Not just a video game fair but a new, entertaining and indie experience for anyone tired of the same mainstream stuff .
Now Play This is an immersive experience set at Somerset House, where the main attraction is an experimental involvement with video games.
The experience is part of the London Game Fair 2019, where various creators show their products at the pavilion. This year the exhibition focused on a sense of community; in fact, every visitor has the chance to “play” and have fun with strangers or friends.
For example, “Malapropic Karaoke” is a different kind of “sing it” because every word is randomly generated and makes occasional singers act like characters from RPG games.
Each phrase makes no sense but will still be a catchy way to rhyme in time. The idea comes from Common Works, a design and technology studio based in Somerset House.
“I can imagine this being an instant party game classic,” said Adam Pecena, 25, an advertising professional who tried the game. “It’s great entertainment and sort of goes along the lines with the way I thought this exhibition would be about putting game design inside new frames and dimensions.”
The event is not only a video game fair but also a way to combine an art exhibition with a video game session, with exclusive titles and ideas “out of the box”.
Every room contains buttons, tiles and lights that stimulate unique feelings such as “My Face When” by Emma Winston. It’s a multiplayer game that fuses an arcade device with a texting twist, where players win putting together the best or “funniest” emoji faces.
“I am a theatre director in my life so I like to make communal experiences,” said Adam Lenson, 33, who was winning the last tournament of “My Face When” .
“Cards against animosity” by Damien Bonafont is one of those communal experiences, created to enable the creator’s family members to reintroduce civil dialogue between people who hold opposing political beliefs.
Now Play This is also filled with vintage board games like Dream Phone – electronic – or a nostalgic Octopad by Patrick Lemieux, an eight-player controller for the Nintendo Electronic System, aka NES.
If Baby Shark literally bursts you ears, have a look at “Sharkburst”, an endless shark game generator created for shark lovers and shark approved by Princess.
Video games are not the only way you can be entertained at the fair. “Crip Casino” by Abi Palmer, set in the first room of the exhibition, brings visitors to a Las Vegas casino experience driven by Elvis aesthetics. It’s something more profound than gambling.
Palmer’s creations have been exhibited at the Tate Modern, and this year she won the DYNAMITE commission competition, with an interactive poetry game.
Creator Palmer, 30, has Psoriatic Arthritis and Ehlers Danlos syndrome (type 3) two debilitating health conditions that have made her think about chance in life, anger and what we really deserve.
“I made them [slot machines] purposely to be a bit fragile, you can peel some of the stickers,” said Palmer, who created them while being in constant pain. Her “Intrusion” theory mandates that disabled people “have to start with the limits of your body, and use them to be creative”.
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