London’s Natural History Museum (NHM) has announced the return of its in-person ‘Lates’ events for the first time since 2020 with an evening dedicated to gaming and nature.
Called Playful by Nature, the event invites visitors to explore nature through nature-inspired games. It will consist of four zones: video games, board games, roleplaying games and Nature Live.
Located in Hintze Hall, the video game zone encourages guests to explore the natural world by stepping into a virtual one. Guests can feed dinosaurs in Jurassic World Evolution 2 or experience what it’s like to be a shark in Hungry Shark World, while game creators from studios such as Frontier, Ustwo Games and Ubisoft Future Games of London will be on hand to offer a behind-the-scenes perspective on game design, storytelling and nature.
For the board game zone in the Central Cafe, NHM has partnered with London-based board game café Draughts to provide an extensive library of nature-related board games catering to guests of all tastes.
Meanwhile, at 7 pm in the Attenborough Studio guests can learn why humans are so drawn to gaming and play as scientists discuss the play behaviours and habits of both humans and our evolutionary relatives.
Finally, guests will be able to immerse themselves in fictional worlds, such as EcoPunk2044 in the Our Dying Planet exhibition, and will be able to join roleplaying collective RPGeeks as they embark on a campaign in the Attenborough Studio from 8 pm.
Playful by Nature will take place on March 25 from 6 pm. The event is free to enter but requires a ticket, book your free ticket here
Playful by Nature invites guests to explore the natural world through games CREDIT: TRUSTEES OF THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM, LONDON