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This idea isn't original (not that anything ever actually could be), but it came to me spontaneously, and I think it combines certain pre-existing ideas in fairly novel ways, and as I keep looking for more new things, I find new novel means of combination. However, in my looking, I've also found a lot of folk working through very similar ideas. I still think I'm charting a unique path in a forest of ideas of play, but I'm not the only one in this play forest.
Figured I'd give a mixed list of all of this. Below you'll find some external sources of little pieces and sets for combination, but also various groups and people thinking about ways to combine various methods of play and thinking about what play means. (I try to avoid the idea of "gamifying", which tends to be about optimization of process and commerce rather than play.) Some of these have been mentioned earlier. Please email me if you have anything intriguing to add to this list.
Organizations, or the new New Games Movement
The New Games Foundation. From the 1970s, I think they invented grade school field days.
The Deep Play Institute: Mentioned earlier. Some great stuff.
Boshi's Place a little game community in East Williamsburg, gotta peek more into what they're about
United Playfulness- not sure what this is yet.
ericzimmerman.com Eric Zimmerman. A thinker?
nonsensenyc.com A weekly email list of the most strange and fun little things to do around New York City.
C. Thi Nguyen, a very interesting thinker working on games and play.
Infinite Play. Just came across this, not sure what it is yet, some kind of event in NYC of movement and play workshops, but seems a bit uncomfortably similar to what I'm doing.
Copenhagen Game Collective something I'll look at more
The Fifth Place: just heard about this and don't know much, other than it's supposedly a bit of truly truly interactive theater, about which I'm curious as all hell.
Some study:
Huberman Lab Podcast about Play: Huberman's podcast isn't my favorite (he seems to have genuine scientific expertise and isn't some wellness industry charlatan, but has a bit of that energy, as well as a bit of podcaster-bro energy, and is pedantic as all hell about neurochemicals) but this little episode provides a very interesting scientific and medical approach to understanding what play means to humans.
About somatic therapy: most of the organizations thinking about play seem to approach it from an approach of life enhancement and trauma healing and psychic health. It's not what I'm doing, though when trying to define what I'm doing in contrast to this, I suddenly don't know what the hell I'm doing. Putting it here as something that may interest you, and might provide a little
Finite and Infinite Games- A vision of life as play and possibility: by James Carse
Weird, surreal, and military stuff:
A theory of humor. Just a random thing that I love.
The Book of Five Rings: a samurai swordfighting manual, it describes something about movement and attention to the body that seems useful in a strange and playful way. It's a set that I'm looking forward to using and playing with someday in the future, but haven't figured out just yet.
The Art of War. The classic Chinese text on strategic thinking. I've used it once or twice as a game piece to compose some writing, but haven't yet made a running game out of it, but have some ideas for using it to play with terrain.
The Seven Paradoxes of Counterinsurgency: I'm not sure what this one is, other than that it was written fairly recently by a US general, and is Zen as fuck.
John Cage: Silence: he seemed to have a similar approach to music that I have to athletics. Goofy and impossible.
Under construction:
The Ranger Handbook
Calvin and Hobbs
The Sandwalk
The Ministry for Silly Walks
N+1
Improv
Silent Disco- Camp Echo
Books about play and some notes on them:
The Infinite Playground: Bernard de Koven.
is the game good enough for the players?
about experiencing play
"minimal cheating," "well-timed cheat"
if there are two sides, add or take one
change sides occasionally
if there are turns, take them at the same time, or skip a turn
alter the scores
add balls, rules, goals, whole other games
change yourself- eyes closed, with the wrong hand, tied to someone else
if it makes it better for everyone, cheat
experience something's opposite
A game- Eclipse- people walking around, and then they choose someone as their sun and they stay in its rays, and then they choose their moon, and try to have the sun be eclipsed by the moon.
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