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Pop Up Playground

Playtest 3 for Fresh Air

Written by Sayraphim

We spent the weekend playtesting the last of the games for Fresh Air, we played so many we thought it was best to split the post into two. So Saturday we took loads of boxes and interesting props to Federation Square to try some games out.

First up was Holy Cow, Sacred Udder by Team Hat (UK) where teams of farm animals attempt to fill their udders with the most sacred liquid to avoid the slaughterhouse.

Next we played Gobstopper Job by Zombie LARP (UK), a great cops and robbers game for two teams of conniving thieves.

Then we trialled out Guardians of Hidden Universes by Universe Creation 101 (AUS) which is a single player experience which encourages you to look at the world in a different way, via a web-based phone app.

Last up before lunch we tested out Feed Your Family, one of our brand new games. Each team of three players need to work together using a giant bird puppet to pick up as many worms as possible and run them back to the nest. Confrontations are fought out with loud squarking and posturing.

During lunch we came up with another game to play through the Book Market that Federation Square hosts every weekend. It’s so new it doesn’t have a name yet, but it proved that quickly developed games can work just as well as those with months of work and prop development.

After lunch we played Movie of You, another of our brand spankin’ new games. Teams are let loose on Fed Square and have to make a 30 second trailer for an upcoming movie via their smart phones. One team even found a knight of old to star in their movie.

Last up we played Blind Trust, a game by a new Melbourne games company Killkenny games. Blindfolded teams have to make their way around the play space lead only by the sound of a leader’s voice. But does the person shouting you instructions have your best interests at heart?

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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, , ,

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

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Popping up in March and April!

Written by Ben

Welcome everyone to Pop Up Playground! We’ll post here about our games, events and play tests.

Yesterday we ran our first play test of our new game – a modification of Werewolf to incorporate performance to the crowd and team play. We played three times with a great group of volunteers – thanks all! After some great feedback from our initial play-through, we found our initial rules were pretty solid, though we have abandoned a couple of things which proved superfluous. Our second and third games went great, and we’re excited to bring it to the public – so excited we celebrated with ice-cream afterwards.

If we’re being a little coy with the details, it’s only because we want the game to be a surprise; this game will be our first public play experience, as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. If you can’t wait that long, you can also attend our free public trial show at 10 PM on March 7th at the Bella Union. Find out more details of the game on our Comedy Festival page!

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