Now Play This 2025

Now Play This is a festival of experimental game design and playful art running at Somerset House in London, showcasing interactive and playful work as part of the London Games Festival.

This year, Now Play This presents Folk Games: The Stories We Play Together — we’ll be exploring how communities get together to create, reinterpret, and adapt the rules of play. Join us for a hands-on programme featuring inspiring talks, workshops, and playful sessions.

Now Play This started in 2015 as an experiment for us and for Somerset House. A way to show that games had already moved past the “but is it art” conversation and was forming complex interrogations into all sorts of spaces. Over the years we’ve grown from a couple of rooms and a couple of days, to an expansive nine day festival of games, workshops, talks, walks and a conference! Co-founded by Holly Gramazio and V Buckenham with support from Sophie Sampson and Jo Summers, the team has grown and changed over the years.