About Our Conferences
Our conferences gather several hundred people to share, talk, and debate about games and play – just like any scientists do at their conferences but possibly with a little bit more of fun. Our very first conference ‘Level Up’ was organised over 20 years ago at Utrecht University in the Netherlands by Joost Raessens, Marinka Copier, Jeffrey Goldstein, and Frans Mäyrä. Our future, meanwhile, is up to you! Around once a year, you can find a new call for conference hosts in our news section. We are always on the lookout for research groups to bid us their location!
Our Next Conference
DiGRA 2024 – “Playgrounds”
July 1-5th
Guadalajara, Jalisco, México
Throughout human history, play activities have happened more likely in some places rather than others, and specifically demarcated areas for gameplay have existed for millennia. Remains of the ball court of the Mesoamerican ballgame pok-ta-pok date back to 1376 BCE (Smith 2020), and from historical records dating back more than a thousand years we know that the Chinese cuju and the Japanese kemari necessitated a dedicated space for play.
Past DiGRA Conferences
DiGRA 2003 – “Level Up”
November 4, 2003 – November 6, 2003
Utrecht, The Netherlands
- Chairs/Organizers:
- Joost Raessens
- Marinka Copier
- Jeffrey Goldstein
- Frans Mäyrä
DiGRA 2005 – “Changing Views – Worlds in Play”
June 16, 2005 – June 20, 2005
Vancouver, Canada
- Chairs/Organizers:
- Suzanne de Castell
- Jennifer Jenson
DiGRA 2007 – “Situated Play”
September 24, 2007 – September 28, 2007
Tokyo, Japan
- Chairs/Organizers:
- Akira Baba
DiGRA 2009 – “Breaking New Ground: Innovation in Games, Play, Practice and Theory”
September 1, 2009 – September 4, 2009
West London, UK
- Chairs/Organizers:
- Tanya Krzywinska
- Helen Kennedy
- Barry Atkins
DiGRA Nordic 2010 – “Experiencing Games: Games, Play, and Players”
August 16, 2010 – August 17, 2010
Stockholm, Sweden
- Chairs/Organizers:
- Annika Waern
- Petri Lankoski
- Harko Verhagen
DiGRA 2011 – “Think, Design, Play”
September 14, 2011 – September 17, 2011
Hilversum, The Netherlands
- Chairs/Organizers:
- Marinka Copier
- Annika Waern
- Helen Kennedy
DiGRA Nordic 2012 – “Local and Global: Games in Culture and Society”
June 6, 2012 – June 8, 2012
Tampere, Finland
- Chairs/Organizers:
- Raine Koskimaa
- Jaakko Suominen
- Frans Mäyrä
DiGRA 2013 – “DeFragging Game Studies”
August 26, 2013 – August 29, 2013
Atlanta, USA
- Chairs/Organizers:
- Celia Pearce
- John Sharp
- Helen Kennedy
Chinese DiGRA 2014 – “(Chinese) Game Studies Conference”
April 19, 2014 – April 20, 2014
Ningbo, China
- Chairs/Organizers:
- Paul Martin
- Bjarke Liboriussen
DiGRA Nordic 2014
May 29, 2014 – May 30, 2014
Visby (Gotland), Sweden
- Chairs/Organizers:
- Ulf Benjaminsson
- Petri Lankoski
- Harko Verhagen
DiGRA Australia 2014 – “What is Game Studies in Australia?”
June 17, 2014 – June 18, 2014
Melbourne, Australia
- Chairs/Organizers:
- Marcus Carter
- Laura Crawford
- Martin Gibbs
- Bjorn Nansen
DiGRA 2014 – “ the of game ”
August 3, 2014 – August 6, 2014
Snowbird, Utah
- Chairs/Organizers:
- Roger Altizer
- Jose Zagal
- Annika Waern
- Staffan Björk
DiGRA 2015 – “Diversity of Play”
May 14, 2015 – May 17, 2015
Lüneburg, Germany
- Chairs/Organizers:
- Staffan Björk
- Annika Waern
- Mathias Fuchs
Chinese DiGRA 2015 – “Digital Games in China: Past, Present and Future ”
July 11, 2015 – July 12, 2015
Beijing, China
- Chairs/Organizers:
- Felania Liu
- Hanna Wirman
DiGRA / FDG 2016 – First International Joint Conference of DiGRA and FDG
August 1, 2016 – August 6, 2016
Dundee, Scotland
- Chairs/Organizers:
- William Huber
- Staffan Bjork
- Casey O’Donnell
- Rafael Bidarra
DiGRA 2017
July 2, 2017 – July 6, 2017
Melbourne, Australia
- Chairs/Organizers:
- Marcus Carter
- Martin Gibbs
- Casey O’Donnell
DiGRA 2018 – “The Game is the Message”
July 25, 2018 – July 28, 2018
Turin, Italy
- Chairs/Organizers:
- Riccardo Fassone
- Matteo Bittanti
- Torill Elvira Mortensen
- Martin Gibbs
DiGRA 2019 – “Game, Play and the Emerging Ludo-Mix”
August 6, 2019 – August 10, 2019
Kyoto, Japan
- Chairs/Organizers:
- Akinori Nakamura
- Hanna Wirman
- Masakazu Furuichi
- Torill Mortensen
DiGRA 2020 – “Play Everywhere” (Event Cancelled)
June 2, 2020 – June 6, 2020
Tampere, Finland
- Chairs/Organizers:
- Frans Mäyrä
- Sabine Harrer
- Tomasz Z. Majkowski
- Hanna Wirman
DiGRA 2022 – “Game, Play and the Emerging Ludo-Mix”
July 7, 2022 – July 11, 2022
Kraków, Poland
- Chairs/Organizers:
- Sonia Fizek (Program Chair)
- Tomasz Z. Majkowski (Local Chair)
- Marcelo de Vasconcellos
DiGRA 2024 – “Playgrounds”
July 1, 2024 – July 5, 2024
Guadalajara, Jalisco, México
Call for Conference Hosts
Interested in hosting a future DiGRA conference?