Mini Games Festival - Schedule

A provisional timeframe for the games and a bit of background info, I have copied it all below as well so it is easier to see, looking forward to seeing you on the day.


Human Bingo
Players scramble to snap pictures of each other in this fast-paced game of photo tag.
Times: 11:30am, 12:30pm, 2:30pm
Need to bring: Digital Camera, or mobile phone with camera facility
Designer: Krzysiek “Semp” Bielecki


BULL RUN
Chase a BULL through city streets or a large park, desperately trying to tie dozens of helium balloons to its horns.
Times: 11:30am, 1:30pm, 3:30pm
Need to bring: Yourself
Designers: Minkette, Alex Fleetwood, Holly Gramazio, Tassos Stevens

Holla Lulu
Call out stuff, find people who are calling out the same stuff, and run around a lot.
Times: 12:00pm, 1:30pm, 3:30pm
Need to bring: Yourself
Designers: Duncan Speakman and Simon Johnson

Search and Replace
Grab a set of lettered tiles and head out into the city, to twist the road-signs and headlines to your will.
Times: 11:00am ,12:30pm, 2:00pm, 3:30pm
Need to bring: Digital Camera, or mobile phone with camera facility
Designers: Kevan Davis

Congestion Zone
You are a vehicle stuck inside the congestion zone. You must navigate your way through the zone’s poorly conceived one-way system, being careful to observe the rules of the Highway Code.
Times: Drop in anytime
Need to bring: Yourself
Designer: Simon Katan

Cat and Mouse
Chase game of Cat and Mouse.
Times: 12:30pm, 2:30pm
Need to bring: Yourself
Designer: Brent Michael Drew Morgan www.dextart.co.uk

Funnies
A selection of games to warm those brain cells.
Times: 11:00am, 1:00pm, 3:00pm
Need to bring: Yourself
Designer: Alison John

Many of us are involved in the arts

It reminds me a bit of Beavis and Butthead, but I like the idea of it highlighting the economic impact it has on our economy.

Things to bring on the day - ARK in the PARK

We have had a few queries about what we should and shouldn't bring during the day:

In general we will supply all the things you need for the event but for some games (Human Bingo, Search and Replace) you need a digital camera or a mobile phone with a camera facility, to play the game.

As well as this in terms of clothing and other stuff:
It is best to wear something comfy and to wear shoes that you can run in easily. Obviously if it is looking like rain you might need to bring a mac and finally pack light, don't bring your whole wardrobe as it is unlikely we will have somewhere put it.

The possibilities for gaming

Just add points? What UX can (and cannot) learn from games

View more presentations from Sebastian Deterding.

The Benevolent Society for the Care of White Elephants

A film about the The Benevolent Society for the Care of White Elephants, one of the performance/art pieces that took place during this summers ARK LAB empty shop project.

Updated leaflet

Games announced for the 2nd October

After last weekends games testing we have been busy gathering feedback. We are happy to confirm the first few games that will take place on the 2nd October.

Game one - Human Bingo
"Collect your numbers from each other moving through the city, full house wins."
Type of game: chasing and running

Number of players: 20-50

Game Duration: 30mins

Game two - Stag Hunt
"You are a group of hunters searching for the illusive Cardiff Stag from mythical scripture, your mission is to tag the stag as many times as possible."
Type of game: sneaking and hunting

Number of players: 20-50

Game Duration: 30mins

Game three - Congestion Zone
Play as teams or as an individual, your chance to experience the road rage world of the motorist.

Type of game: logic

Number of players: 5
Game Duration: 5mins

Game four - Search and Replace
A mixture of Scrabble and storytelling. Work together to create incredible stories from the City of Cardiff.

Type of game: storytelling and treasure hunt

Number of players: 20-50
Game Duration: 20mins

Game five - Holla Lulu
Find your own kind through this city wide communication game. Using only your call sign you search the streets trying to find the rest of your kind. Once you have found them it is up to you to rush to the finishing line.

Type of game: running and shouting

Number of players: 15-40

Game Duration: approx 45mins

As well as these games there will also be a number of board games and other social games allowing for people to come and have a great time while waiting for their game to start. Registration for the games will be from 11am on the saturday but if you want to guarantee your place please email us at info[at]thinkark.co.uk

We hope you can come an join us on the day. HQ will be in Bute Park near the standing stones (Millenium Stadium entrance). We have also made many of these games weather proof so not excuses.

Hope to see you there.

ARK TEAM

So why do you come to thinkARK?

We have been asked by the guys at Cardiff Arts Institute to write a small article about what we have been up to over the last year or so. In particular the Empty Shop project and our up and coming project the mini games festival which should be with us this October. So to everyone who has been to thinkark we want to know what brought you to visit?

Why you stayed and even if you didn't come back why not? any help with developing our wednesday club and making it more inclusive would be fantastic to hear about. Thanks again. If anyone would like to help out please comment below. The deadline is pretty soon i.e. next week so anything you can do would be greatly appreciated.

ARK in the PARK testing

A selection of pictures from the weekend of testing. Thanks to everyone who helped out.

Cycling in and around Cardiff information - Consultation

Local Transport Projects Ltd and Cardiff design collective ARK LAB have been asked by Cardiff Council to help with some work to improve the cycling network and facilities in Cardiff. Our first point of call began with a working group of people in Cardiff, who have a keen interest in cycling, these included council members, cycling organisations, cycle training providers and other stakeholders such as Sustrans, CTC, Peddle Power, the Bike Shed and the Cardiff Cycling Campaign group. We listened to these people as a representative group of "experienced" and "long-standing" cyclist in the area. We have kept all of their feedback ready for analysis at a later date and have now moved on to our next phase of research.

This phase is designed to generate the ideas and the opinions of the new to cycling, the lapsed cyclist and the currently non-cyclists of Cardiff. In order to generate as much response as we can we have started by encouraging people of all cycling ability, from non-cyclists to 40-year served cyclist, to take part in a survey giving their views on cycling in the city. There will be plenty of other fantastic community engagement and feedback opportunities designed by ARK LAB who will be looking to find out why certain groups are not cycling in Cardiff and if there are things that can be done to encourage these groups to start. This maybe physical changes to road systems or different types of training requirements for people who have a lack of confidence etc. As well as this they will then be looking to consult with these groups to ask their opinion of the draft proposal that Local Transport Projects Ltd will produce in around a month's time.

The survey itself is only one aspect of the consultation and we are hoping that people will feedback in other ways, like this article for example. If you have any further questions please contact Jo Sachs-Eldridge Cycling Officer for Cardiff Council who will be happy to help. JSachsEldridge[at]cardiff.gov.uk.

Or alternatively you can contact us on info[at]thinkark.co.uk

Mini Games Festival - UPDATE

In our rush to get the Mini Games Festival out to the masses we realised that the information is not as descriptive as is could be. Or perhaps the most informative. So we felt we should add a bit more meat to the bone.

The festival will be once again FREE of charge like all of our public projects. We will be hosting a number of games that will require running, sneaking, cunning and logic. The games will be city wide and are suitable to 18+, we hope if successful that we will do more in the future that will allow for a broader age range however due to current insurance and other issues we can't afford to step up their yet.

As well as the big games we are hoping to have a few big board games that will be located in the Park near our HQ. These will be for all of the people who fancy hanging around chatting and socialising while waiting for their game to start. We are hoping that there will be loads of people who come on the 2nd October, so there maybe more than one chance to play the same game. However we will only know that on the day.

Hope this has clarified the festival a bit more however if you still have and questions drop us an email or comment below. Thanks again and look forward to seeing you all then.

P.S. If you want to help out or have any games you would like to try out during the festival please let us know.