Shakespeare + pop star = one great game

A fast-paced, action-packed street game being played at the Zero One San Jose art festival from Aug. 7-12 bridges the gap between cultures and centuries.

The multiplayer game, titled "99 Red Balloons," combines elements of Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and the dance floor hit "99 Luftballoons" by '80s German recording artist Nena.

Video: Painting the sky red
Artists integrate wireless technology in street game that doubles as an aerial art exhibit.

Players broken up into nine teams use their imaginations to create the most transgressive version of classic street games--from massive multiplayer to spy and hide 'n' seek in the sky games--and then convince as many people as possible to come and play. Thirty feet above the ground are 18 red weather balloons, nine of which are rigged with cameras that record the game from a "flying perspective."

The game, which also functions as street theater, was inspired by the dreamy elements in the Shakespearean play, which in the end leaves viewers wondering whether or not what they saw actually happened. The floating cameras make the whole scene appear as if it took place in a dream.

The sky was red Wednesday at Cesar Chavez Plaza in San Jose, Calif., as roughly 20 children from a local day camp frolicked and took refuge in the fountains as the oversized, technically equipped flying apparatuses caught the spectacle from above and broadcast it into a lounge at the nearby Tech Museum of Innovation.

The project creators, Jenny Marketou and Katie Salen said balloons have historically been used to take spy photos.

Click here for photos of the event.