Public Space Games: Ministry of Reshelving
I'm a bit behind on reading Boing Boing, so I'm just now perusing Wednesday's post about a new city-wide game: the Ministry of Reshelving, by Avant Game, a woman's personal blog where she discusses some of the public games she's created and participated in. Basically, following certain rules, you go to a bookstore and take George Orwell's 1984 and reshelve it in the "Current Affairs" section, leaving notes behind about why. I love it that it's fun and political, too. Can I reshelve Ann Coulter under fiction? Or better yet, under mental illnesses. This is much better than what I normally do, which is turn right-wing nutjob books around so you can't see the titles.
I love the idea of public games and have blogged about them before:
26 Things Photographic Scavenger Hunt
New York Games
Design Institute's Big Urban Game
The Go Game
Ernie about The Go Game
Alternate Reality Gaming Network
The Urban Iditarod
Geocaching - The Official Global GPS Cache Hunt Site
At one time, Lori and I put together a kick-ass scavenger hunt here in Indianapolis. Sadly, we have several teams sign up, but only one team actually did the work or showed up to claim a prize. I think I was so disappointed that I never actually published the game or the answers. I'd love to revisit the idea, though.
August 19, 2005, 3:09 PM | « Previous | Next »
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Comments
1 On Sat, Aug 20, 2005, Lori said:
leave her in fiction, steph. people with mental illnesses have enough of a social stigma -- us crazy people don't need others thinking that she's part of our pack. *8-)
2 On Sat, Aug 20, 2005, Steph Mineart said:
I can't believe I was so insensitive, I'm very sorry. I don't know why I didn't stop to think about what I was saying there; I know several people who strive valiantly against mental illnesses, and should never put someone like Coulter in a class with them; they deserve much respect.
3 On Sun, Aug 21, 2005, Lori said:
steph - please don't think i was raggin' on you as part of the PC Police or anything - i wasn't offended! i just don't care to be lumped into a group with Ann Coulter!
;-)
as for the scavenger hunt, i was really disappointed when it didn't take off either - i wonder what it would take to make it a really popular Mutual Friends event...