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Pop Up Playground

Playtest 2 for Fresh Air

Written by Sayraphim

On Sunday we had our second playtest for Fresh Air.

We started out with Larkin’ About‘s Attack The Block where the Red, Green and Blue Teams attempted to take over each other’s territory. This was made even more interesting by the fact that Fed Square now has 250 Christmas trees scattered around the main playing area.

Next, we played Obscure Games‘ Nashville, where our players were gunslingers from the Wild West, using their best poker hand to win shootouts. You ain’t never had a shootout in the middle of summer in a forest of Xmas trees like this!

Finally, we playtested one of our own games, Tourist Attractor, where three players were Tour Guides who made up increasingly bizarre stories about different aspects of Fed Square.

Thanks to everyone who attended! We’ll have a final playtest in January, so keep an eye out for announcements about that soon…

Fresh Air, playtests, , ,

They’re behind you, a responce by Emilie Collyer

Written by Sayraphim

We’re very proud to announce our new Writer in Residence – Emilie Collyer! Emilie writes plays, performance words, fiction and poetry and in between all that she’s also one of our Pop Up Playtesters. We asked Emilie to respond creatively to playing The Curse at The Village with us.

 

They’re behind you

by Emilie Collyer

It was the start of a beautiful friendship.
They met playing a simple game and swiftly became a tight gang of three. Like the Famous Five or the Secret Seven, but only three.Read More

Emilie Collyer, Writer in Residence, ,

The Whispering Society for White Night Melbourne

Written by Sayraphim

Some exciting news, we’ve just been commissioned to develop a brand new game for White Night Melbourne next February!

In the alleys and the echoing dark, in the halls and forgotten corridors, in the haunted places of the city you will find The Whispering Society. Searchers into the paranormal, The Whispering Society listens for the memories of places, gathering to hear the stories of the long forgotten. But lately the spirits have grown agitated, their whispering more urgent, more insistent and much louder. You can click here for more details…

Between Fresh Air and The Whispering Society, February is shaping up to be a busy month! Stay tuned for more details…

Festival games, Fresh Air, The Whispering Society, White Night Melbourne, , ,

Playtest 1 for Fresh Air

Written by Sayraphim

We all trooped off to Fed Square last weekend for our first playtest of games for Fresh Air, our outdoor games festival in Feb 2013.

We warmed up with a few games of Grandma’s Footsteps (traditional) then we trialed Atmosphere Industries’ Mont Trottoir and finished it off with our own piratey adventure game, Bury Yer Treasure.

Thanks to everyone who came and played! Next Playtest is in the city, Sunday 9th Dec from 11.00 – 4.00. Would you like to come play? Email us at
rabbithole at popupplayground.com.au to let us know if you’re coming and we’ll let you know where to meet us

Festival games, Fresh Air, playtests, , ,

The Curse

Written by Sayraphim

In the shadows, behind the tents, a fortune telling machine beckons. “Cross my palm with silver” reads a cracked and painted banner. But these things are ne’er straightforward. Will it simply tell you your future? Or will there be some kind of trouble…

The Curse is a new game for The Village festival which will be played on Friday the 2nd and Saturday the 3rd of November, 2012, with two sessions each night at 8 and 10 PM. The game lasts up to an hour.

Search out the Pop Up Players’ Tent Boss and his team of showies, fortune tellers and clowns, and cross their palms with silver (or at least a $5 note) for a magical brush with fate you’ll never forget.

Image by Awesome Joolie, used with permission

Festival games, Games, The Curse, The Village, , ,

Freeplay 2012

Written by Sayraphim

Yesterday, Rob and Sayraphim ran a Games and Theatre workshop at Freeplay 2012. In it, we looked at where games and theatre collide. We looked at pervasive and social games, some of our main interests, and playful engagements. We took along one of our favourite playful engagements to do while we chatted, The Cabinet of Dr Madazpants. Read More

Freeplay festival, workshop,

Spy Catcher @ The Melbourne Fringe Festival Club

Written by Sayraphim

We’re all spies here – but double agents are murdering our top assets. Your mentor stands accused. Are they guilty? Can you find out before it’s too late?

Join Pop Up Playground for Spy Catcher, a interactive game of inquisition, misdirection and accusation.

Hosted by Ben McKenzie, and featuring a line-up of suspicious spies from all over the Fringe Festival, this game is presented as a free event for the Festival Club games day – followed by Late Night Letters and Numbers.

Watch this space for more details of our line-up!

Look us up in the Fringe program here: http://www.melbournefringe.com.au/fringe-festival/show/sunday-games-day-spy-catcher/

 

Games, Melbourne Fringe Festival, News, Spy Catcher,

Opening the door to an old, fun filled favourite (The Age review)

Written by Sayraphim

This is a Door

Reviewed by Cameron Woodhead

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Pop Up Playground
Theatreworks, season ended

AROUND the turn of the millennium, computer games killed a thriving scene of face-to-face social gaming. We used to have conventions that hosted everything from live role-playing to elaborate strategy; much of that has now migrated online.

Fashion is cyclical, though, and the international games carnival This is a Door at Theatreworks this past weekend was an opportunity for nostalgia as well as an innovative look at new possibilities for interactive play. It wasn’t theatre. It wasn’t even art. But it was spirited, anarchic fun.Read More

media, reviews, This Is A Door, ,

This Is A Door (Beat interview)

Written by Sayraphim

“Games are just agreed sets of temporary behaviour out of which sequences of individual choices and lived experience emerge and become stories of tragic loss and heroic triumph,” says Robert Reid, co-founder of Pop Up Playground. Together with Theatre Works, Pop Up Playground is staging a “social, reactive and immersive” new production this coming weekend – one that harnesses the power of games to help the audience learn something about themselves.Read More

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