Undo-Replay
Undo-Replay : The Game of Wacky Reuse
The Undo-Replay tabletop game utilises dismembered toy parts as playing pieces in a competitive tabletop game, where players create humourous “franken-toy” characters and narratives. It incorporates a variety of activities designed to appeal to children with different interests and skill sets based on divisions in the adult hobbyist community. The Player’s Manual encourages scavenging of spare and waste objects to fill the game boxes, like buttons, beads and scrap fabric. A whiteboard is included for narrative based prompts, and five colours of sticky tack. The wool felt base is used as a pin board of collected items when in storage.
Undo-Replay diverts toys from entering waste streams by intervening in the home. The project rescripts a hobby as a pro-environmental action based in repair, repurposing and parts harvesting. The structure intentionally places children in control of creating their own transferences of value, to strengthen sentimental bonds as they transform from user to creator of the object. By focusing on facilitating highly accessible activities, Undo-Replay allows any child to participate in practical sustainability.
The Undo-Replay tabletop game was evaluated with participants ranging in age from six to sixty, who all found it engaging, enjoyable and simple to learn despite some having initial hesitations about their creative ability. The combination of character and narrative-building prompts saw adults actively engage in a form of play that is typically outgrown by adolescence.