Folk Games Reimagined: Bridging Tradition and Change
SOLD OUT. Streaming Live, Friday 9:30am-6pm
-Live Streaming Friday 9:30 – 18:00hs [ here ]
The Cologne Game Lab partners once again with Now Play This and Dr. David Murphy to present a dedicated day exploring the concept of Folk Games through talks, round tables, and playful sessions led by game designers and academics.
Speakers: Dr Niall Moody (UK), Anna Blackwell (UK) Pedro Mota (Brazil/Germany), Emilie Koonce (USA), Dr. Philipp Bojahr (Germany) Ruth Dorothea Eggels (Germany)
Organizers: Prof. Dr. Sonia Fizek, Dr. Philipp Bojahr, Dr David Murphy & Now Play This
“Folk Games Reimagined: Bridging Tradition and Change” is about the games passed down through generations and how they are adapted, rewritten, and reimagined. Another aspect of this theme is the notion of emergent gameplay, playful interventions that sit on top of existing space and carefully question or subvert the physical environment. Folk games inspire a design philosophy grounded in social adaptability, cultural nuance, and communal meaning-making.
Folk games are frequently defined by their simplicity, improvisation, fluidity of rules, and the social context in which they occur, rather than the rigid structure we find in many contemporary, commercially produced games. In recent years, a growing number of game designers and researchers have turned their attention to these forms of play, examining how their qualities can inform both the design of new digital experiences and the preservation of intangible cultural heritage.
Full schedule here