• The Tiltfactor Laboratory makes screen based computer games as well as street games and table top games like card games and board games. Unlike typical commercial games, our mission is to focus on “critical play.” We make games for children, for adults, for the public, and for particular communities to raise issues, discussion points, or just innovate play in novel ways.

    While our games can be seen as educational, it is important to us that they are fun!

    Our software and playful art fosters rewarding, compelling, and socially-responsible interactions, with a focus on inventive game design for social change.

    • An Open Source Electronic Game for Archival Data Systems

    In our work with the Digital Humanities Start Up Grant from the NEH, we have created a working example of an open source, internet‐based computer game system for augmenting access to archival records. We have developed a suite of minigames for the collection of metadata, initially for the Rauner Library at Dartmouth College. This project is a pilot for a larger open source initiative that will allow other institutions to use the games in their archives.

    Brabble is our simplest game– actually, a naming activity — where participants just name what they see. For some reason, it is a compelling activity for the public and the team alike!

    Guess What? is a two player game (or player v. computer) where players have to choose an image from an array of images based on clues sent to them by the networked partner. The partner sees only one image, and what their partner is guessing.

    SpeedTag is a game geared to prompt for detailed information from players, such as scientific names and colors.


    ALphaGuess is a tricky game based on guessing what image tags start with the letter prompt.

    Increasingly, archivists across the US recognize that the mission of the archival institution is not only the acquisition, storage, description, and preservation of historical materials. The need to make the archive accessible – to provide usable tools and quality access to the material across members of society—is a dominant mission for many of today’s archivists. Having a suite of games enables database managers to custom link to the most effective and appropriate game front ends for their data.

    Our Team:

    • Designers: Mary Flanagan, Zara Downs
    • Dartmouth Student Designers: Linden Vongsathorn, Brendan Scully, Cole Ott
    • Dartmouth Student Game Testers: Alicia Driscoll, Max Seidman
    • Content Specialist: Peter Carini, College Archivist, Rauner Library
    • Programming: Joshua Weinberg, Robinson Tryon, Backend; Sukdith Punjasthitkul, General Support
    • Game Programming: Alphaguess, Joe Pietruch; Speedtag, Charlie Whitney; Brabble, Joshua Weinberg; Guess What?, Cecile WIlliams
    • Advisory Board:
      Brian Brantner – Computer Scientist at Adobe Systems
      Dr. Drew Davidson – Entertainment Technology Center Program Director, Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University
      Tracy Fullerton—Associate Professor and Chair, USC School of Cinematic Arts, Interactive Media Division; Director, Electronic Arts Game Innovation Lab; and EA Endowed Chair in Interactive Entertainment
      Dr. Celia Pearce—Director, Experimental Game Lab, School of Literature, Communication & Culture, Georgia Institute of Technology

    Our interdisciplinary team specializes in both archives management and in creating innovative and popular digital tools and games. Digital systems can allow for collaboration, searching, and linking, and these features could enhance the ability of researchers to find data currently obscured by lack of description.

    How can the strengths of current digital tools enhance the environment and the collection of the archive? Can our team harness the power of both technology and ‘crowds’ of individual researchers to help solve the challenges faced by archivists in representing their data with rich meta‐tags? Can the use of player choice enhance access to the archive, and at the same time, offer surprise, coincidence, provenance, and the discovery of new relationships?
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