Power up your half-term with Plug In & Play! A collaboration between the National Videogame Museum and Children’s Capital of Culture, the second Plug In & Play Festival will take place during October half-term 2025.
Inspired by video games, Plug In & Play encourages children and families to play interactive, immersive and engaging games.
This year it will be four-day series of side quests and fringe events, building up to a mega one-day games trail finale starting in All Saints Square on 31 October.
In the lead up to the Festival, the National Videogame Museum and a duo of professional games designers will visit Crags Community School and Rosehill Junior School to work with pupils to design and test fun, physical and playful games.
Let the countdown until Plug In & Play Festival begin! Key an eye out on our website and social media channels for more updates.
Side quests
In the run-up to the Games Trail finale on the 31 October, a series of side quests events will take place in different venues and spaces across the Rotherham borough.
There are a range of fun, pop-up gaming activities suitable for both younger children and families, and for 16 to 18 year olds.
Click to expand the sections below to find out more!
Where: Clifton Park Museum
When: Monday 27 October
Time: 10:30am until 3:30pm
Learn how to use Twine to create your own interactive text-based games! This one-day taster session is led by Lauren O’Donoghue – a writer, PhD candidate and game designer. If you’re interested in making games, narrative design and storytelling, Twine is a great place to start. No coding experience required!
Where: Clifton Park Museum
When: Monday 27 October
Time: 10:00am until 2:00pm
Count Snackula and his monster friends demand sweets! Of course, they won't go trick-or-treating themselves. That's the sort of thing they have minions for! On this night-of-the-delivering-dead, are you a fast enough courier for the graveyard shift? Created with Rosehill Junior School
Where: Rotherham Minster
When: Monday 27 October
Time: 2:00pm until 4:00pm
Guild of Games are teaming up with Rotherham Minster to run a very special Mario Kart tournament. Race around grassy plains, bustling cities, wide-open waters and big ol’ volcanos – all inside this amazing 1000 year-old building! To sign up, simply turn up at 2pm or call Guild of Games on 01709 320618 for more information.
Where: Clifton Park Garden House
When: Tuesday 28 October
Time: 2:00pm until 4:30pm
The Game Boy’s soundchip might seem limited in what it can do, but Harley believes those restrictions actually spark creativity! Harley is an artist and music producer from Sheffield who creates music using the Nintendo Game Boy. Get hands-on with Little Sound DJ (LSDj), a piece of software made for the Game Boy that lets you sequence and control its internal soundchip. Open to 16 – 18 year olds living in the Rotherham borough.
Where: Riverside Café
When: Wednesday 29 October
Time: 11:00am until 3:00pm
Created by local young people, these interactive computer games use an online tool called Twine to tell unique stories. Inspired by Rotherham’s parks, heritage and special secrets, drop by and try out these brand-new adventures. You can stay for 5 minutes or spend ages exploring the multiple tales and endings!
Where: All Saints Square
When: Wednesday 29 October
Time: 11:00am until 3:00pm
Play in the ultimate gaming bus. With a range of videogame activities, you’ll be spoilt for choice!
Where: Catcliffe Glass Cone
When: Wednesday 29 October
Time: 10:00am until 2:00pm
Will you be the last player standing? Eliminate other players by jostling their colourful control and protecting your own.
Where: Riverside Library, Main St, Rotherham S60 1AE
When:
- Monday 27 October: Free workshop for ages 7 to 11
- Tuesday 28 October: Free workshop for ages 7 to 11
- Wednesday 29 October: Free workshop for ages 12 to 16
Time: 10:00am until 2:00pm
Create your own characters fit for the spooky season and consider how these characters might operate in a game! Then, on 31 October, all the works will be displayed in an exhibition at Riverside House Library Gallery Space. For young people aged 7-14, parents and guardians will need to stay in the building.
Where: Boston Castle
When: Thursday 30 October
Time: 11:00am until 2:00pm
Create your own castle to storm or defend, as well as brave knights or fearsome dragons to aid you in your quest! Led by animator and illustrator Natasha Poland, drop by for a fun art workshop suitable for all ages and abilities.
Where: Guild of Games, 8 High St, Rotherham S60 1PP
When: Tuesday 28, Wednesday 29, and Thursday 30 October
Time: 1:30pm until 3:30pm
Intrapology is an online interactive sci-fi project created by Dr. Zoyander Street and D. Squinkifer. Intrapology takes social constructivism very literally, to the point that things get weird! They will be running three unique role-playing games, open to people aged 16-18.
Hocus Pocus Hyperfocus, Soft Chaos
A cozy storytelling game for 1-6 players about a little witch with ADHD and all the magic in the world to distract her. A magnificent mess where anything can happen.
Small Town Skeletons, Furtive Shambles
Casual roleplaying game for 3-5 people, each of whom will play as a teenager who also happens to be a skeleton, caught up in the strangeness of their body, their life and their town. A teen drama with the touch of the uncanny.
The Ground Itself, Everest Pipkin
One-session storytelling game for 2-5 players. Focusing on place - one specific place, chosen by the group - it considers how places change and remember themselves.
Where: Arc Cinema, Forge Island, Bridge St, Rotherham S60 1QJ
When: Saturday 1 and Sunday 2 November
Time: 3:00pm
A chance to see this blockbuster film on the big screen! When four students play with a magical video game, they are drawn to the jungle world of Jumanji, where they are trapped as their avatars. To return to the real world, they must finish the game. Visit ARC cinema’s website to purchase tickets.
The Final Level: The Plug in Zone
Where: All Saints Square
When:Friday 31 October
Time: 10:00am until 4:00pm
Explore a world of digital and electronic arts in All Saints Square. Play games, make music and experience activities created by artists and tech experts.
Click to expand the sections below to find out more!
Thunkist is a musician and creative technologist. In this interactive installation, you’ll use smartwatches to trigger sounds and visual effects. Get moving around the space to create amazing soundscapes, including shifting around sounds in 3D!
Step into a retro-futuristic playground where video game consoles and home computers from the 1980s are turned into real-time instruments!
In this unique part performance, part workshop jam session, take control of Commodore 64s, Amiga 1200s, Game Boys, Famicoms, NES consoles and more – remixing the sounds of classic technology to create brand-new music together.
No musical training required – just curiosity, creativity and a love of play.
Inside their gigantic pop-up Dome, Scavenger Hub invite you to explore upcycled and re-purposed electronic materials to create circuits, sound experiments and strange devices.
Have a go at making the Robot Chicken using upcycled computer junk, feel 1000 watts of bass power though your fingers, watch some dancing alien Oobleck, play a mechanical violin and connect your friends to an electrical circuit to find out how squeaky their noses are.
Secret Bonus Level!
Where: Guild of Games, 8 High St, Rotherham S60 1PP
When:Friday 31 October
Click to expand the sections below to find out more!
Everything we see, hear, smell and feel affects us. Sensors attached to the hands detect stress and relaxation levels through the Galvanic Skin Response, much like a lie detector. These autonomous changes are then transmuted into audible musical notations, attached to specific colour patterns and amplified externally through speakers, headphones and projections!
The Final Level: Games Trail
When: Friday 31 October
Time: 10:00am until 4:00pm
Grab a map from All Saints Square and go on a journey of competitive challenges and real-life video games. Made by games developers working with Rotherham’s young minds!
Click to expand the sections below to find out more!
Where: Minster Yard, Church St, Rotherham S60 1PD
Will you be the last player standing? Eliminate other players by jostling their colourful control and protecting your own.
Where: Rotherham Minster, Church St, Rotherham S60 1PD
A certain Frog wants more things to jump on and has been fly-tipping into the River Don! Can you help clean it up in a race against your opponent?
Where: Grimm & Co. Ship Hill, Rotherham S60 2HG
Join animator and illustrator Natasha in this visual arts drawing drop-in that lets you gain inspiration from local forts, favourite video game characters or your own ideas. Create a castle or fantasy cast before bringing them to life with nothing but an iPad or phone, your own art and a greenscreen!
Where: Grimm & Co. Ship Hill, Rotherham S60 2HG
This year Grimm & Co's Saturday Clubs created their very own tabletop role play games, and we are delighted to launch them as part of Plug In & Play Festival. Games can last up to an hour, and last entry to allow time to play a game is 2:15pm.
Crystal Crash
The planet Geode exists at the far edge of the galaxy. Here, space travelling wolves from the year 3022 mine crystals from the cave biome. However, the cave needs to be protected, or the world will crumble with it! The resident creatures of Geode must band together to protect the planet.
Journey in Cogtopia
Cogtopia, an industrial society, is utilising magic to further its industry. Magic is no longer wild and free; it has been controlled and studied. A choice must be made to work with the rebels and find magic to make it wild or keep magic harnessed to preserve the status quo in Cogtopia.
Where: Forge Island, Market St, Rotherham S60 1QE
Street Pixel is a magical interactive paving system that transforms the urban landscape through light sound and play. Combining architecture and emotion, Street Pixel uses playful technologies, recycled materials and game design to connect people and spaces in wonderful new ways.
Where: Riverside Library and Neighbourhood Hub, Main St, Rotherham, S60 1AE
Come and drop-by this spooky exhibition created by children and young people who took part in creative workshops building up to The Final Level! These workshops were led by young people completing their Gold Arts Award, a nationally recognised level 3 qualification.
Where: Forge Island
When: Friday 31 October
Time: 10:00am until 2:00pm
Count Snackula and his monster friends demand sweets! Of course, they won't go trick-or-treating themselves. That's the sort of thing they have minions for! On this night-of-the-delivering-dead, are you a fast enough courier for the graveyard shift? Created with Rosehill Junior School