Competitive custard punching, voice recognition archery and a giant coral maze can all be found at this year’s Hide&Seek Weekender. Hundreds of people will gather in at the Royal Festival Hall at London’s Southbank Centre to take part in games designed by performance artists, scientists and everyone in between.

Making a welcome return following the success in 2009 and 2010, this year’s ever growing Weekender Festival encourages drop-in play by people of all ages.

Simply turn up to take part in any of the games that take your fancy; there will be over 20 on offer and only two are ticketed (Midnight Tourism on Friday and Incitement on Saturday). There are known favourites like the Playstation move-controlled Johann Sebastian Joust, but for the most part visitors will be treated to new games, like Romeoke’s blend of avant-garde karaoke and Asteroids and Punch the Custard, which utilises the properties of non-newtonian fluids and Arduino technology to create a game about being the best at punching a bucket of custard.

While the games are all new, many have been tested and refined at Hide&Seek’s Sandpit events, and others are being premiered in the UK having won awards at international games festivals.

The Weekender games take place in the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, from Friday 14th – Sunday 16th September, with a special party to celebrate on Saturday at the Old Vic Tunnels featuring more games, game-based performances and DJ sets from Matt the Hat and Fred Deakin.

Monday September 17, will see the most exciting minds from the worlds of games, technology, arts and culture come together for the Hide&Seek Weekender conference, which is ticketed and open to the public.

Hide&Seek director Alex Fleetwood says, “The Weekender is the perfect opportunity to try out new games and play with friends, family and complete strangers in a celebration of play for all ages. Whether you’re a Playstation veteran or have only played rock paper scissors, we’ve got something new and exciting for you to try.”

About the Weekender party he adds, “When it comes to party games, we’re a long way past Charades and Spin the Bottle. All the creativity and imagination that has poured into indie games over the last ten years has started to spill out into nightclubs and bars – and this party is the best place to check it out.

We’ve got games that get you moving, games that get you talking, and a lot of games that get you laughing. Plus an amazing venue, brilliant music and great performances. It’s going to be an awesome night.”

The Hide&Seek Weekender is free to attend, and tickets for selected games, the party and conference are available at http://weekender.hideandseek.net

Games Highlights

For games addicts:

Drunk Dungeon (Sat) – a drinking game like no other, creating a top-down dungeon.
Killer Queen Arcade (Fri) – a video game for two teams each led by a powerful Queen.
Punch The Custard (Sun) – a device tracks how fast you can punch, adding bubbles to your opponent if you’re quick enough.

For art lovers:

The Hush (Fri – Sun) – the 21st century is full of noise; this city-wide game brings silence back.
Midnight Tourism (Fri) – play with the idea of your most perfect holiday ever.
Rolling Stones (Sat) – stone sculptures reward with music as they are moved around.

For the young and young at heart:

Scotch Hoppers (Sat, Sun) – thought hop scotch was easy? This kind has extra tricky levels.
Treasure Maze (Fri, Sun) – discover the treasure in a giant cardboard coral maze.
Oublié (Sat, Sun) – a game for one child and one adult who work together to see history.

For techies:

Searchlight (Sun) – A searchlight sweeps across the space – a Kinect detects your movement
Romeoke (Sat) – Electronic archery using voice-recognition karaoke.
Punch The Custard (Sun) – a device tracks how fast you can punch, adding bubbles to your opponent if you’re quick enough.

For the socially aware:

The Hush (Fri – Sun) – the 21st century is full of noise; this city-wide game brings silence back.
Ordnungswissenschaft (Fri) – hard to pronounce, even tougher to execute, in this game you must follow orders with precision while applying your own instinct to win.
Leave To Remain (TBC) –this game tackles the perennial questions – who has the right to arrive and stay in another land?

Image Courtesy of   Barone Firenze / Shutterstock.com

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