Games without frontiers
I have £5 on the bald guy on the right, he looks like he plays here often
It may be helpful to know that I am a bit obsessed with games and puzzles – not just computer games (although I was a ZX Spectrum kid, so it is in my blood) but more importantly, board games. I own a lot. Nowadays they are waiting for my next regular opponents to get old enough to play, although Isobel, my 5 year old daughter, is beginning to show a serious aptitude for them.
Anyway, I digress. One idea I have had is to integrate my hobby into my time on the plinth. There is the obvious idea of setting up a chess board up there, and talking through a game on the phone with someone remotely. It could work. It could also be incredibly boring to watch.
You could extend this to many other games that have finite state mechanics, i.e. the complexity of the game comes from the interaction of pieces and there are few choices each go, but over time there becomes an almost infinite number of possibilities for the whole game. Generally speaking, games of luck wouldn’t work, so Monopoly is thankfully out.
Games that would work well over the phone:
Chess, Othello, Most Gipf project games (link is in the link list), Go (at a push perhaps).
Games that would not work well over the phone:
Kerplunk, Twister, Hide and Seek.
There is also the opportunity perhaps for some audience interaction. I am sure there must be an easy way to get bingo cards out to the audience in the square, and then draw the numbers out of a bag. Give a prize of a chocolate bar.
I want to be able to play and interact, perhaps by being creative with the game ideas I can do precisely that.