igfest 3
igfest September 2010
The highlight of this year’s interesting games festival was the cross-city zombie chase game, 2.8 Hours Later, but we also had oursleves a street party on the Saturday, with an English folk game theme and a partnership with the Bristol Cycle Festival. We had an Obby Ull, mini-bike jousting and a Serbian RFID game (yes really).
This year was our third year for which we closed off St. Nicholas Street in the heart of Bristol's St Nicholas Market and welcomed more than 600 people over the weekend. We filled the street with straw bales, market stalls and even had a maypole around which players danced with mini-bikes. Local restaurant & food hall Source ran a BBQ and the local bars hosted desk-top games.
Some of the highlights of this year's festival were:
The Running of the Bulls
Costumed beasts let loose in the city, intent on goring your gory bits. The Madness of Yore: rediscovered and updated, the folk games of our pagan past.
Bristol Cycle Festival Games
igfest joined with Bristol Cycle fest, setting you off on city-wide cycle adventures or just playing stupid on two wheels.
Hadjuks
a Bluetooth and RFID enabled game from Serbia with heaps of Serbian character and a really satisfying use of technology.
An Uncivil War
There is little that is more fun in life than hurling water bombs and taunts at each other from the relative security of your cardboard castle.
Photos of this years festival can be found on flickr here.
“great atmosphere, friendly organisers and fun games.”
“Location was great - good to be able to wander around and see a lot of different games going on, over the day.”
“I smiled so much my face ached!”
The festival had over 650 visitors and received coverage in the national press, including the Guardian, The Times, The London Evening Standard and Wired Magazine.
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A bit more about igfest.
Igfest is Bristol's very own interesting games festival - street games, outdoor spectacles, mass social interaction, the reclamation of public urban spaces for play and adventure. Founded in 2008 We've notched up three super successful years so far and are now ploughing into work on igfest 4.
igfest games are different. The games are all about unique connections between people and places. We play games in and with the real world. We play games in the city, on the streets and in unusual buildings and places. Some game are high tech and some have no tech at alll. Some games last for minutes and others hours. Some are rich and challenging and some are just senseless fun. We believe games can be as exciting and engaging as the cinema or theatre. igfest is a chance to play some of the best games from artists and game designers from across the world.
