Interactive displays that aim to engage people through play have been successfully deployed in urban environments. However, there has been little work bringing interactive displays into existing public game spaces like outdoor basketball courts. To explore this, we designed an interactive display for a public half-court basketball hoop. We studied the impact of 3 different display modes over a 10-week period through interviews with players, spectators, and passers-by. Our findings suggest 3 dimensions for the design space of such interactive displays: balancing noticeability across different user groups, support for different play action, and support for connecting user groups. We also present 6 design tactics along these dimensions to help designers create engaging interactive displays for public game spaces. using it to facilitate engaging playful experiences.

Socially awkward experiences are often looked upon as something to be avoided. However, examples from the non-digital entertainment domain suggest that social awkwardness can also facilitate engaging experiences. Yet there has been little research into exploring social awkwardness in digital games. In response, we present Musical Embrace, a digital game that promotes close physical proximity through the use of a novel pillow-like controller to facilitate socially awkward play between strangers. Through our observations from demonstrating Musical Embrace at a number of events, we have derived a set of strategies to engage players by "facilitating social awkwardness", allowing players to "transform social awkwardness" while also letting players "take control of social awkwardness". With our work we hope to inspire game designers to consider the potential of social awkwardness in digital games and guide them when using it to facilitate engaging play experiences.