The game catcher: a computer game and research tool for embodied movement

Drawing on Childhood Studies, Game Studies, Multimodality theory and on interactive design and movement notation in dance and folklore - this chapter discusses the conceptualisation, design, development and testing of the "Game Catcher", an innovative combined motion tracking research tool and computer game, produced as an experimental cultural intervention with the aim of creating a new form of computer game and as a tool to assist and augment field, ethnographic and folklore research into children's movement, particularly the embodied movement of playground games and activities. The development of the "Game Catcher" was led by Grethe Mitchell and produced as part of the AHRC Beyond Text funded project "Children's Playground Games and Songs in the New Media Age".