Digital Playgrounds

#DIGITAL PLAYGROUNDS (align:"=><=")[##An ongoing collection of games for other games.] ##Games <blockquote>[[Animal Crossing: New Horizons]]</blockquote> ##About <blockquote>**Digital Playgrounds** is a collection of games meant to be played within other games. Some of these games are adaptations of folks games, others are unique to a particular game. Others still are designed by game designers with a particular game in mind. [[Contributors]]</blockquote> //Last Updated (display: "Last Updated")//

#Contributors If you have a game for another game that you'd like to live in this collection, please drop a line to **matthew (at) balousek (dot) net**. (for: each _person, ...(altered: via its name, ...(passages: where its tags contains "bio")))[<blockquote>(display: _person)</blockquote>]

#The <Something> ##A game of <stuff>. <blockquote>Play this game only when you <some event>. (display: "symbol") Paragraph 1 Paragraph 2 Paragraph N</blockquote> **Seeds:** Choose using your dice or desires, or ignore entirely. **1.** ... **2.** ... **3.** ... **4.** ... **5.** ... **6.** ... **Some Questions:** Who's a good dog? Is it you? Is it you?

The games in this collection are a suggestion for a way of playing. I invite you to imagine—and create—new games if this way of playing piques your interest. These are the constraints that I followed in writing these games. Feel free to use them in your own writing or discard them entirely and find your own way. If you would like a game you wrote to be added to the Community section, contact Matthew. Community-submitted games will live on the webpage, but not the zine. You have my blessing if you'd like to make something in this style and host or sell it separately, though I'd also love to link it here. #Necessary Things ##Goals The games in this collection generally fall into one of the following categories of design intent. Use these, or make new ones altogether. **Occurrings** xxx **Intervenings** I often find myself caught in loops of various kinds and getting stuck. These games are invitations to break those loops. These generally look like this: <blockquote>Play this game when you’re doing something you don’t want to be doing. Stop doing that thing. Do something creative for a moment instead.</blockquote> Sometimes the order might be reversed, particularly when the loop being broken out of is one of hesitation: <blockquote>Play this game when you’re not doing something you want to (or should) be doing. Write about your character doing the thing, or something similar. Do the thing.</blockquote> **Waitings.** These games are invitations to transform idle moments into playful moments. These are games for waiting, games for when you have a free moment and can write a little bit. ##Hook These games are generally not to be played on demand. They should fade away into the background and pop up in the back of our mind when a particular event happens as we go about our everyday life. “Play this game only when...” ##Name and Subtitle Constraints breed creativity. Keep these simple, in the form of “The X: a game of Y.” #Optional Things ##Limits These games are meant to be short and small. They’re snacks to tide us over, and to deepen and renew connections with our play community in the often long stretches between longer sessions of play. Never give an exact time limit (e.g., “three minutes”), but use cues from the game to help the player time themselves without timing themselves. Be flexible. ##Seeds Seeds are suggestions to spark a player’s imagination and give them a sense of the range of what they can write about. Aim for six things, since it enables an indecisive player to roll a die to decide. “Choose using your dice or desires, or ignore entirely. 1. … 2. … 3. … 4. … 5. … 6. ...” ##Questions These are freeform lists of questions that might be useful for the player to ask themselves to help form what they're writing. They don't all need to apply.

#Hide and Seek ##A game of discovery. **Players:** 2-8 (Online) **Requirements:** None <blockquote>Gather everyone in the plaza, and designate one player as the Seeker. The Seeker enters a building, while the remaining players find a place outside to hide. When a player is discovered by a Seeker, they become a Seeker themselves. The last player to be discovered is the next Seeker.</blockquote> #Variants <blockquote>**Night at the Museum**: As above, but players hide in the Museum instead of throughout the island.</blockquote> <blockquote>**Hide and Seek Unlimited**: As above, but players may hide anywhere, including in buildings.</blockquote> (display: "Matthew R.F. Balousek")

#ANIMAL CROSSING: NEW HORIZONS **Release**: 2020 March 20 **Platform**: Nintendo Switch **Players**: 1-4 Local, 2-8 Online (for: each _game, ...(altered: via its name, ...(passages: where its tags contains "ACNH")))[ (link-goto: _game)]

#Beach Race ##A game of climbing. **Players:** 2-4 (Local), 2-8 (Online) **Requirements:** Ladder, Vaulting Pole, Party Popper (Optional) <blockquote>Players gather at the Plaza. On the island host's mark, everyone races to The Secret Beach.</blockquote> #Variants <blockquote>**Today's My First Day**: The Ladder and/or the Vaulting Pole cannot be used. When the host calls out to begin, they instead call out a location that can be reached without using those restricted items.</blockquote> <blockquote>**Centipede Race**: As above, but the winner of the race gains one point. Race again. The first to five points wins.</blockquote> (display: "Matthew R.F. Balousek")

#DESTINY 2 **Release**: 2017 September 6 **Platform**: Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Stadia **Players**: Varies by Activity (for: each _game, ...(altered: via its name, ...(passages: where its tags contains "Destiny")))[ (link-goto: _game)]

#Title ##A game of something. **Players:** min-max (detail) **Requirements:** None <blockquote>Game rules.</blockquote> #Variants <blockquote>**Variant A**: Rules text.</blockquote> <blockquote>**Variant B**: Rules text.</blockquote>

#TITLE **Release**: 20XX September X **Platform**: A, B, C **Players**: 1-X (Detail) (for: each _game, ...(altered: via its name, ...(passages: where its tags contains "game tag")))[ (link-goto: _game)]

#Welcome To Your Grave ##A game of faith. **Players:** 2-8 (Online) **Requirements:** Vaulting Pole, Shovel <blockquote>One player is the Gravedigger. Their job is to dig holes on one side of a section of river that flows east-west. The remaining players must vault over the river without falling into one of the graves.</blockquote> //Adapted from <a href="https://twitter.com/doougle/status/1243865514083934210">this tweet</a>.//

#Island of Blood ##A game of tragic endings. **Players:** 2 (Local/Online) **Requirements:** Net <blockquote>Players take out their nets. A player dies if they get hit by a net. The last one alive wins.</blockquote> #Variants <blockquote>**Island of Fake Blood**: A player gains a point when they strike a blow. The game ends when a player reaches four points.</blockquote> <blockquote>**Regicide**: One player is The Monarch, and every other living player is trying to kill them. A player becomes The Monarch when they kill the Monarch.</blockquote> <blockquote>**Duel in the Grove**: Find a forest or bamboo grove to hold your duel in. Use axes instead of nets.</blockquote> <blockquote>**The Texas Bug Net Massacre**: Only one player has a net.</blockquote> (display: "Matthew R.F. Balousek")

**Matthew R.F. Balousek** is a game designer, new media artist, and educator. He lives outside of NYC with his partner and four housemates. You can see more of his games at **mrfb.itch.io** and read his word crimes on Twitter at **@mrfb**.

2020 March 31