Let’s Get Physical! In, Out and Around the Gaming Circle of Physical Gaming at Home

Physical gaming is a genre of computer games that has recently been made available for the home. But what does it mean to bring games home that were originally designed for play in the arcade? This paper describes an empirical study that looks at physical gaming and how it finds its place in the home. We discuss the findings from this study by organizing them around four topics: the adoption of the game, its unique spatial needs, the tension between visibility and availability of the game, and what it means to play among what we describe as the gaming circle, or players and non-players alike. Finally, we discuss how physical gaming in the home surfaces questions and issues for householders and researchers around adoption, gender and both space and place.