“Game On” After-Hours Family Party at MOXI

MOXI, The Wolf Museum of Exploration + Innovation, presents an action-packed evening inspired by popular video game franchises at the annual Family Party entitled “Game On.”

This after-hours event features hands-on, themed activities led by MOXI staff and community partners that connect the skills used in video games with physics, observation, creativity, and the natural world.

Food, drinks, and adult beverages will be for sale, and a nonstop dance party led by DJ Spencer will take place on the rooftop. Costumes are encouraged.

Many of the museum’s exhibits will be adapted to relate to recognizable video game universes; one focused on block-building and mining, another inhabited by battling pocket monsters, and one with high-speed racing and a familiar overall-wearing, mustachioed hero.

Among the many themed activities are an immersive blacklight walk through a retro digital world and gem block-making in the Innovation Workshop. The Speed Track becomes a high-speed, rainbow racecourse for make-them-yourself mini go-karts. Kids can design pocket creatures and trading cards, make personalized crowns and pixel art pieces, and “try to catch ‘em all” in a scavenger hunt.

Several community organizations will be at the event offering experiences related to video games.

The Ventura Gem & Mineral Society will present geological samples and ores that are used in popular mining games. The Santa Barbara Audubon Society explores how pocket monster gaming skills can be applied to real-life birdwatching, and Metro Entertainment will organize pocket monster card trading and games. The Gaucho Game Lab from UCSB will be facilitating video games developed by its researchers for guests to try.