Pat (Rose) Farrington

Pat (Rose) Farrington (image from Slide 42 in New Games Slide Show)

 

Have a great idea? Want to see it spread? Pass your game changer along to a community organizer.

 

If people think of Stewart Brand as the father of New Games, Pat (now Rose) Farrington is the Earth Mother. For New Games to grow into a movement, rather than a one-time, interesting afternoon of fun, required committed players—lots and lots of different players. Pat was the magnet that gathered and organized those players.

 

From the first New Games Tournament through the third, this nurturing, grassroots, activist-for-play was the center around which a group of disparate characters became a community of players. Always supportive, she provided permission and empowered them to add their own ideas to grow both New Games and the New Games Foundation.

 

Pat Farrington with an early New Games Advisory Board (image from Slide 45 in New Games Slide Show)

 

Nelson Mandela said that being a shepherd taught him how to lead from behind. More than anyone I have known, Pat embodies this concept. In the upstairs loft at the SF Ecology Center on Columbus Avenue, as Executive Director, her main role seemed to be that of official permission giver to volunteers and staff who were excited to go out and try new ideas. After listening, Pat would respond with an encouraging, "That sounds great. Try it."

 

Pat Farrington leading groups in Pyramid Building (image from Slide 169 in New Games Slide Show)

 

At the Third Tournament in Golden Gate Park, Pat established an onsite, central headquarters under a large cypress tree. She was there for most of the day, so we always knew where to find her. She let games leaders do their own thing, knowing they would figure out what was needed and the event would grow to become whatever it was meant to. Our unofficial Head Referee was a constant, reassuring presence, graciously guiding and passing on the spotlight to the many New Games Referees to lead individual activities while acting as a resource to all.

 

Play Community Organizing was a favorite game of hers, and she played it so everyone could participate, everyone could win, and everyone could have fun—together. A New Games Festival with a thousand people engaged in dozens of games is a play group writ large. On an even larger scale, this global thinker looked at organizing local communities—and eventually the whole world—as a great game. She worked to bring all parts of a community into the game as players, whether they brought, funding, supplies, advertising, or (especially) people, from pre-schools to senior centers, and everyone in between. Even if they couldn't participate in the actual event, local groups could still contribute to the game and be a member of the Play Community.

 

When asked about his greatest single invention, Steve Jobs didn't choose one single device; rather, he considered it was the creation of Apple, itself. In a similar vein Pat's greatest game might have been the creation and early guidance of the New Games Foundation. After getting this movement established in San Francisco, she spread the ideas to Australia, and beyond.

 

Results of reaching out to let others share. A list of community co-sponsors of the Third New Games Tournament in Golden Gate Park (image from Slide 114 in New Games Slide Show)

 

On a personal note, in my early twenties, it was Pat who taught me—and I'm sure many others—how to give and receive great, nourishing hugs.