Part game, part performance, Atlantean Adrift enlists teams of players to help a lost merman regain his spirits and return to Atlantis. The merman wishes for a boat, cookies, a throne, and a theatrical performance to prepare him for his trip home. Led by a folklorist, the players fulfill the merman's wishes by engaging strangers and the urban landscape in awkward folly and foolhearted optimism in the hopes of bring a little comfort to one found so far from home. Atlantean Adrift was part of the 2009 Come Out & Play Festival.

Acting as game designer and project manager, I collaborated with Joe Mauriello, Sam Strick, and Clayton Grey to produce this urban game.


Katie Bode designed make-up and props. Sam Strick played the folklorist and designed costumes. Tiff Fernandez played the merman. Joe Mauriello played the ship captain. Mina Karimi and Kara Suhey baked and managed sugar cookies. Axel Esquite, Greg Kaplan, Alex Feurer, and Tim Enright played throne sitters. Sal Garro played the drum.