Sloth-Shot

Sloth-Shot is an exhibit I made at the Schmiede 2024, a yearly event in Hallein where artists come together to cooperate, prototype and create around a topic. This year’s topic was Sloth.

The exhibit is a little game of marble-slingshot-sloth-boccia that asks visitors one question: “Do you feel slow today?” To answer, they shoot a marble with a slingshot at one of three targets: ‘Yes’, ‘No’ and ‘I am a sloth’.

I wanted a physical game that needs little explanation, brings people fun and makes them slow down (like a sloth). The salt pit at the venue was perfect for catching flying marbles, and the slingshot I tinkered together myself. Throwing would have worked too, but let’s be honest: slingshots make everything more fun!

Turns out the city council wasn’t happy about marbles and people collecting them, in their salt pit. So I moved the exhibit to a corner: players now shoot at a cloth that catches the marbles, with the targets duct-taped on. They got some fancy rings though.

I’d been to the Schmiede GameJam a few times, but this was my first time at the full Schmiede. The vibe is wonderful, there are great people to connect with and workshops to learn new things, like a small one on creative blocks where I wrote a little story about Bendy the Spoon.