The Rescape Project is a commitment to playing with the question of play itself. Like a will- o’-the-wisp, a strict definition of play is elusive; try to pin it down and it slips away. But one thing we can call it is a necessary nutrient. In the preliminary stages of The Rescape Project, we spoke with adults who compared the facilitation of play in their lives to remedying a deficiency they didn’t know they had. They described a new sense of expansiveness, meaningfulness, and clarity once play became a daily experience. How many of our modern ills—both personal and societal—can be traced, in one way or another, to this deficiency? How might the propagation of play communities transform the world as we know it? We’re interested in the effect of play and games on culture; in diagnosing and describing the play-deprived state we call “the rut”; in the value that innovative game design might bring to 21 st century living. We grapple with these questions through constant conversation. The Rescape Project opens this conversation to all who sense its importance—through the Rescape podcast and, eventually, a book. The Rescape is about escape from the rut, yes, but also a return to a spontaneity and creativity that is our birthright. What forms, what shapes, might our exit from the rut take? It’s never too late to observe our existence anew, to notice what might be missing from the landscape of our lives.