The Center for Ludic Synergy exists to foster ludism, or philosophy as it applies to games and gaming. This includes such questions as:

• Should we play games? If so, why?
• Why do people have an innate urge to play?
• What makes a game good?
• Can lessons learned in games be used in life, and vice versa?
• Is life in fact a game?

The CLS sponsors a number of projects related to ludism and bringing people together to talk about ludic topics; see the section CLS Projects. The CLS will attempt to incorporate as a non-profit corporation eventually, but one thing we can do for game designers and philosophers right now is offer them advertising-free web space, and optionally a Linux shell account with email access.

You do not need to subscribe to Ludism as a philosophy (see below) in order to take advantage of this offer; you just need to be a game designer or thinker. If you aren't, but still want free web space and email, we recommend you try Yahoo! or similar sites. If you are, however, and would like an account, please contact Ron Hale-Evans at rwhe@ludism.org.

Capital-L Ludism versus small-l ludism

Ludism with a capital 'L' is a particular philosophy of gaming being developed by the founder of the CLS, Ron Hale-Evans. He is writing an explanatory essay on the subject; meanwhile, you can read about it on a previous version of this page if you don't mind high-flown speculation.

Ludic synergy is one of the principles of capital-'L' Ludism.

Other pages hosted by the CLS

• Game Links ... Links to pages about unusual games that might be of interest to people who like to have their brains stretched.

• Ludology Links ... Ludology encompasses not only the mathematical discipline of game theory, which focuses on pure strategy, but also game design, game variants, the study of mutators and operators, and so on.

• Basic Ludist Reading List ... Some very good books with a Ludist slant (note the capital 'L').

Supporting the CLS

The CLS and Seattle Cosmic Game Night are associates of Funagain Games. This means that 5% of your purchase there goes toward supporting us if you buy games via the links on our pages or via the Funagain logo at the bottom of this page.

Even if you don't want to buy the games, the Funagain pages often contain lengthy, useful game reviews.

If you think the CLS is doing good work and would like to make a contribution of time, skills, materials, or money in some other way, please contact Ron Hale-Evans at gateio.

Maintainer: Ron Hale-Evans, rwhe@ludism.org
Page last updated 30 October 2006.

CLS Projects

Here are some of the projects fostered by the CLS. While all of them involve some form of ludism (lower-case 'l'), not all of them endorse Ludism (capital 'L').

• Seattle Cosmic Wiki ... Seattle Cosmic Game Night (a.k.a. Seattle Cosmic) meets weekly in the Seattle area.

  

  We started out playing Cosmic Encounter, but now we play a lot of other games. Our wiki contains newsletters from previous game nights (with photos), reviews of games we've played, and other stuff of interest to gamers.

• seattle-cosmic ... the mailing list for Seattle Cosmic members.

• EGGS ... EGGS (Experimental Game Genesis of Seattle) is a game design group that meets monthly in the Seattle area.

• Game Design Wiki ... This wiki was established to support the collaborative development of the principles of game design, and in particular, a pattern language of game design.

• Games to the Rescue ... a philanthropic project of the CLS and Seattle Cosmic Game Night. The aim is to provide game equipment and a book of game rules to hospitals, for use by patients and visitors.

• gamestotherescue ... The mailing list for Games to the Rescue.

• Glass Bead Game Wiki ... A wiki for exploring Hermann Hesse's concept of the Glass Bead Game, and "Glass Bead Game playable variants".

• Kennexions ... This is the "Glass Bead Game playable variant" created by Ron Hale-Evans.

• Mentat Wiki ... A wiki for exploring ways to become a better thinker. Topics explored on the wiki include memory techniques, mental math, critical thinking, brainstorming, shorthand systems, notebook systems, and smart drugs. Other relevant topics are welcome as well: how have you made yourself smarter? This wiki also hosts the Mind Performance Hacks support page.

• moratics ... A mailing list that studies generalised lines of strategy and tactics in games.

• of-like-mind ... A mailing list for solipsists and sympathisers, including people who endorse the idea of Life as Game.

• Piecepack Wiki ... The piecepack is to board games what a standard deck of cards is to card games. This wiki is a place where the piecepack community can work on game rules and exchange reviews in a collaborative space.

• Positive Revolution FAQ ... The Positive Revolution is a non-partisan political movement aimed at making a global difference for the better, without violence.

• Ron's Info-Closet and Ron's Info-Closet Annex ... The home page and blog (respectively) of Ron Hale-Evans, founder of the CLS, maintainer of these websites, and author of the book Mind Performance Hacks, published by O'Reilly Media.