Talented children at Rosehill Primary School in Rawmarsh and Crags Community School in Maltby have created two interactive games for Plug In & Play, the festival of gaming that returns to Rotherham this October half term.

Designed and delivered by Children’s Capital of Culture in collaboration with the National Videogame Museum, Plug In & Play is an epic series of real-life video game adventures taking place across the borough from Monday 27 – Friday October 31. Suitable for all ages, this five-day festival of digital and analogue gaming, is free to take part in!

Pupils aged 7 to 11 from both schools helped to design the Halloween-themed games, alongside gaming experts from the National Videogame Museum. They met this week to put the games through their final tests ahead of the event.

Rock, Paper, Wizards by Crags Community School and Cauldron Couriers by Rosehill Primary School will be a star attraction of the Plug In & Play’s Games Trail on Friday October 31, a journey of competitive challenges and real-life video games across a variety of Rotherham locations, including Grimm & Co and Rotherham Minster.

Plug In & Play creative producers David Hayward (far left) and Alex Johansson (far right) test Games Trail games with (L to R) Lillia, Katie, Priyenthen and Thomas from Rosehill Junior School.

placeholder image — Plug In & Play creative producers David Hayward (far left) and Alex Johansson (far right) test Games Trail games with (L to R) Lillia, Katie, Priyenthen and Thomas from Rosehill Junior School.

David Hayward and Alex Johansson, creative producers for Plug In & Play, said: “It’s been brilliant working with the children from both schools, their imagination and creativity have blown us away. We know Games Trail visitors are going to enjoy Crags Community School’s Rock, Paper, Wizards game where they can create their own colour coded LED spells and see them magically light up the room. Rosehill Junior School’s game about feeding sweets to Count Snackula and his monster friends is lots of fun, too.”

Plug In & Play will be packed with free workshops, electronic music performances and high-energy gaming challenges that have been co-created with children and young people in Rotherham.

Rotherham Council’s Cabinet Member for Street Scene and Green Spaces, Cllr Lynda Marshall, said: “One of the things that makes Rotherham’s year as the world’s first Children’s Capital of Culture so special is that children and young people have been involved in co-creating the events and activities at every stage. Plug In & Play is the perfect example of this, and it’s fantastic that the National Videogame Museum have been able to work with local children to bring these new games to life.”

Visit www.childrenscapitalofculture.co.uk to find out more about Plug In & Play, which runs from Monday 27 – Friday October 31.