It's understandable if you think people are talking about video games whenever you hear the word “games” — but the study and pursuit of competition is much more expansive than a bunch of pixilated pixels fighting among themselves. The annual UCLA Game Art Festival Night is your chance to see what some of the brightest minds at the UCLA Game Laboratory have been working on. The Game Lab's purview covers everything from designing the latest in time-wasting annihilation to re-examining something as simple as the game Four Square, which you probably haven't played since third grade. The festival, curated by Game Lab director and associate professor of design media arts Eddo Stern, unveils a whole raft of student projects using multimedia and “modes of expression,” a fancy concept that could mean anything from “You sank my battleship!” to a deconstruction of man's inhumanity to man vis-à-vis banned mutilation arcade game Chiller. Live chiptune music, drivable video games, refreshments that compromise your otherwise stellar hand-eye coordination … continue? Hammer Museum, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Wstwd.; Wed., May 9, 7 p.m.; free. (310) 443-7000, hammer.ucla.edu.

Wed., May 9, 7 p.m., 2012

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