There seems to be a lot of ‘interesting times’ going on at the moment, what with the whole ‘recession’ thing and USA elections and plenty of local stuff.

We are bombarded by journalism that bandies a lot of baffling explanations around but doesn’t quite hit the spot, politicians zig-zagging across the political spectrum, presenting solutions that are absolutely mystifying, councils borrowing money from foreign countries, state projects strangely in hoc to private sector outfits, commentators tutting and approving in equal measure and leadership in general up for debate.

I am well aware of my naiivity and idealism (and my rather old school Development Studies opinions) but it’s all rather odd, isn’t it? Let’s hope that our leaders are approaching things without recklessness.

This is a brief personal reflection on igfest, the three day games festival which took place in Central Bristol from 19th to 21st September.

I was a voluntary member on the organising team, mentored some of the games, ran a game on the day, and generally helped out. I was immediately drawn to igfest as it combined festivals, games and things that anyone can do for free, and take home with them and play there too.

We will see a lot of ‘Game’ theory entering into the facilitator’s toolkit as well, so I wanted to get some hands on experience of all this stuff.

Also, I have been very impressed by Simon and Simon (the organisers along with Clare Reddington, Duncan Speakman and Helen Stephens) who have been running iglab since they met at the Media Sandbox launch event; the event was designed for people to meet eachother in a collaborative context so I feel broody when I see them together.

Iglab has been gradually building a community around games in Bristol all this year, so igfest is a fantastic example of what you can achieve if you nurture your community carefully and keenly.

This is not an all round review of all the games as I didn’t see or play many of them as I was working the gig. Like I say, a personal reflection, with a scarey picture at the end of the deranged and hilarious Welshmen who I shared a police station with during ‘Journey to the night’.

(Rainbow rain being played)

My favourite game was Holla Lu Lu. It’s easy, simple, quick, engaging, funny, age-less, and encourages everyone to enjoy their immediate environment while making funny noises. It’s very easy to facilitate and everyone enjoyed it.

I was very sorry to miss Bad Taste Party. This sounded brilliant and made everyone think about how very badly us Brits are dressed. I approached someone and asked if they were playing it, as I thought they might have got lost. They weren’t, I was mortified. Good game.

(Mercury began with an arm wrestle)

I was also a big fan of Mercury. As well as having Tom and Mike staying with me, and mentoring the game, I fully bought into Tom’s logic about how team sports have become focused solely on one movement with one goal (to win), hence breeding a bunch of people who can do only one thing. So when Mercury opened with an arm wrestle, moved through chicken noises, into backward football, past a haiku writing session and out with handball played with a huge silver exercise ball, I was hooked.

It was a shame to miss Harp Beat, I heard great things about it from 4 year olds and 40 year olds alike.

Congestion Zone made everyone very happy – essentially a series of mazes, some simple rules and a bunch of noise-making objects…

(Players piece the clue together in Holla Lu Lu)

I was very sorry to miss Sneaks and Blaggers. I hadn’t realised that it would book out so quickly, and it’s not really a viewing game, so I gave it a miss and had some pizza with the moose instead.

The Moose hunt game was brilliant – some technical issues with the mobile carrier aside, it got people outdoors, blending virtual with physical worlds.

(Simon Katan briefs the Congestion Zone players)

Rainbow rain looked hilarious. A barely concealed paint fight; brilliant spectator sport!

And Binocular football – currently doing the festival rounds at the moment – delayed due to traffic, but played later on Cathedral Green – another superb spectator sport with some brilliant comedy commentary.

I was sorry to miss Journey to the middle of the night. It sounded great. But I was acting in it.

As a delirious policeman in front of the old police station in Bridewell, waving my hoover extension around, ranting at the punters before letting them in to be ferried down to the cells by sergeants sledge and hammer (thanks to Joe and Lucy for gamely volunteering at the last minute) to be greeted by Jo and Simon the deranged prisoners to give them a clue to help them on their journey.

(Joe and Lucy as Sergeants Sledge and Hammer)

Given all the happiness around, and the superb location of a proper police station at nightime with real cells down a scarey corridor, and everyone being over 18 and all, we decided to go *dark* on everyone, and there was much shouting and screaming and banging of doors, honking of the bicycle horn, and so forth…

If anyone felt it was over the top, we’re kind of sorry and kind of not. We thought it was worth pushing the boat out for that special touch!

(Simon and Jo, the deranged prisoners)

All in all, a fantastic weekend, brilliantly organised, excellently and generously executed, great people and lots of games to enjoy and take home and play again.

One of the participants said that she couldn’t see why schools couldn’t run a lot of the games we ran as they needed no paid for equipment, instantly engaged children, encouraged them to imagine, collaborate and share their experiences while framing ‘competition’ in a less aggressive manner than ‘traditional’ sports… Well said!

Well done all!

• Igfest website
• igfest flickr group
• iglab website
• PM Studio website
• Moose hunt website
• Simon games

Over the last few months, we’ve seen superb bottom up and/or inclusive activities including Bathcamp, igfest, Bristol Festival, street parties, anarchist bookfairs, art trails, free wifi sessions, skillswaps etc. All run on an open basis, by local types for anyone to get involved in loads of ways.

Don’t fear, all, lusting after product doesn’t have to be included in all our leisure activities!

(image from thebristoldo website)

The Bristol do deserves a good visit. It’s a great sounding two dayer around Circomedia and Portland Square, with games, performance pieces, high wire trapeze stuff etc. It’s free.

Ignore the shopping monster leering over your shoulder, urging you to reach for the credit card, go and hang around in Portland Square instead.

And if you need more bottom up mayhem, go to Artspace Lifespace‘s deranged fundraising party ‘Carny Ville’ in the old police station, Bridewell,Friday night. I have been reliably informed by Joe (known to me as Sergeant Sledge from ‘Journey to the night’ in igfest) that it’s going to be brilliant, and having seen him acting and had a tour round the old police station last week, I believe it, and couldn’t approve of raising funds for artspace lifespace any more than I do already.

Good work all! Don’t shop, share!

If you are wondering what to do on 19-21 September, and can make it to Bristol, come along to igfest. With Simon games and iglab at the core and a group of us volunteers around it, the ‘Interesting Games Festival’ looks like it is going to be fantastic.

Igfest website

Since meeting at The Media Sandbox launch event and then being commissioned to invent a game (Comfort of Strangers), Simon and Simon have been building a community around interesting games in the region for some time.

The festival features a range of different games from different creators – some technical, some lofi, some sporty, some geeky. I’m mentoring a couple of them and those alone will be worth the effort. All of them will be fun, inclusive and good for you. So I can’t say it enough:

Come to igfest! Even better, volunteer for us and get access to Bristol Festival and a cool tee-shirt