The GERP group was an interesting experience demonstrating the concenpts from Reparing Play and Finite and Infinite Games. When our group first got together, we exchanged a few ideas but opted to create a more lo-fi experience due to the other assignments and deadlines within the program.

Our idea was inspired by a series of tiny chairs I had made as a part of Intro to Fabrication. People seemed the always enjoy stacking the chairs, and the simple joy and tactile experience of stacking wooden objects was the guiding factor when refining what our presentation would be.

Stacking wooden blocks is itself an infinite game, so within the prompt of "dramative vs theatrical" we brainstormed how to turn stacking into something finite. Our goal was to create tension in the transition of an infinite experience into a finite one. After some discussion, we landed on the idea to have different goals when stacking and playing with wooden pieces. And while there was talk of using other materials, few match the tactile experience and interaction that wood has. Especially with the amount of scrap wood in the Shop we would have plenty of material for the presentaion. So the skeleton of our game had been formed: The group would play with wooden blocks, stacking them towards a hidden goal that would change from round to round.

Now came the hard part: Fleshing out the rules, edge cases, and ways to keep everyone engaged. Meeting with Sharon had led to more questions and considerations for our experience, and it made us realize it would be more complicated than we initially thought. We also introduced the idea of an "audience" type of player. People would would help direct the flow of each round and decide on the round's winner.

After discussing our presentation idea we answered most of the questions Sharon had posed to us. Our experience would begin dramatically with everyone free playing with the blocks before transitioning into a more theatrical and finite game. At first, a random player would be chosed to pick a winning condition for that round from a list we provide, and players will have several minutes to build and play with the pieces. All players won't know the winning condition except the person who chose it, and to figure out the goal they will have the pay attention to the audience and what the other players are construcing. Meanwhile, the audience will be informed of the winning goal and will be able to vote on players. At the end of each round the winning condition is revealed and the player with the most votes chooses the next condition.

With our experience set, I began to create the wooden blocks. With the amount we needed, and the playful nature of the game, I knew the pieces didn't have to be exact shapes so I starte cutting unequal cubes, rectangles, triangles, and some misfit quadrilaterals. In the end I had at least three dozen pieces.

On presentation day, it was unclear how the class would operate. If we would have time to set up our presentation during class, if we'd present to multiple groups of people, and when we would present. So to play it safe we all met in the Co-Lab, the space we'd present in to set up beforehand. We went through the rules one last time and made sure we were all ready to present. Personally, watching a group present before us in the first half of class was reassuring. I had a frame of reference for what the presentation would be like.

When it came time for our group, I was incredibly nervouse because we presented to a group much larger than we anticipated and I had no idea how smooth or chaotic our playful experience would go. Though luckily Tianchen created a great slide deck for our presentation, and once we got started, and while it was chaotic to be sure, I felt our presentation went really well. Our interpretation of the readings seemed to successfully come across during the reflection portion of the presentation, and everyone seemed to have a lot of fun playing with all of the blocks and the dynamic nature of the experience.