Public Play

Inside the London Games Festival’s Now Play This, a showcase for experimental and accessible games

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Holly Gramazio is the director of Now Play This, a festival of experimental game design, which exhibits both physical and digital games, playable on screens, as room-sized installations, and even outdoors. Beginning as a prototype festival in September 2015, it officially launched the following year as part of the inaugural London Games Festival. It continues this year at Somerset House, from April 6 to 8; for tickets, visit nowplaythis.net. How did you get your start in game design, and what led you to setting up Now Play This?

About ten years ago I moved to London from Adelaide in Australia. I was only going to stay for six months or so, but I ended up playing this enormous chase game across the city. It was just really extraordinary and changed how I felt about London. I thought, ‘That was good – maybe I should try designing games.’ I started making physical games and curating a playtesting event for an arts company called Hide&Seek, where people who were interested in physical games could come along and try out new ideas. Nowadays I’m half of a tiny company called Matheson Marcault with my colleague Sophie Sampson, who’s also a producer of Now Play This.

Now Play This is supported by London Games Festival. As an historically business-focused event, this feels like quite a left turn for the