Foto von Thomas Leidig (zugeschnitten)

Alexander Merbeth was born in Karlsruhe and studied acting in Hamburg until 2007. Here, he also studied film from 2012-2016 at the HFBK.
He is an actor for theatre, film and TV, member of the cobratheater.cobra collective and voice actor for audio drama and video games.

He received all his English language skills in 1998, when his class mate Michael B. lend him an imported version of ‘Final Fantasy 6′.
Unfortunately, this is also where he got his English prinunciation.
While writing this text, he holds a coffee in his hands, ‘Dragon Quest XI’ is playing in the background.
He has to continue now.

At the moment he is writing graphic novels. Aljoscha works as a freelance teacher and editor in Hamburg.

Moreover, she writes articles for the media magazine SCOUT. She also wrote about PLAY for www.wir-machen-kinderseiten.de.

Her favorite digital game is Snake.

In 2016 he cofounded Supyrb, an independent game studio, which is about to release its debut game “Marbloid” this winter. “Marbloid” is a 3D tilt & tap marble runner for iPhone and iPad set in a colourful Vaporwave world.

As the initiator and spokesperson of the Initiative Creative Gaming, Andreas Hedrich has been pleading for the creative use of video games in education and to make digital gaming culture visible and come alive. He teaches media eduaction and active media relations at the Faculty of Education at the University of Hamburg. Furthermore, he is chairman for Mediennetz Hamburg e. V., member of jaf – Verein für medienpädagogische Praxis Hamburg e. V., speaker of GMK-Landesgruppe Hamburg and associate of Frische Medien. As media pedagog and media producer it is important for him to be responsible for projects that highlight the creative use of media and their ability to be used by everybody as a medium for communication.

If asked what his favorite game is, he answers “Riding a bicycle in my mind”.

Monster Lab

Benjamin Heinemann studiert an der Leuphana Universität in Lüneburg Kulturwissenschaften mit dem Schwerpunkt Digitale Medien (B. A.), mit dem Ziel in naher Zukunft Medienkompetenzen zu vermitteln. Zuvor hat er eine Ausbildung im pädagogischen Bereich absolviert. Seitdem war er in diesem Bereich stets tätig und hat diverse medienpädagogische Angebote mit Kindern & Jugendlichen angeleitet und durchgeführt wozu mitunter Creative Gaming und die ComputerSpielSchule Hamburg zählen.

Zu seinen digitalen Lieblingsgenres gehören (vor allem klassische) Rollenspiele, wie “Ultima 9″ und die “Gothic”-Reihe, sowie Jump’n’Runs, wie “Crash Bandicoot” und “Rayman”. Außerdem ist Benjamin ein großer Fan von analogen Gesellschaftsspielen wie “Monopoly”, “Scrabble” oder “Terra Mystica”.

Bei PLAY ist er für die Koordination des Monster Labs während des Festivalzeitraums zuständig.

Björn Rohwer studies digital communication at the HAW Hamburg after receiving a BA in Systematic Music Science. He is a freelance journalist, author and will probably never decide what exactly he is doing. Until he is forced to do so, he switches between culture, data journalism, sports, tech, and constructive journalism.

But it all started with video games. First at an Nintendo Fan Magazine, later as freelance journalist and eventually as author of „Unnützes Wissen für Gamer“ (Unnecessary knowledge for gamer). At PLAY19, he is responsible for Social Media channels.

Due to his studies, he likes clever music games such as „Crypt of the NecroDancer“ or the music levels from „Rayman Legends“ – his all time favorites are Mario Kart games and „The Secret of Monkey Island“.

Carina studied cultural sciences at the University of Koblenz and culture and media management at the University of Music in Hamburg.

During times, when she isn’t entertaining her own offsprings, she is carrying out media and cultural pedagogic projects with children and youths in Hamburg. Her favorite games are strategy games like “Anno” or “SimCity”, if she finds any time besides her duties.

As team coordinator at PLAY18 she is responsible for bringing together the tasks of the festival with the interest of the team and the volunteers. During the festival she can be found at the Festival HQ, where she will answer (almost) any question.