In more than 50 cities and towns, library and museum staff are “engaging beyond our walls” (EBOW) to make their own local games, interactive stories and outdoor experiences. Their playful creations are resulting in stronger places, reaching new audiences, and co-creating a sense of place. Our mission is to provide the tools, research, and “recipes” so that any town can make their own. Funding and collaborators include the Smithsonian, IMLS (the Institute of Museum and Library Services), DC City Government, the Humanities Truck, AU Game Center and more.

A. What it looks like: See what they made.

Start with our “tasting menu“ of featured projects, primarily by local library and museum staff, or browse the detailed photos and documentation. Explore new forms that are emerging at the intersection of physical, digital, and networked society. Stretch your imagination!

B. How to make your own.

Try our “recipes” for what works, and bring it to your community. Each builds on a foundation of tools and design tactics that are chosen for outdoor play and neighborhood impact. Many were piloted with our custom game engine and authoring system called Hive Mechanic. In terms of books, we’re also starting a DIY reading list. Give your project a locally played sticker.

C. Workshops and curriculum.

Repurpose our curricula for your own workshops — including for neighbors, partners, and university design programs. We believe this movement will scale as a series of practices and local adaptations, rather than as a software product or single design.

D. Why bother: Impact types, research, and policy.

Browse the impact types we see for this kind of design. Explore our findings on democratizing design at the local level, including barriers and opportunities. This research extends our pioneering book, Locally Played: Real-World Games for Stronger Places and Communities.

• Repositioning the library as a community catalyst – with implications for fundraising, capacity building, new partnerships, and making a strong place
• Community engagement and partnerships. Some of the most transformative connections came through making the activity and involving local partners.
• Placemaking / place-keeping and sense of place.
• Reaching new audiences.
• Expanding the imagination of what is possible, how places can be connected, etc.
• Turning librarians into “designers.”
• Building demand (democratizing the playing of games)

D. Meet, join, network – including at events.

Connect to the movement for local games and engaging beyond our walls, including for news, ideas, collaborators, funding, and more. Some starting points:

• Playful City Lab: Get notified when we release new research or tools. See our list of upcoming events and archives.
• Libraries can plug into ALA’s Games and Gaming Roundtable (GameRT), dedicated to “creating an awareness of the value of gaming and play in libraries, schools, and related learning communities”
• Libraries can also see our overview on WebJunction on local games and interactive stories, and our webinar (a project of OCLC)
• Games for Change (G4C), the leading festival and hub for serious games, games tied to social issues, and to some extent educational games and XR. Note that the organization was co-founded by our own Benjamin Stokes.
• No Proscenium: Immersive media coverage and conversation, from theater to local games – often listed by city. Great podcast. Many of the projects covered are fancy creations by artists and technical wizards, but they are friendly to efforts to democratize the movement and provide more universal access too. See also ARGNet’s overview of alternate reality games, and get inspired by their email lists and coverage of emerging projects.
• Global Game Jam: taking place over 48 hours each year in cities and towns worldwide (108 countries with 100,000 makers), this gathering is a chance to find fellow creators and convince them to make something for engaging beyond our walls.
• Come Out and Play: a rotating festival activating city space with emerging forms of play
• Who else? Send us your ideas for hubs and organizations!

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Timeline and Participants

Our insights come from training library and museum staff in 50+ cities. This map gives a visual overview:

For our focus on libraries (2021-24), three cohorts participated:

By date:

• 2014: Sankofa Says was our first experimental game with telephony, in which players meet neighbors and discover local history in growing crowds. It was an official selection of the IndieCade Festival of independent games. Teams competed to draw a crowd at local monuments, answering trivia questions and acting out city myths. Playing involves a rebuilt payphone, paper maps, the city historian and cellphone photography. For more, see the game website from our design collective, the Leimert Phone Company.

• 2018: Concept demonstrations with key partners in Washington, DC. These were working prototypes, but with intensive coding and 3rd-party tools

• 2019: Software development of Hive Mechanic begins by Audacious Software. Two technical versions tested; one was selected for our beta.

• Feb 1, 2020: Workshop at the AU Global Game Jam — the first with Hive Mechanic

• Spring 2020: Release of open-source code on GitHub

• September, 2020: Launch of “Buoyant Oracle” and “Mural, Mural on the Wall” installations for broad public use, among other working projects

• Summer, 2021: Launch of “Hard Choices” activity with DC Office of Planning, for crowds and live polling on the future of a neighborhood

• Summer, 2021: Significant grant ($249k) from IMLS – see press release and LG-250108-OLS-21)

• Regional pilot (spring 2022)
• National cohort #1 (fall 2022): Zoom pilot
• National cohort #2 (spring 2023): Zoom (open entry)
• National cohort #3 (fall 2023-2024): Asynchronous course of six weeks

Partners and Funding

Primary funding comes from the IMLS (Institute of Museum and Library Services), which is the leading federal agency funding libraries and museums in the United States (see #LG-250108-OLS-21). Early prototypes were developed with or funded by the Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum, the Smithsonian women’s committee, and the DC City Government.