Last week, I flew out to Pittsburgh for the 2015 Serious Play Conference. The airplanes were frustrating - with lots of delays - but the conference was great. There were somewhere around 150-200 people, all with unusual and interesting ideas - myself included. [gallery size="medium" link="none" ids="940,938,937"] I feel honored to have had the chance to be one of the speakers, and to be able to share my work with my colleagues in education and game design. In the past, I'd shared my work at science-type conferences, but this is the first time I've had that opportunity at a game/play conference. A few of the many interesting ideas on show:
  • A prototype VR system to help astronauts deal with the monotony of long-haul space travel;
  • Happy Atoms - chemistry toys that use magnets-and-springs to model real chemistry in a tactile manner.
  • A whole bunch of amazing games from the American Museum of Natural History.
  • A sobering but useful outline of the way that public schools make purchasing decisions about educational materials - from Mitch Weisburg.
... and many others. The serious play community is pretty diffuse, spread more-or-less randomly across the country, and so the conference was a rare and great opportunity to talk shop with thoughtful and like-minded people. Next on the list for Mindful Mammoth: Finishing up the materials for our soon-to-be-launched Patreon campaign, and organizing ourselves for our upcoming events: meeting the Young Explorers at the Columbia Memorial Space Center, and playing with the Junior Rangers of Carpenteria State Beach.