Two grown-ups, fully committed to play.
That's the whole plan. We're Matthew & Colleen,
and Come Play Labs is what happened when we admitted two things:
the world needs more play. So do we.
Hi, we're Matthew & Colleen.
Longtime friends, partners in mischief, and the two people responsible for whatever happens next. We're not play experts — that's sort of the point. We're two grown-ups who noticed life had gotten suspiciously serious and decided to do something about it, in public.
Matthew
Chief InstigatorAir Force veteran with a freshly minted MBA from Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business. Took one look at the serious career path and picked pool noodle duels instead. Starts most of our games. Finishes few of them with dignity.
Will challenge anyone to anything. ✦Colleen
Chief PlaymakerThe brave one when it's time to say hi. While Matthew is announcing the game, Colleen is learning your name, your rules, and your story — she's the reason strangers stay to play. Turns "wanna play?" from a weird question into the best part of someone's day.
Has never lost a dance-off. ♡Ask the whole world
to come out and play.
This started with us falling for how people play everywhere we looked: domino parks, pool decks, mall walking crews, kitchen table card games with rules nobody can fully explain. And then it hit us. Somewhere between childhood and calendars, we had quietly stopped playing too.
So we made a deal with each other: we're relearning how to play, out loud, wherever we are. We wander. We engage. We play. If it feels right, we do it.
Come Play Labs is home base for all of it: what we try, what we learn, who teaches us, and the toys worth carrying home (that's the Toy Chest). We're documenting the whole thing in case it inspires anyone else to come out and play. We don't fully know where this goes. That's what makes it play.
No itinerary. No dignity. No boring. ✦Three things we'd bet on.
Everyone speaks it: every age, every country. Some of us are just rusty.
"Wanna play?" has turned more strangers into friends than any icebreaker ever written.
Watch someone truly play for thirty seconds and try not to smile. Go ahead. Try.
Inspire us to play something.
Your game, your rules, your corner of the world. We're dangerously likely to say yes.
✦ Come Play With Us ✦