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‘Deviation Game’ by Tomo Kihara & Playfool Now that the dust has settled on the ninth year of Now Play This Festival, it’s time to look back and reflect a bit on how it all went. For good descriptions of the festival experience, see some of the pre

Now Play This started with an idea – could we make space for all the interesting stuff that was happening around the fringes of game making? Games-literate people were bending the form in innovative ways to comment on culture, to explore ideas and find

Now Play This first ran in 2015. We had half a dozen rooms of games and opened them for three days, testing out the idea of a festival that looked at game design in all its forms: videogames, board games, playful sculpture, interactive poetry, work by

Now Play This will be returning to Somerset House in Spring of 2023 as part of London Games Festival. We’re once again opening up a call for playful makers and creators to tell us about their work. Daisy Oracle of Love – U.S. Patent Application by Pedr

We’re so excited to be back at Somerset House after two years of hosting Now Play This online, but we know that being on-site for this year’s festival won’t suit everyone. So we’ve made sure to provide lots of different ways to be involved, whether tha

We’re inviting makers, artists, researchers, organisers and activists from all backgrounds to come together for a week of co-creation, reflection and play at Somerset House. In the lead-up to this year’s Now Play This festival, we are hosting a design

Are you a fan of Now Play This and want to get involved in the production process? We are looking to fill two freelance positions for this year’s festival. Both are available as entry level positions and we are keen to hear from all voices. We are comm

Commissioned for Now Play This 2020, The Grannies is a multi-channel documentary film following a group of artists as they explore the fringes of Red Dead Online. The film was directed by NPT2020 Guest Director Marie Foulston and recently had its world

  An audio version of this open call can be found here Now Play This will be returning to Somerset House in Spring of 2022 as part of London Games Festival. For this new edition we’re once again opening up a call for playful makers and creators to

After another year of online activities, we were thrilled to present some of the highlights from our 2021 programme in a physical space full of real people at Next Level Festival. Next Level takes place in Essen, Germany, at Zollverein, a former coal m

Now Play This will be returning to Somerset House in Spring of 2021 as part of London Games Festival. For this new edition we’re once again opening up a call for playful makers and creators to tell us about their work. The submission deadline for the o

2021 is fast approaching and we are busy planning a new year of events, exhibitions and commissions. There will be a few changes to the festival, and as part of that we have two exciting announcements.  We are so pleased to announce our new festival di

A Year of Transition 2020 was always due to be a year of transition for Now Play This. Previous festival director’s Holly Gramazio and V Buckenham had stepped down, and I, Marie Foulston, joined the existing production team of Sophie Sampson, Nick Murr

We’re very sad to announce that we’ve decided to postpone this year’s Now Play This. We are so proud of the festival we put together and all the artists involved, but despite being a relatively small scale event, we have decided in light of global even

Now Play This is a festival of experimental gameplay and design, running annually at Somerset House as an integral part of the London Games Festival.  The festival is an exciting mix of new international and national development in design and showcases

  For five years Now Play This has been a home for innovative and experimental games from all over the world. Through our collaboration with London Games Festival and Somerset House we have had the distinct pleasure of championing interesting game

Now Play This is returning to Somerset House from April 3rd – 5th as part of London Games Festival. Ahead of this year’s festival we’re once again opening up a call for playful makers and creators to tell us about their work. The submission deadline for the open call will be midnight, 3rd February.

Now Play This first ran in 2015. We had half a dozen rooms of games and opened them for three days, testing out the idea of a festival that at game design in all its forms: videogames, board games, playful sculpture, interactive poetry, work by any artists who have play at the heart of their practice. Now, five festivals later, we’re looking for a new director to lead the festival and help us develop our direction for the future.