The Brains and Games International Design Fiction Competition

Spring 2021

The Brains and Games Competition was an international design fiction competition seeking creative ideas for brain-controlled multiplayer games. The competition was open to students of all ages and backgrounds, and was judged by a panel of experts in neuroscience, neuroethics, and media arts.

See a recording of the public presentation of the winning entries here.

The Highlights

1. 68 participants from elementary schools to universities
2. 20 submissions from seven different countries
3. $14,000 USD in prizes awarded to the twelve teams
4. 48 judges with expertise in game design, neuroscience, and education

Competition Details

The competition had three submission categories:

1. Brain Games: Open to any and all participants. Only creative ideas required!
2. VR + Neurotech + Health: Teams of 2-4 participants will conceptualize and design a future multiplayer game that uses brain-to-brain interaction (BBI) technologies. Prototype required for submission.
3. Computational Art: Individuals and groups will submit works of computational art that (1) explore themes surrounding neuroscience, ethics, technology, and consciousness, (2) respond to real-time data from 2+ brains, and (3) incorporate at least one other type of user interactivity (e.g. mouse movement, camera, etc). Prototype required for submission.

Awards

The twelve (12) top teams were awarded:

1. At least one Muse 2 Headband and mentorship from Brains@Play to develop game prototypes during Summer 2021.
2. One 3-pack of Ready-Mades of The Brain Architecture Game (valued at $99 - available to ship only to US and Canadian addresses).
3. DIY license coupons for The Brain Architecture Game for each member of the submitting team (valued at $99 - available to anyone worldwide).
4. An annual pass to the Remote Teams Edition of The Brain Architecture Game for each member of the submitting team (valued at $99 - available to anyone worldwide).

Grand Prize

One team from the VR + Neurotech + Health submission category will be awarded mentorship from Brains@Play and $5000 from the USC SMART-VR Center and Enosis to develop a functional demo of their game for Fall 2021.

Acknowledgements

Judges

The Brains and Games Competition was judged by a panel of experts in game design, neuroscience, and education.

1. Marcelo Díaz Viana Neto: Hostos Community College
2. Elizabeth Swensen: University of California, Santa Cruz
3. Judy Cameron: University of Pittsburgh
4. Laura Cabrera: Michigan State University
5. Katerina Zacharia: Loyola Marymount University
6. Bryan Jenkins: NeuroTechX | Ontario Veterinary College | University of Guelph
7. Erin Reynolds: Flying Mollusk
8. Anahita Dalmia: Alterea
9. Ishan Dasgupta: University of Washington
10. Roland Nadler: University of British Columbia
11. Pat Healy: University of Pittsburgh
12. Sook-Lei Liew: University of Southern California
13. James Finley: University of Southern California
14. Carolee Winstein: University of Southern California
15. Scott Fisher: University of Southern California
16. Vangelis Lympouridis: Enosis
17. Eran Klein: Oregon Health and Science University | University of Washington
18. Michael Young: Massachusetts General Hospital | Harvard Medical School
19. Antonia Zaferiou: Stevens Institute of Technology
20. Allen Yin: Facebook Reality Labs
21. Adam Molnar: Neurable | NeuroTechX
22. Brandon Siebert: Neurable
23. David Stanley: Neurable
24. Max Orozco: Lumeum
25. Tim Brown: University of Washington
26. Andreas Schönau: University of Washington
27. Judith Amores Fernandez: MIT Media Lab, Fluid Interfaces Group
28. Nataliya Kosmyna: MIT Media Lab, Fluid Interfaces Group | CEO Braini
29. Guillermo Bernal: MIT Media Lab, Fluid Interfaces Group
30. Sophia Batchelor: University of Leeds
31. Andreas Kratky: University of Southern California
32. Kiki Benzon: University of Southern California
33. Margaret Moser: University of Southern California
34. Jason Zevin: University of Southern California
35. Anton Nijholt: University of Twente
36. Nina Sobell
37. Mike Trivich
38. Laila Shereen Sakr: University of California, Santa Barbara
39. Kate Hollenbach: DePaul University
40. Suzanne Dikker: New York University
41. Matthias Oostrik
42. David Medine: Diademics Pty Ltd.
43. Alex Castillo: Neurosity
44. AJ Keller: Neurosity
45. Jeremy Greenberg: Future of Privacy Forum
46. Sarah Ciston: University of Southern California
47. Marientina Gotsis: University of Southern California
48. Dong Song: University of Southern California

Sponsors

The Brains and Games Competition was made possible by the generous support of our sponsors:

• USC Games
• USC SMART-VR Center
• USC Visions and Voices
• Enosis
• OpenBCI
• NeuroTechX
• USC Media Arts + Practice
• USC Creative Code Collective
• Ahmanson Lab of the USC Sidney Harman Polymathic Academy
• USC Corpus Callosum