Manifesto, the Collision conference game
Designed by Frank Lantz and Eric Zimmerman

Eric Zimmerman explains Manifesto
Manifesto is a game that was commissioned for the Collision conference and was designed by myself and Frank Lantz. Manifesto is a social game and, in many ways, a case study in emergence.

You will find three words on three separate cards. Write your name on the back of each card.

All of the words come from various cut up manifestos-manifestos from art, politics, technology, and design. The goal of the game is for you to interact with other conference attendees and create new statements. Near the coffee break area, there is a large game board where you can pin your statements up. Statements have to be grammatically correct statements or sentences of some kind.

[At this point, an audience member shouted out, "No rules!"]

No rules? Well, I'm explaining to you the starting rules. If the rules change during the course of play, so be it.

Once those carefully crafted statements are pinned to the board, the idea is that you don't change or alter them. So you do the mixing and editing with each other, and you put your finished statements on the board.

The reason you have to write your name on the back of the cards is because at a certain point tomorrow afternoon the statements will be numbered and you will have an opportunity to vote on your favorite. The winners will receive some wonderful prize.

And the winner was...

"IN COMPUTERS, WE THE DESIGNERS NAME THE EFFECTS OF REVOLT AND WILL ESCAPE PERCEPTION OF WHAT IS."

Some runners-up:

"DESIGN MUST BRIDGE AND DISCIPLINE MEDIA AND DESTROY THE MEANINGLESS OVERLOAD OF WORDS."

"CONTROL AND DISTRIBUTE THROUGH WOMEN."

"THE POINT WAS LATE ON PURPOSE."