Articles

The Return of Cooperative New Games (Part 3) – Earthball

In part 3 I talked about the emergence of the game ‘Slaughter’, an energetic game that included the use of 4 balls. Another game that came out of that day was competition Earthball, which was similar to soccer, except that the ball was 6 feet in diameter, canvas and rubber, and painted like a globe. After the ball was inflated, without choosing teams Stewart announced that “There are two kinds of people in the world: those who want to push the Earth over the row of flags at that end of the field, and those who want to push it over the fence at the other end. Go to it.” There...

The Return of Cooperative New Games (Part 1)

What are New Games? For some of us, cooperative New Games never went away. We just kept right on doing them since their introduction in the early 1970’s. For others who have come along since then, they may still not know what New Games are. “Oh, you mean computer games.” Um. No. “Oh, you mean non-competitive games.” Still, no. Simply stated, New Games are cooperative group interactive games that are played just for fun, even when there is competition. Since it doesn’t matter who wins, we can include everyone, those of all ages, sizes, abilities, and both genders. You can be slow,...

The Return of Cooperative New Games (Part 2)

Where did New Games come from? In brief, New Games started as an idea of Stewart Brand, creator of the Whole Earth Catalog, in reaction to the Vietnam War. He felt that combat was getting abstract and remote. Stewart was looking for ways for people to channel and express their aggressive tendencies in ways that wouldn’t harm others. When the War Resisters League at San Francisco State College requested him to put on an event to demonstrate the uselessness of war, Stewart chose to create an event which, instead of preaching to the choir, would get people to understand war by experiencing the...

The Return of Cooperative Games (Part 4) – Trust Games

Trust Games and Creative Play In addition to the element of softwar, which has become a minor part of New Games, the concept of “creative play” came from a friend of Stewart’s named George Leonard, author of the book The Ultimate Athlete. What was involved here was placing a player “in an open environment and encouraged to use his/her imagination to devise new play forms.” The vitally significant part of this was “How we play the game may turn out to be more important than we imagine, for it signifies our way of being in the world.” Thus, players not only were able to change the...

The Return of Cooperative Games (Part 5) Over the years

New Games over the years From the beginning we knew that we had a way of relating to each other, an idea of fun and inclusion that was different than the norm of all-out competition where the winner takes all, gets the accolades, and takes home the trophy. This is still the dominant theme in physical games. With New Games, the winner doesn’t matter and just helps start the next game while we keep on playing. Often times, people such as a little kid, older woman, or another unlikely candidate “win” a game when they had never had done so before, which is both surprising and moving for...

Christmas Youth Group Games

New Games are one answer Cooperative New Games are perfect for Christmas youth group games. Size or athleticism do not matter in New Games: all that’s needed is a desire to play. Therefore, not only can all ages and ability levels play the games, which will mean you don’t have to separate into various groups to participate in the games, but games can be adapted to Christmas themes and stories. Christmas stories adapted to New Games For instance, you can take the story of the 3 wise men and use the game of Sun Monarch with a little tweaking. In this game, one person starts off in front...