Teaching with fun is something faculty contributing to the strategic directions initiative have deemed very important. There is consensus, therefore, that playing around with our educational materials in focused and productive ways encourages learning. On a basic level, fun and play keep students interested - more engagement means more active learning, which we know is valuable in terms of comprehension and knowledge retention. But what is play? And how does it function in the classroom? Gregory Bateson believes that the context of play renders real world actions unreal, while Johan Huizinga argues that ...genuine, pure play is one of the main bases of civilization. This lecture-workshop will combine theories of play with team-based games to bring us to the philosophical heart of why humans play and what is achieved when they do. You should come. It will be fun.