4th of July and American independence back home. For everyone else, it was a unique opportunity to take the piss out of those bloody Americans by celebrating the best and the worst of the good old U.S. of A.

Go Game For Good and Unhappily Ever After...

Woohoo! We ran our first Go Game for Good in Soho on Saturday and it went off with a serious bang. Go Game for Good is a game that we run for the public every so often where the profits go to support a certain charity. A little over a week ago, we were contacted by Dan, Amy, Ali, and Andy, a group of people helping to raise money for two organisations that support young people called Raleigh and the Prince’s Trust. To help support their goal of raising £10,000, which you can read about here, we decided to run our first Go Game for Good with them over the weekend. Nothing like having a good time for a good cause!

Go For Good!

The Go Game is proud to announce our first London charity event. We have teamed up with Raleigh International and The Prince's Trust to raise awareness and money for a wonderful project that helps youth bring positive change to our world. For more, please read all about the project and its 2009 objectives here.



To help them achieve their goals The Go Game is producing Go For Good. We've run charity games all over the United States for causes as diverse as education and cancer research. Now it is time to turn our attention to the UK and play for a good time...and a good cause! Here are the details:

LOCATION: Soho
DATE: Saturday, May 30, 2009
TIME: 12 - 5pm
COST: £10

So get a team together and sign up!

First London Community Game

Man oh man oh man. Saturday's community game was, in my humble opinion, SERIOUSLY FREAKING AWESOME (frawsome!). Around 120 of the most energetic, most creative, most irreverent, most wannabe-nudist people in London showed up in the City to get their Go Game on and it turned out to be one of the funniest and FUNNEST community games we've ever had the pleasure to run (yes, I know that's not a word, but it deserves to be). Chris and I are so psyched that the first London Go Game went off with a bang, thanks to the contributions of so many cool people. Here's a quick recap of how things went down, and few of our our favorite creative submissions from the day. Get ready for some hilariousness.

Community Game Countdown - Volume V

Well here it is boys and girls, our favourite Community Game photo. But some business before we get into that. We've reached our max capacity for tomorrow's Community Game! Yaaaay! That means lots of fun, but lots of organisation. So some details:

1. Check your emails from something from info@thegogame.co.uk - that has detailed instructions!
2. Be at the CosmoBar (Google Maps) tomorrow at 12:30 PM! If we don't get you registered because you're late, you can't play. And we keep your MASSIVE £4 donation.
3. Be cool and be creative. But you didn't need to hear me say that. Instead, you could just look at all of our best Community Game photos!

To recap:

Community Game Countdown - Volume IV

It's getting to be the weekend. What are you doing this Saturday? Maybe you're on your way down to Brighton or maybe heading west to Bath. But if you're bored and in London and want to have the. time. of. your. life. Then you should come out to The Go Game Community Game. We will guarantee two of the following things:

1. You will be attacked by a bear
2. You will meet your future spouse
3. You will win 10 million dollars*
4. You will have the time of your life
5. The Queen will be there

*Zimbabwean dollars

So we'll see you Saturday, but if you're feeling Winehousian and just need a fix - We're back for another exciting installment of....

THE TOP 5 COMMUNITY GAME PHOTOS OF ALL TIME: #2

Community Game Countdown - Volume III

All aboard the Community Game game train! There are only 3 days left to sign up, so what are you waiting for? Do you need a reminder? Something for your Calendar? A photo of a sad kitty :(? What about an obnoxious banner with blindingly annoying text?

That still didn't do it for you? Well maybe you should check out...

THE TOP 5 COMMUNITY GAME PHOTOS OF ALL TIME: #3

Community Game Countdown - Volume II

I know all you loyal blog readers out there are constantly hitting refresh to find out what sort of craziness the 2nd installment (see the first photo here) of

BEST
COMMUNITY GAME
PHOTOS
EVER

will bring. I'm happy to oblige. For those n00bs, a Community Game is a Go Game that is open to the public. To celebrate our London Office's Launch we're offering a mind blowingly low, hide-the-women-and-children-please-don't-tell-our-accountants rate of just £4 / player. For more info check it out at the Community Game page. But enough with the shameless self promotion...on to:

THE TOP 5 COMMUNITY GAME PHOTOS OF ALL TIME*: #4

Community Game Countdown

Your first task this Monday is to define Community Game

Community Game: n. - a rip-roaringly, pants-soilingly exciting public Go Game that's the most fun you can have legally.*

*Please keep it legal, our lawyers will thank you.

To experience this one-of-a-kind madness come out this Saturday for The Go Game's London Launch. To ensure that you get a spot, make sure to register online here. The game is limited to the first 150 people to sign up...so bring 149 friends. Check-in and registration on Saturday begins at 12:30 PM at Cosmobar at 50 Clerkenwell Rd EC1M 5PS (Google Maps, "Double True").

In honor of our first Community Game in the UK we're going to count down the top 5 photos from the US Public Games over the years. Well, the family appropriate piccies at least. We'll release one per day this week, to tease you a little bit and get you all primed and ready to go for Saturday. So without further ado:

THE TOP 5 COMMUNITY GAME PHOTOS OF ALL TIME: #5

Hello London!

The Go Game has hit the ground in London and is ready to R-O-C-K your socks off! The incredibly talented Mei and the impossibly attractive (if I do say so myself) Chris are here for all of your team building, marketing and training needs.


Your Newest Heroes

We've got a London office all set to go and will be kicking off our London existence with the Greatest. Day. Of. Your. Lives.: the first London Community Game.