Natron Baxter Applied Gaming

Players from nearly 200 countries and territories contributed 30,000 pieces of original content during the game’s ten-week run. The game’s legacy lives on in ~50 award- winning, EVOKE-inspired start-ups.

From its 2012 summer pilot until the pandemic, annual average participation in this urban race was ~30 cities across the country, registering 30,000+ virtual donations throughout their respective communities. 39% of participants said they started walking /exercising or increased the amount of exercise and 23% of participants said they started eating healthier.

Find the Future kicked off with a once-in-a-lifetime overnight event, where 500 players swarmed the library to discover its treasures and composed a collaborative epic to join the NYPL’s permanent collection.

After #findthefuture became a trending Twitter topic, the story of library foresight garnered attention from CNN, Wired, and The New York Times – and remains one of the NYPL’s most innovative and memorable extracurricular activities.

Like a frozen version of Oregon Trail, Cold Claim was a fun-first learning game for older students. It told the story of Antarctica in 2049, when expeditionary treaties expired and the continent became a resource-gathering free-for-all. Subtly, players learned the impacts of market regulations, international treaties, and the tension of environmental protection and industrial expansion. Up to 4 players could go head-to-head, or take on a custom “learning AI” opponent that made every play unique.