The Bridge Player

As the first task,players in London were to draw a map of Delhi,with their Delhi team-mates telling them exactly where to place the photographs of various landmarks. The emphatic instructions and shouts of joy over a task accomplished served to break the ice. In another game,teams were asked to list things that were common among the London and Delhi members. “The more uncommon the common things,the higher the marks for a team,” says Grover.

Participants began by cheerfully spotting the obvious commonalities — many were wearing similar shoes,for instance. Then,as the quest for higher marks built up,other features rose to the fore — in one team,around four participants had personally met the head of state,the Queen or the President of India. Another factor bound team-mates in London and Delhi — quite a few had,at least once in their life,contemplated suicide. By the end,as Grover had promised,it didn’t matter who won. Players from two countries were united through shared secrets,and attempts to understand how the other city looked,and how the other person felt.

“I try to build experiences for people. The games get them to ask questions that are subtle but change an old perspective,” he says. Apart from the UK,Grover has conducted Social Gaming sessions with a group in the US and the Philippines. The Melbourne Arts Centre has invited him to create a game for groups in Australia and India this month,and a similar session between Mexico and India will be held in October.

The games have thrown up surprising conclusions — youngsters from the Philippines were far more brand conscious than those from the UK,breaking the stereotype of a consumerist western world. “It also appeared that Indians were better with digital technology than many of their western counterparts,” says Grover. In October,he has been invited to give a lecture on game design and performance to students at Cornell University. “Social Gaming breaks the traditional structure of a passive spectator watching actors. Here,a spectator is involved in what he is watching,and it becomes a life-changing experience,” he says.