Category Archives: From My Work

These are posts that have to do with my day to day job at the American Museum of Natural History.

Game Night Gone Wild @AMNH

Posted on March 16, 2016 by Barry

Do games belong in museums? Well, the 500 attendees at last night’s sold out event – Game Night Gone Wild – answered with their feet: “Hell, yes! (and pass the dice…)” This is not the first time the Museum has … Continue reading →

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Killer Snails: Assassins of the Sea available on Kickstarter

Posted on March 8, 2016 by Barry

A year ago a group of teenagers spent a week at the Museum working with marine biochemist, Dr. Mandë Holford, game designer Nicholas Fortugno of Playmatics, and our team of science educators to assist in the development of a new … Continue reading →

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What’s the Buzz on MicroRangers? (A Brief Social Media Survey)

Posted on March 4, 2016 by Barry

We’ve recently seen an uptick in social media postings about MicroRangers, from players as they play the new mobile game throughout the Museum. This is an informative (and exciting) way for us to collect unsolicited feedback about the player experience. … Continue reading →

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Using Museum Carts to Support Visitor Interaction with Augmented Objects

Posted on March 1, 2016 by Hannah Jaris

Why do museums use carts? Teaching carts are a common sight at our museum: our Teaching Volunteers use them with visiting school groups our Saltz Internship program trains high school students to run a variety of carts on the weekends … Continue reading →

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MicroRangers Promotional Videos

Posted on February 2, 2016 by Barry

As press outreach begins for MicroRangers (here’s yesteryday’s piece from NY1) I wanted to collect these videos in one place, designed to offer a taste of the game. This is a movie-trailer style promo for MicroRangers. Imagine a narrator saying, … Continue reading →

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Preview image from Dreams of a Haida Child

Posted on January 21, 2016 by Barry

In just a few months the Museum will be releasing a new packet of activity sheets designed to engage families in our historic Hall of Northwest Coast Indians. At the same time we will release a new app, developed with … Continue reading →

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MicroRangers To The Rescue! A new mobile app from the Museum brings an invisible world to life

Posted on January 8, 2016 by Barry

This season’s issue of Rotunda, our Member magazine, features a two-page spread inaugurating the launch of our new mobile game, MicroRangers. You can download it here or read it below (you can also learn more at MicroRangers.org, where you can … Continue reading →

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Ludology Podcast focuses on Gutsy, with Interviews

Posted on November 27, 2015 by Barry

In the recent episode of the podcast Ludology, an analytical discussion of the how’s and why’s of the world of board games, Geoffrey Engelstein interviewed both Eric Teo and myself about the new game we developed with Susan Perkins and … Continue reading →

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Epic headshop at 31;65, or Minecraft & 21st Century Learning

Posted on November 27, 2015 by Barry

Last fall I participated in a panel at the The Bard Graduate Center entitled “Toys in Context: Sweden, Scandinavia, and the Digital World” – a fancy way of saying we were talking about Minecraft. Along with Colin Fanning, the curatorial fellow … Continue reading →

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Gutsy Defies Expectations in New Review on Dice Tower Podcast

Posted on November 19, 2015 by Barry

Our new card game, Gutsy, received its first review this week, on Episode 432 of the Dice Tower, a podcast about board and card games that has a audience of about 25,000. We’ve been delighted by the game, currently for … Continue reading →

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