This weekend I had the great pleasure of heading to London for the Hide & Seek Weekender. The Weekender is a four-day event (though I only made it to 2 days) run by Hide & Seek, a game design studio who, according to their website, are 'dedicated to inventing new kinds of play'. They worked with National Theatre Wales on The Beach in Y1 but also work with creative companies and businesses to make all sorts of games and experiences. The Weekender was an opportunity for games designers from across the UK and beyond to share and showcase new games and experiences that they've been working on. 

Most of the events took place in the Southbank Centre's Clore Ballroom or outside on the terrace and it made for a great environment where people of all ages came together to play. I played games ranging from a quirky take on hopscotch to a two-hour theatrical street game and the variety was really what made the experience. Here are a few of my highlights: 

Scotch Hoppers

So simple, so brilliant. Like hopscotch but with three different symbols - one for 'feet', one for 'hands' and one for 'head'. All you had to do was follow the steps and put your feet, hands or head on the relevant symbols. I couldn't quite manage the funky headstands that were being demonstrated but it was fun nonetheless. 

(I failed to take a photo, so this one is from the Hide & Seek Weekender website and was taken by Douglas Robertson)

Killer Queen

This was slightly more complicated and involved two teams, trying to get balls from a central row of buckets to their own teams base. This was made more difficult by the other team's 'Queen' trying to stab you with a foam sword, and the opportunity to become a soldier and take out members of the other team with your very own foam sword. Fast, fun and very entertaining. Here's a picture of me playing it: 

At the evening party the guys who designed this game also showcased Killer Queen Arcade, a digital version of the game. This used big-screen projection and 12 retro Nintendo NES controllers. The game concept and objectives were exactly the same but it was set up like a retro video game. I was really fascinated by the way they'd turned a concept into something so utterly analogue and something different that was completely digital. 

Discotect

You're at a party. Everyone's wearing headphones. Half of them can hear music, half of them can't. As a discotective you need to identify who has music and who doesn't. The multiple challenges of this - working out who could hear music, managing to dance convincingly but not self-consciously - were great fun and worked really well with the evening party environment. 

Searchlight

Again, a very simple concept but something that worked incredibly well. The playing space starts laid out with a number of different objects. The challenge is to collect all the objects in the shortest time possible. Added into the mix is the 'searchlight' which you must avoid. If you are standing in its path you must freeze or the light will go red and you've lost. This used projection technology similar to the interactive whiteboards used in schools and was one of the most popular games on the Saturday. 

Incitement

This 2-hour theatrical street game was the weekend's headliner. Several days before the event I was sent the name of my 'Faction' and a location to meet on Saturday. I was told to bring my phone, a pen and to roll up my sleeves 'so we know you're one of us'. Turns out The Authority had stolen all our memories and we needed to beat the other factions in a game of stealth and creative thinking so we could use the 'Platform' to restore memories and freedom to the world's citizens. 

We had to use a combination of problem solving (to locate the other factions' bases), stealth (to evade and sometimes lie to The Authority) and enthusiasm (to be an important part of our factions). We met some interesting people, and really enjoyed the mass end where all the factions came together to stand up against 'The Authority'. 

(this image is from the Incitement Facebook Page)

Edit: Here's a blog post that explains Incitement a bit better than I did. 

Another highlight of the evening party was Ross Sutherland and Tim Clare's performance Infinite Lives - a combination of performance poetry, stand-up comedy, ukulele-playing, singing and storytelling all along the theme of gaming. 

All in all I had an awesome weekend and I highly recommend checking out Hide & Seek's events. In addition to the Weekender they also run Sandpit events where games are tested and trialled. 

This Monday Hide & Seek also organised a conference called Playing in Public. You can find out more about that here.