Runner Bees

Runner Bees is a vibrant physical game developed for Plug in and Play 2024 where players work together to re-create colourful patterns of flowers. Players fill their buckets with ball pool balls, and race round the grassy circuit to their stations, where they arrange the balls into wooden frames to match the floral mosaic at the front of the space. 

The game can be played competitively or cooperatively, and supports two to twelve players.

To show the mosaics of flowers and bring additional spectacle to the event, we used a Vestaboard, a modern flipboard display.  This provided a bright, analogue view of the flowers for players, accompanied by the satisfying spin of the panels echoing through the space.

Runner Bees delivered a strong, accessible experience, supported by a technical element that enhanced, rather than distracting from play. We saw high engagement from many audiences throughout the festival, including grandparents and grandchildren, people in wheelchairs and of course, bees.

Credits:

Design and fabrication: Alex Johansson

Production, research and documentation: David Hayward

Special thanks to local Sheffield artist James Brown for letting us borrow the Vestaboard for the event.

Exhibition Sites:

2024

- Plug in and Play, Rotherham -  31st Oct - 2nd Nov

More coming soon!