Institute of Play

Institute of Play
Formation2007
Type501(c)(3) corporation
HeadquartersNew York City, New York, United States
Area served
Worldwide
Executive Directors
Rebecca Rufo-Tepper, Arana Shapiro
Websiteinstituteofplay.org

The Institute of Play (IOP) was a 501(c)(3) corporation founded in 2007. Based in New York City, the institute offered school design services, educator programs, game and curriculum design, and corporate trainings / workshops.

Their initial work promoted game design, games and gaming as a model tool to enhance personal and social development, in particular learning in secondary school students.[1] Within six months of its formation by a group of game designers from gameLab, the Institute of Play received a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to develop Quest to Learn, a New York City public school designed around game design principles and based on over thirty years of learning research.[2]

The Institute of Play has announced it plans to shut down operations by the third quarter of 2019 and its materials will remain available through licenses through the Connected Learning Lab at the University of California, Irvine.[3]

  1. ^ "New 6th-12th Grade School Will Use Games And Game Design as Pathways to Creativity and Learning" (PDF). MacArthur Foundation Press Release. Jun 21, 2007.
  2. ^ "About". Institute of Play.
  3. ^ McAloon, Alissa (June 4, 2019). "The Institute of Play is winding down after 11 years". Gamasutra. Retrieved June 4, 2019.