Game epiphanies:Ghost games in Čakovec

Before you ask, as my companion travelers did, NO, it wasn't me. But I was pleasantly surprised to find “X”s and “O”s shapes almost identical to the shapes I use in my CHAlleNGED Tic-tac-toes, high on a building in the center of the mundane city of Čakovec in Croatia.

“X”s and “O”s on a building in the city center of “X”s and “O”s

The logic behind the placement of the “X”s and “O”s I couldn't find, neither more information who, when and why placed these on the building. (almost) Only one 3x3 grid has a properly standing unfinished game, but nobody wins with this combination, as far as I could see.

iGraz#2. Public space: from nature morte to nature vivant

iGRAZ#2
Publik, Re-publik. Raum, Traum. Square.

Week 39, 2015 (21-27 September 2015)Concept and props by Veronika TzekovaSupported by Institut für Kunst im öffentlichen Raum Steiermark

After the iGRAZ(1) flash-mob in May 2015, the borders of public were crossed and further stretched with iGRAZ#2 but this time as a pop-up play.

The FLOXOXD

The FLOXOXD

In the week 39, 2015 (21-27 September 2015) the Tummelplatz(2) in Graz was again re-designed through its usage. The place was time-wise randomly and surprisingly flooded by with Tic-tac-toe game sets, appropriated and turned into numerous game-fields for the simplest strategy game Tic-tac-toe (German: Drei gewinnt). The props for the appropriation were the people spontaneously playing and the Street Tic-tac-toe, an author’s game-sets, designed to be played on tiles-covered surfaces using the grid, which they create.

And the first winner and strategies brainstorming

and on 5 x 5 grid by Hungarians visiting Graz on their way to Venezia

and the Akademisches (Gymnasium) tornado

re-public (ohne Beratung und Betreuung)

The Xs and the Os, turned to be more than tic-tac-toe props and kisses and hugs (the acronym XO). My younger fellow citizens interpreted them also as boomerangs, frisbees and halos. And actually they were the ones most freely engaging with the unaccompanied game pieces.

:: :: ::

About the project

iGraz it is not particularly about games and playing. It offers a different frame of reference and questions modes of behaviour in public space, notions of ownership, safety, sharing and freedom in public space. It is about rethinking public space and our role, attitude and relation to it and from here to all agencies involved in its construction, government and policies. Games are perceived as leisure activities and one should not be misled by this. Here the game and its game board/grid are employed as a metaphor for life and representation of systems, society and its members.

Tic-tac-toe is generally perceived as the simplest strategy game. A strategy game is a game in which the players’ uncoerced, and often autonomous decision-making skills have a high significance in determining the outcome. Almost all strategy games require internal decision tree style thinking, and typically very high situational awareness.

Tummelplatz offers opulence of visually well defined grids and I see it as constellation of multiple game fields waiting to be populated. iGRAZ aims to turn physical public space from nature morte to nature vivant. The game set used becomes a simple and universal space rethinking and reuse tool. It challenges to change.

In reference to this I would like also to quote Ivan Ilich: “games are a special form of liberating education, since they heighten awareness of the fact that formal systems are based on changeable axioms and that conceptual operations have a game-like nature.”

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(1) „igra“ in most of the Slavic languages means “game”. The “i” before “Graz” also borrows the meaning where ‘i’ stands for “individuality” and “innovation”.
(2) Interesting coincidence is that Google translates “der Tummelplatz” as “the playground”.

On the multiplicity in the simplicity, and the graphic appeal of the simplest strategy game

On the multiplicity in the simplicity,  and the graphic appeal of the simplest strategy game

Isolating symbols and trying to decipher the abnormal tic-tac-toes from Yerevan, reminded me that I had encountered symbiosis between stylised hearts and tic-tac-toe games before. Since I first came to Graz in 2012, I keep coming upon a graffiti “LOVE WINS” accompanied with a tic-tac-toe game where “O” is replaced by a stylised heart and wins.

I guess the main reason that I am so attracted to tic-tac-toe is the multiplicity in the simplicity of its symbols and graphics. The “X” and the “O” carry symbolical meanings as well. For example, “kisses and hugs” (XOXO) acronym. Cross in a circle, or the sun cross: ⴲ, is the astronomical symbol of the planet Earth. Cross and circle also form the sign of Venus: ♀ , etc.

The “X” also also can derive from “O”, marking two perpendicular diameters, as we see in the symbol of the Earth where it represents the equator and a meridian.

The “X” can be also constructed from two semi-circles or semi-ellipses. Actually that’s how I was thaught in school to write the letter “X”:

I also used this method in the design of some of my tic-tac-toe games made of leftover cardboard tubes.

Veronika Tzekova, KOMPLEMENT Tic-tac-toe, 2013

Veronika Tzekova, 5 in One, Design submitted for REDESIGN+ AWARD 2014

And what more simple, clear and immediate way to visualise „a win“ than sketch of a win in tic-tac-toe game?

Evolution of GAME

Evolution of GAME/animals

From landscape to cityscape. From two players to a single player, from 3x3 to 1x5 and 2x4, from a human to an animal.

Once humans depicted game animals, now game animals depict CHAlleNGED GAMES.

Rock art is placed on natural rock surfaces and can be considered a form of landscape art. Common subject in rock art is depiction of game and hunting scenes. In the course of time our evolution replaced the natural surroundings and rock surfaces with cityscapes and building walls. Game evolved as well. From game animal to a game, from a game to a CHAlleNGED GAME. So did human being, to a game animal.

On the documentary photos below are some evidences. These are some peculiar versions of the popular tic-tac-toe game I encountered in 2012 in the city of Yerevan, Armenia, that offer food for though to ludologists and game connoisseurs what kind of game animal expressed itself and what is the game played.

The first example was teasing me daily as it was on my way from the school I was living in to the bus stop in a suburb in Yerevan called (unofficially, but nobody knew any other name for it) Bangladesh. Simple chalk drawing on a building wall, extremely resembling a tic-tac-toe game but only with one player, the player “X”. “X” always starts in tic-tac-toe, so in general has bigger chances to win. But this one stopped and didn't win. Win against oneself? Is this losing?

To my regret I was unable to decipher the mysterious constellations and the message from the free thinker on the second picture. It reminded me a bit to my One-row-Tic-tac-toe ( http://challengedgames.blogspot.co.at/2014/01/one-row-tic-tac-toe.html ), but this didn't take me further. Two intersecting stylised hearts can be isolated between the two games... this just leads me to the next post.

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game  

• something you play, usually a competitive activity
• an animal that is hunted 

animal

• a living organism that feeds on organic matter, typically having specialized sense organs and nervous system and able to respond rapidly to stimuli.
• a person with a particular interest or aptitude

CHAlleNGED GAMES @ Designmonat Graz 2015 #2 :: iGRAZ, uGRAZ...weGRAZ...

iGraz¹

Publik, Re-publik. Raum, Traum. Square.

Flash mob on Tummelplatz, Graz

14th May, Thursday, 17:21h

Concept and props by Veronika Tzekova

“games are a special form of liberating education, since they heighten awareness of the fact that formal systems are based on changeable axioms and that conceptual operations have a game-like nature.”

Ivan Ilich

The Tummelplatz² in Graz was newly designed through its usage. The place was appropriated and turned into a big game-field for the simplest strategy game Tic-tac-toe (German: Drei gewinnt). The props for the appropriation were the people playing and the Street Tic-tac-toe, an author's game-sets, designed to be played on tiles covered surfaces using the grid, which they create.

iGraz it is not particularly about games and playing. It offers a different frame of reference and questions modes of behaviour in public space, notions of safety, sharing and freedom in public space. It is about rethinking public space and our role, attitude and relation to it and from here to all agencies involved in its construction, government and policies. Games are perceived as leisure activities and please do not be mislead by this. Here the game and its game board/grid are employed as metaphor for life and representation of systems, society and its members.

Tic-tac-toe is generally perceived as the simplest strategy game. A strategy game is a game in which the players' uncoerced, and often autonomous decision-making skills have a high significance in determining the outcome. Almost all strategy games require internal decision tree style thinking, and typically very high situational awareness.

Tummelplatz offers opulence of visually well defined grids and I see it as constellation of multiple game fields waiting to be populated. iGRAZ aims to turn physical public space from nature morte to nature vivant. The game set I use becomes a simple and universal space rethinking and reuse tool. It challenges to change all.

It took its natural course and people played as long as they wanted. It was small, beautiful and international.

1„igra“ in most of the Slavic languages means “game”. The “i” before “Graz” also borrows the meaning where 'i' stands for "individuality" and "innovation".

2Interesting coincidence is that Google translates “der Tummelplatz” as “the playground”

CHAlleNGED GAMES @ Designmonat Graz 2015 #1

CoasteredTic-tac-toe and PuzzledTic-tac-toe were shuffled!

And a beautiful mistake showed me that CHALLENGE, apart of CHANGE contains also ALL and  ALLE (ALL in German).

@

GAME CHalleNGE with veroniKATZE  

Designmonat Graz 2015/ Design in the City

May 13 | 4:00 pm
Mau Shi fusion restaurant (Herrengasse 7, 8010 Graz)

The Coastered Tic-tac-toe is now displayed in its natural environment

The playable table accessory will be at Mau Shi restaurant (Herrengasse 7 | Altstadtpassage in Graz, www.facebook.com/maushi) as part of the Design in the City program part of Designmonat Graz (1 May-31 May 2015). Coasters are typical and simple attribute for public venues such cafes, bars and pubs. The tic-tac-toe (“X”s and “O”s) is one of the simplest and spontaneously playable table strategy game. The author’s game Coastered Tic-tac-toe brings these two together offering playful CHAlleNGE while enjoying one’s drink. The game attributes are double sided printed with “X”s and “O”s regular coasters. These are to be used both for playing and as coasters. The wooden container box defines the 3x3 game board.

Spending quality time with a bottle of wine

Some days ago a wine bottle flashed at me from a shop window. 

This encounter really deserves my blog label “Game Epiphanies”. It brings together my fascination with wine, patterns, games, and hidden messages.

Thanks to Mrs. Regina Triebaumer from Weingut Günter u. Regina Triebaumer, the missing threes were found:

TRIE is a nickname for Triebaumer, if to be translated, means THREE TREES.

TRIE ROT consists of THREE WINE VARIETIES. Mainly Zweigelt and additionally Cabernet Sauvignon and St. Laurent.

And tic-tac-toe was also in mind, when the label was designed. Though the the Xs and Os are some kind of placeholders, the tic-tac-toe is involved as it ends up with THREE again. In German it is even called DREI gewinnt (EN: THREE wins).

3X3 (but also 3x4) game grid is to be recognized in the label design, perfect prerequisite for tic-tac-toe (or THREE in a row).

I shifted the original roles and turned the letters into placeholders, apart of the O in ROT. THREE game situations are to be recognized in the label design, X wins in two of them and one the games ends in a draw. Bellow are the original label configuration and the game situations I discovered in the THREE ROT label.

A truly CHAlleNGING GAME experience. I guess I can call this

spending quality time

with a bottle of wine

pREISE & game epiphanies in o tigre de Lisboa: #10: What the prison (a cadeia) gave me

Selective focusing in Estremoz.

Patterns recognition for metaphorical demonstration of behavioral patterns.

(some verses for political prisoners)

Some examples of

being on top

as a major reason to loose.

“X” always sits on the

bottom,

left,

corner

with its first move.

“O” always

being on top

with its first move,

is the trump for “X”

to win in any of these game situations. 

pREISE & game epiphanies in o tigre de Lisboa: #9: Big in Estremoz

Veronika Tzekova/ Big as one's wishes

A Sunday presque vu (once I have to go back to the central square of Estremoz) and its prequels: 

Tummelplatz,Graz // Sw. Marcin street, Poznan= the hundreds of game fields

pREISE& game epiphanies in o tigre de Lisboa: #2: life in patterns

P.S. After posting this, a thought occurred to me: did I played again in front of a religious building (the Capela Nosso Senhor dos Inocentes)? 
So another Sunday presque vu: Dadissuasori: http://challengedgames.blogspot.co.at/2015/01/cdoupbles-dadissuasori.html

pREISE & game epiphanies in o tigre de Lisboa: #7: Our perceptions are gambles

An ostracon from the "Coptic period" in Egypt; stone technique; archaeological site: upper Egypt: governorate of Luxor?; present location Museu Nacional de Arqueologia, Lisbon.

No further info on what is depicted on it was found.
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Adults at play?

Life in patterns?

I the reality tunnel, the truth is in the eye of the beholder and “our perceptions are gambles”.

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Space Appropriators and CHAlleNGED Tic-tac-toes existed back than, or somebody had a vision:):):)

the onthesunontheSHADOWed Tic-tac-toe, 2013

the Space Appropriators/ KD Go, 2014

the Space Appropriators/ KD QUARTO!, 2013

the Space Appropriators/ Kanaldeckeled Tic-tac-toe, 2013

the HOL Tic-tac-toe, 2013

"...formal systems are based on changeable axioms and that conceptual operations have a game like nature."

pREISE & game epiphanies in o tigre de Lisboa: #4: life in patterns. A souvenir.

A souvenir from Casino Estoril (the biggest in Europe). Impressive but not inspiring place to play. Apart of the masses of slot machines and eating people, each of the roulette table had its own jettons. Both I found inelegant and discouraging the swingy mood, which is a must for me, when gambling.

Apart for its original purpose, about which I did not inform myself, the sheet can be used for a CHAlleNGE to play IrregularTic-tac-toe and One-row Tic-tac-toe.