How might a city host an annual hunt that tells a different civic story each year? In this post, graduate designer Michael Barletta reveals how the District Hunt unfolded in 2025 — and how it contrasts to commercial products like those from Escapely. —-One of the most amazing neighborhood games in DC takes place every […]
Guest talk: The Concopian Cards for Civic Culture with Danish Designer Nadja Pass
If you’re in DC on Wednesday, September 30, from 1-2pm, join us for this guest talk and play session! The Danish designer behind a new exhibit and product “to reimagine and reenchant the world” will visit American University, as part of her US tour. The speaker is Nadja Pass, who identifies as a civic designer […]
Whales Play Nirvana: An International Model with Three Phases for Viable Joy
[This post reveals secrets from Mexico on making games across borders, and how “viable joy” is a critical strategy in three acts. The post is part of our “international” series on EBOW (Engaging Beyond Our Walls). Written by a researcher in our PhD program, Eric Schoenborn.] Imagine: You’re at a mural in Mexico. What if […]
Design with a Glowing Sign: Balancing Attention in a Room
How might a glowing “nametag” launch a story game tied to a physical exhibit? Below we reveal a clever use of increasingly cheap LED signs ($10-30 USD) as a bridge to hidden stories and play. It is part of our research into respectful augmentation that (1) fits into an existing public space – especially libraries […]
Clever tech: Lessons from Mexico (including WhatsApp workarounds)
Borders are a force for creativity. Unexpected insights come from the edges, including for low-tech approaches with mobile media and our Hive Mechanic authoring tools. In this post, we share some breakthroughs in what we call “clever-tech.” (Clever is our nod to the resourceful shortcuts and loopholes that can be used to get around more […]
Portal Postcards with Peripheral Vision & Impact
What if an activity’s impact can be doubled through print materials that offer peripheral vision of the surrounding neighborhood, including things to do afterward? In the case study below, we will show how postcards can start the story game and pull the player into neighborhood assets. We call them “portal” postcards because they are portals […]
Presenting at DiGRA and Games for Change
This summer we are presenting research at two major conferences: (1) DiGRA in Ireland – early June, and (2) Games for Change in NYC – mid-July. Each talk is quite different, as are the event audiences. For DiGRA, our big publication is “Neighborhood Making of Story Games: Accessible Joy in Low-Tech Design.” (See findings, figures […]
Publication: “Neighborhood Making of Story Games” on EBOW findings
After three years of work across 50 towns and cities, we are thrilled to publish a new peer-reviewed article in the Proceedings of the Digital Games Research Association DiGRA 2026. The full title is: “Neighborhood Making of Story Games: Accessible Joy in Low-Tech Design” (full PDF) and it is co-authored by Benjamin Stokes, Eric Schoenborn, […]
Major Release: Version 2.0 of Hive Mechanic Greatly Expands Platform for Neighborhood Game Design and Storytelling
### Announcement ### Washington, D.C., October 22, 2025 — Today, the Playful City Lab (American University) is proud to unveil Hive Mechanic 2.0, a major upgrade to its open platform for neighborhood games and civic stories. Hive Mechanic has already empowered more than 50 towns and cities—often via public libraries, museums, and community groups—to create […]
Presenting at ICA 2025: Locally Made Play
On Friday, June 13th, we presented to the Game Studies division at the 75th annual International Communication Association (ICA) conference in Denver, Colorado. It is the largest international conference for researchers on communication – and includes urban communication and game studies. Our presentation, titled Locally Made Play: Neighborhood Game Design with Community Libraries, co-authored by Benjamin […]