CHAlleNGED Games: Simultanious Exhibition of irregular Coastered Tic-tac-toe

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Simultanious Exhibition of irregular Coastered Tic-tac-toe

Simultaneous exhibition of irregular Coastered Tic-tac-toe @ Postgarage Cafe, Graz

within the program of the “Get Lost” project by Dagmar Theater Group,

13th and 14th August 2013, 19:10-19:20 h and 19:35-19:45 h

As the location was a café and coasters are typical attribute to such venues I decided to shuffle my Coastered Tic-tac-toes.

The game:

The Coastered Tic-tac-toe game is to be played without having the 3x3 grid defined in advance as it is originally in the rules of the game. The grid was to be defined by the moves of the two players, always me VS one of the group participating in the photo walk tour “Get Lost”.

The mode of playing:

The mode of playing was the so called simultaneous exhibition or simultaneous display. It is a board game exhibition in which one player plays multiple games at a time with a number of other players.

In this case four people were sitting simultaneously on four tables and I played simultaneously with them. When the four games were over, next group of players was taking the seats, and so on and so on.

The CHAlleNGE:

Quick orientation and performance outside the routine knowledge is required. Initially sense of confusion and feeling of being lost in the imaginary grid of the game may be evoked. The tic-tac-toe game has very simple rules but the tiny change is challenging the participants to think of new strategies in an unfamiliar set up.

The aftermath

For two days I played all together 4 10-minutes sessions, against 26 people, won 15 games, ended even in 8 and lost 3.

My goal was to introduce out of the box manner of thinking and point of view on rules and systems in general. This provoked curiosity and excitement in some of the participants, but there were also people who didn’t even want to play.

A fact that is very interesting for me as pathological player: a woman asked me “What will I win?”. “May be the game”, I said. “Good karma” added the tour guide. Gemification as mainly perceived today corrupts the soul of playing, and obviously also the perception of winning. Is wining the game itself no longer enough (profitable)?

Reflecting on the experience as a performer

I was performer and master of ceremony of the event, which impeded with each other, so the first round of the first group was tantalizing for me. The 3 games I lost were in this first round. But ever after I had to put myself together and follow the scenario. And the scenario was that I only win or have even games, just so that it looks I have a secret. I can share it now that it is all over. Why did I win so much? Simply, I was performing outside the regulated game field longer than any of the participants and I knew better what it takes to win in such arrangement.

But how do I function placed back in a predefined limited set up?