Center for Transformational Play
@cmuctp.bsky.social
We're a research group at Carnegie Mellon University. We bring together expertise from across CMU to design, build, and study transformational games that shape how people think, feel, and behave.
🤖🌐 CTP Director Dr. Jessica Hammer was delighted to be part of PA State @repdanmiller.com’s latest Community Webinar. The panel discussion centered on the intersection of artificial intelligence and its use for social engagement. Check out the video! 👉 pahouse.com/miller/communitywebinars
November 6, 2025 at 3:53 PM
🤖🌐 CTP Director Dr. Jessica Hammer was delighted to be part of PA State @repdanmiller.com’s latest Community Webinar. The panel discussion centered on the intersection of artificial intelligence and its use for social engagement. Check out the video! 👉 pahouse.com/miller/communitywebinars
🎃🐈⬛ Celebrate Halloween with a cheeky horror tragicomedy - Slay the Princess. A mysterious voice says you must kill a princess in a cabin in the woods. If you fail - it will bring about the end of the world. We saved the spookiest for last: Three out of five 👻👻👻
Link 👉 blacktabbygames.com/press-stp
Link 👉 blacktabbygames.com/press-stp
October 31, 2025 at 2:57 PM
🎃🐈⬛ Celebrate Halloween with a cheeky horror tragicomedy - Slay the Princess. A mysterious voice says you must kill a princess in a cabin in the woods. If you fail - it will bring about the end of the world. We saved the spookiest for last: Three out of five 👻👻👻
Link 👉 blacktabbygames.com/press-stp
Link 👉 blacktabbygames.com/press-stp
Let’s keep up the creepy with Home Safety Hotline. In this analog game players take on the role of a telephone operator who must answer incoming callers’ questions about what’s inside their home. Spookiness Rating of two out of five 👻👻
Link 👉 igdb.com/games/244303/presskit
Link 👉 igdb.com/games/244303/presskit
October 30, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Let’s keep up the creepy with Home Safety Hotline. In this analog game players take on the role of a telephone operator who must answer incoming callers’ questions about what’s inside their home. Spookiness Rating of two out of five 👻👻
Link 👉 igdb.com/games/244303/presskit
Link 👉 igdb.com/games/244303/presskit
A slightly spookier game recommendation: Cult of the Lamb casts players in the role of a possessed lamb saved from annihilation by an ominous stranger… but now you must repay the debt. This one gets a Spookiness Rating of two out of five 👻👻
Link 👉 igdb.com/games/cult-of-the-lamb/presskit
Link 👉 igdb.com/games/cult-of-the-lamb/presskit
October 29, 2025 at 2:30 PM
A slightly spookier game recommendation: Cult of the Lamb casts players in the role of a possessed lamb saved from annihilation by an ominous stranger… but now you must repay the debt. This one gets a Spookiness Rating of two out of five 👻👻
Link 👉 igdb.com/games/cult-of-the-lamb/presskit
Link 👉 igdb.com/games/cult-of-the-lamb/presskit
Tuesday’s Halloween treat is a life-sim game about camping on a haunted, ever-changing island. In Cozy Grove you’re a spirit scout wandering the forest, finding hidden secrets, and helping soothe the local ghosts. Spookiness Rating: One out of five 👻
👉 www.qag.io/cg/
👉 www.qag.io/cg/
October 28, 2025 at 1:08 PM
Tuesday’s Halloween treat is a life-sim game about camping on a haunted, ever-changing island. In Cozy Grove you’re a spirit scout wandering the forest, finding hidden secrets, and helping soothe the local ghosts. Spookiness Rating: One out of five 👻
👉 www.qag.io/cg/
👉 www.qag.io/cg/
Our Project Baseplate partners over at cmu.edu/gelfand and mattsmakerspace.org are continuing to amplify learning in Pittsburgh and beyond!
Read more 👉 tinyurl.com/5xmuvnxb
Read more 👉 tinyurl.com/5xmuvnxb
October 8, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Our Project Baseplate partners over at cmu.edu/gelfand and mattsmakerspace.org are continuing to amplify learning in Pittsburgh and beyond!
Read more 👉 tinyurl.com/5xmuvnxb
Read more 👉 tinyurl.com/5xmuvnxb
The CTP is honored to celebrate the 2025 Andy Awards @cmu.edu and to be recognized in three categories:
🏆Commitment to Community Engagement
🏆Commitment to Excellence
🏆Teamwork and Collaboration
Congratulations to all the nominees and thank you for all you do to support CMU! 👉 tinyurl.com/3enrj7b7
🏆Commitment to Community Engagement
🏆Commitment to Excellence
🏆Teamwork and Collaboration
Congratulations to all the nominees and thank you for all you do to support CMU! 👉 tinyurl.com/3enrj7b7
October 2, 2025 at 4:46 PM
The CTP is honored to celebrate the 2025 Andy Awards @cmu.edu and to be recognized in three categories:
🏆Commitment to Community Engagement
🏆Commitment to Excellence
🏆Teamwork and Collaboration
Congratulations to all the nominees and thank you for all you do to support CMU! 👉 tinyurl.com/3enrj7b7
🏆Commitment to Community Engagement
🏆Commitment to Excellence
🏆Teamwork and Collaboration
Congratulations to all the nominees and thank you for all you do to support CMU! 👉 tinyurl.com/3enrj7b7
When you smile, the whole world smiles with you. Thanks to Professor Emeritus Scott Fahlman, we send smiles a thousand miles through our keyboards. September 19, 1982 marks the birthday of the emoticon: A simple :-) sent over a CMU message board. #CTPScotty was thrilled to swing by the celebration!
September 19, 2025 at 4:45 PM
When you smile, the whole world smiles with you. Thanks to Professor Emeritus Scott Fahlman, we send smiles a thousand miles through our keyboards. September 19, 1982 marks the birthday of the emoticon: A simple :-) sent over a CMU message board. #CTPScotty was thrilled to swing by the celebration!
Trivia Time! Our neighbours to the north are celebrating Canada Day - in honour of a day of fun and games, can you name *both* of Canada’s official sports? Chances are you keep your stick on the ice… but what’s the other one? (If you want the answer, visit tinyurl.com/5bzcn87u eh?)🏒🍁 🎆
July 1, 2025 at 1:42 PM
Trivia Time! Our neighbours to the north are celebrating Canada Day - in honour of a day of fun and games, can you name *both* of Canada’s official sports? Chances are you keep your stick on the ice… but what’s the other one? (If you want the answer, visit tinyurl.com/5bzcn87u eh?)🏒🍁 🎆
We’re totally stoked to celebrate June 27 as the day Tony Hawk landed the first ever 900 in competition at the 1999 X Games. That same year Pro Skater debuted on the PlayStation and launched one of the best-selling video game franchises of the early 2000s. Gnarly. 🛹🎮🤸
June 27, 2025 at 3:56 PM
We’re totally stoked to celebrate June 27 as the day Tony Hawk landed the first ever 900 in competition at the 1999 X Games. That same year Pro Skater debuted on the PlayStation and launched one of the best-selling video game franchises of the early 2000s. Gnarly. 🛹🎮🤸
Our Pittsburgh Pals Krista Kay and Marcella Spear are still alive on Season 5 of LEGOMasters! We have our bricks crossed that this Project Baseplate alum and her Steel City Lug pal will make it through another round. Watch the action at 8 pm on FOXTV (streaming next day on Hulu) 🧱🤞👷
June 2, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Our Pittsburgh Pals Krista Kay and Marcella Spear are still alive on Season 5 of LEGOMasters! We have our bricks crossed that this Project Baseplate alum and her Steel City Lug pal will make it through another round. Watch the action at 8 pm on FOXTV (streaming next day on Hulu) 🧱🤞👷
Get ready to get your brick on and cheer on friend and Project Baseplate alum Krista Kay! S5 of fox.com/lego-masters premiers TONIGHT at 8 pm on FOX (streaming next day on Hulu). Krista and Pittsburgh Pal Marcella Spear will go head-to-head with 10 other teams for the title of LEGO® Master. 🧱👷🏁
May 19, 2025 at 12:58 PM
Get ready to get your brick on and cheer on friend and Project Baseplate alum Krista Kay! S5 of fox.com/lego-masters premiers TONIGHT at 8 pm on FOX (streaming next day on Hulu). Krista and Pittsburgh Pal Marcella Spear will go head-to-head with 10 other teams for the title of LEGO® Master. 🧱👷🏁
Start your engines! May 16th is NASCAR Day. What better way to celebrate than to get into an argument over the first NASCAR video game. Our official position: it's Richard Petty’s “Talladega” released in 1984 for Atari 8-bit computers. Disagree? We will come at you like a spider monkey 🎮🏎️🏁
May 16, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Start your engines! May 16th is NASCAR Day. What better way to celebrate than to get into an argument over the first NASCAR video game. Our official position: it's Richard Petty’s “Talladega” released in 1984 for Atari 8-bit computers. Disagree? We will come at you like a spider monkey 🎮🏎️🏁
Did you know one of the earliest video games was created in 1958? American physicist William Higinbotham designed “Tennis for Two” for the Brookhaven National Laboratory's annual public exhibition using an oscilloscope and two aluminum controllers. Bonus fun fact - Pong didn’t debut until 1972! 🎮🏓
May 9, 2025 at 2:10 PM
Did you know one of the earliest video games was created in 1958? American physicist William Higinbotham designed “Tennis for Two” for the Brookhaven National Laboratory's annual public exhibition using an oscilloscope and two aluminum controllers. Bonus fun fact - Pong didn’t debut until 1972! 🎮🏓
The CTP is thrilled to share the news that one of our amazing Project Baseplate Brick-by-Brick® facilitator program alumni has been selected for Season 5 of fox.com/lego-masters 🤯 Krista Kay will compete with partner youtube.com/@BuildwMarcella against 10 other teams for the title of LEGO® Master!
May 6, 2025 at 5:35 PM
The CTP is thrilled to share the news that one of our amazing Project Baseplate Brick-by-Brick® facilitator program alumni has been selected for Season 5 of fox.com/lego-masters 🤯 Krista Kay will compete with partner youtube.com/@BuildwMarcella against 10 other teams for the title of LEGO® Master!
Did you know that May 2 marks the 25th anniversary of the U.S. government allowing public access to highly accurate GPS signals? Thus paving the way for all sorts of fun adventures … like discovering there’s a Pokémon gym next to your favorite campus coffee shop. 👾🤾🗺️
May 2, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Did you know that May 2 marks the 25th anniversary of the U.S. government allowing public access to highly accurate GPS signals? Thus paving the way for all sorts of fun adventures … like discovering there’s a Pokémon gym next to your favorite campus coffee shop. 👾🤾🗺️
Do you have a “magpie mind?” CTP Director Jessica Hammer shares her thoughts on how to tell if a career in game design is a good fit for you: www.usnews.com/education/ar...
April 29, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Do you have a “magpie mind?” CTP Director Jessica Hammer shares her thoughts on how to tell if a career in game design is a good fit for you: www.usnews.com/education/ar...
If you're searching for eggs this weekend, consider this: Did you know the earliest recorded versions of hide-and-seek date back to ancient Greece? Referred to as apodidraskinda or phyginda in various texts, the game was also found depicted in a second-century painting discovered at Herculaneum. 🫣
April 18, 2025 at 3:18 PM
If you're searching for eggs this weekend, consider this: Did you know the earliest recorded versions of hide-and-seek date back to ancient Greece? Referred to as apodidraskinda or phyginda in various texts, the game was also found depicted in a second-century painting discovered at Herculaneum. 🫣
Fun Fact Friday! The oldest playable board game is “The Royal Game of Ur.” Originating in Mesopotamia about 4600 years ago, the game’s rules were deciphered by a curator at the British Museum. (You can also buy an exclusive copy in their gift shop)👑🎲🏦
April 11, 2025 at 2:49 PM
Fun Fact Friday! The oldest playable board game is “The Royal Game of Ur.” Originating in Mesopotamia about 4600 years ago, the game’s rules were deciphered by a curator at the British Museum. (You can also buy an exclusive copy in their gift shop)👑🎲🏦
Spring Carnival at @cmu.edu is in full swing and we couldn’t resist another trip. While of course the CTP shouts out all the creativity shown by students with their booths and doghouses… #CTPScotty may have one or two favorites (see if you can spot him!)🎉🐾🎪
April 4, 2025 at 5:16 PM
Spring Carnival at @cmu.edu is in full swing and we couldn’t resist another trip. While of course the CTP shouts out all the creativity shown by students with their booths and doghouses… #CTPScotty may have one or two favorites (see if you can spot him!)🎉🐾🎪
The CTP is all about playful experiences - and what’s more fun than stuffing a human being into a five-foot long tube and sending them hurtling down the street? Check out the #CMUbuggy showcase ahead of @cmu.edu's spring carnival. Good luck to all buggy teams. May the odds be ever in your favor! 🍀🏎️🎡
April 3, 2025 at 5:56 PM
The CTP is all about playful experiences - and what’s more fun than stuffing a human being into a five-foot long tube and sending them hurtling down the street? Check out the #CMUbuggy showcase ahead of @cmu.edu's spring carnival. Good luck to all buggy teams. May the odds be ever in your favor! 🍀🏎️🎡
Conventional wisdom is don't do serious things (like launching yourself on a new platform) on April 1st. But we are anything but conventional! We are the Center for Transformational Play. We make games and playful experiences that change people. Join us in the transformative power of play! 🚀🎉🎮
April 1, 2025 at 1:00 PM
Conventional wisdom is don't do serious things (like launching yourself on a new platform) on April 1st. But we are anything but conventional! We are the Center for Transformational Play. We make games and playful experiences that change people. Join us in the transformative power of play! 🚀🎉🎮