A hackathon “Future Factory of ASOBI (play) 2021” for students at the University of Tokyo was held for two weeks from February 17 to March 3. In this hackathon, the participants formed teams and worked on creating prototypes of future play while thinking about what the concept of “play” itself means. The event was held online due to COVID-19.

On February 17, Project Researcher Saki Sakaguchi gave a lecture on the idea and definition of “play” itself, particularly Caillois’s classification of the four types of play. On February 19, Assistant Professor Yuki Anzai gave a lecture on methods for creating “play” in the form of a workshop.

In a usual year, participants would form teams while deepening exchanges face-to-face. This time, because the event was held online, the participants were asked what kind of play they would like to make, and teams were formed by participants with similar thinking. Participants were divided into Zoom breakout rooms for each team, and they discussed by co-editing an online whiteboard called Miro, while chatting and exchanging files on Slack.

On the technical and design support days, which were mainly held on Monday and Friday, we invited designers and engineers as advisers to hear student ideas and give technical support.

At the interim presentation, each team presented their concept of play, and questions and comments were given by jurors and advisers invited from companies and the university. Questions and comments were also exchanged among the participants on Slack.

At the final presentation, each team presented a promotion video and details of their ideas. This time it was done online, so every team devised a form of play that could be enjoyed online. Students were no less motivated and enthusiastic than in previous years. Every team thought seriously about the concept of “play” and engaged in the creation of new forms of “play” based on their own original convictions. The final products, which were the result of repeated trial and error during the prototyping, were all impressive.

After all teams had presented, Touch & Try was held to actually experience the play that the teams had created. Each team was divided into breakout rooms, and participants visited other teams and had people from other teams come to try out their own creations.

The final products were reviewed by jurors. As a result, two teams received awards. The winning teams’ products are introduced on this website.

Every team had unique and interesting points. Participants thought about play flexibly, presupposing their own situation while daring to take advantage of online restrictions and finding ways to overcome the inconvenience of the online environment. Each participant learned from the various experiences of the hackathon, such as thinking deeply about play, verbalizing their enjoyment, and putting their ideas into practice with a team.

We hope that the participants will continue to collaborate with the new acquaintances made at this hackathon to further develop their play and start new activities.

Text: Saki Sakaguchi(Project Researcher)
Proofreading: David Buist(Project Senior Specialist)