Seven groups of Saxion students are working together to create games and playful interactions inspired by The Overkill Festival theme: 

 Over the course of two months, they have developed projects from scratch—imagining concepts, gameplay, design, and art that reflect the world of dreams, rest, sleep, and nightmares. This year’s games are filled with night and day, dark corners, shadows and light, nighttime companions, bubbly teddy bears, and lurking monsters.

 is the moment when all students present their games to the public—and invite 

 to play! As a visitor, you'll get the chance to try every game and vote for your favorite project. Does it reflect the theme? Did you enjoy immersing yourself in its world? How was the interaction with other players? Your opinion matters—the game with the most votes will receive the 

Throughout the day, the Sickhouse team will also select three standout games to be featured in the next edition of 

, each team will take the stage to present their project and share how they developed it together. After all the presentations, we’ll announce the winner of the public award and reveal the selections for 

. Everyone is welcome to join, play, and cast their vote. We’ll close the day with a drink to celebrate!

DATE: Saturday 05 of July, 2025
TIME: Open from 15:00 to 21:00. Pitch & awards at 19:00
PLACE: BlackBrick : Hoge Bothofstraat 31, 7511 ZA Enschede 

CMGT "Return to Dreamland" Showcase 

Come together to our Tabletop Game Nights and play everything you can play on a table: RPGs, board games, one shots, folk games, DnD and so on. Hosted by amazing Puck, we organize 2 game nights per month, usually one on a Friday and one on a Saturday.

+ We (almost) always offer RPG tables, hosted by a member of our community or by a special guest
+ As well, you can find board games tables.
+ Come alone or in group. Playing is a great way to make new friends ;)
+ Bring your favorite games to share them with us or discover new games from our collection.
+ 

if you would like to play as a game master or test your game with us!

 if you want to come and play (by letting us know you are coming, we can prepare the place in advance and save a place for you at the table of your choice).

For this upcoming Tabletop Game Night we have two TTRPG tables for you to join! This time we are going along with our research theme of 2025: 

Matthijs has created a LARP-light experience with the same name, inspired by the masks we wear to shield ourselves from others — masks that can become so strong, that we even start believing in them. But in our dreams, we cannot hide who we truly are.

, five friends embark on a trip to Dreamland, a company offering groundbreaking tech that lets users experience each other’s dreams. But as they journey deeper into one another’s subconscious, a hidden truth emerges — one that forces them to confront each other… and themselves. ✨

 is a home-made tabletop LARP about identity and self-discovery. It’s designed for creative and emotionally mature players — and this will be the very first playtest.

!
In this game, you’ll play a small group of people who call themselves the Society of Dreamers. They suspect that strange creatures live within people’s dreams. These beings, known as 

, are a mystery. The Society know almost nothing about them… yet. 👾

And of course, as always, there will be tables for you to play board games, card games, and other tabletop games from our arcade! Bring your favorite game to share or discover something new.

We also have basic materials for kitbashing and painting miniatures 🧌 — come solo or with friends. There’ll be plenty of games, great vibes, and worthy opponents waiting!

DATE: Saturday 5th of July
TIME: 19:00-23:00
PLACE: GrensFrequentie (Willem Wilminkplein 1, 7511 JE Enschede)
FREE ADMISSION

TableTop Game Night

Following our research into Dreamland, looking for places of rest and their meaning in our hyper-productive, attention-driven world, Sickhouse invites artist Sondi to present her research on rest as resistance. The exhibition is a physical extension from the game "

 is an immersive exhibition expanding on Sondi’s work at the intersection of gaming, rest, and Blackness. It invites audiences into speculative dreamscapes generated through game engines, where stillness becomes an act of defiance and play a method for imagining alternative worlds.

We live in a time of hyper-productivity, where rest is systemically denied—especially to Black and marginalised bodies. Our sleep is interrupted, our dreams surveilled, our idleness disciplined. But what happens when we refuse? When we stay in bed, let the mind wander, and dream not as escape, but as strategy? Inspired by Tricia Hersey’s 

and Audre Lorde’s vision of self-care as political warfare, this exhibition argues that slowing down is an urgent disruption—one that resists the extractive logics of capitalism and colonialism.

Through speculative fiction, the exhibition sheds light on experiences and histories often simplified or erased. An interactive game installation leads visitors through layered dreamscapes, immersing them into dream space where rest becomes the terrain of resistance—not a reset. Here, gaming mechanics are disrupted and reimagined to center idleness and curiosity over productivity and efficiency.



 explores dreams as portals to alternate ways of being. In these hyperspaces—between digital and ecological, software and flesh, wakefulness and sleep—bodies exist freely. Technology, often a site of control, is reclaimed as a storytelling tool, highlighting the potential within the liminal spaces of games.



A Different End to a Different Play joins the chorus of voices summoning new worlds.

 (she/her) is an artist and researcher from Germany, born in Cameroon and based in the Netherlands. Her practice centers on worldbuilding and worlding, particularly within digital spaces and video games. She examines how power and narratives operate in virtual environments, tracing encoded biases, algorithmic discrimination, game mechanics, and the portrayal of people, places, and ecologies, while crafting new worlds that amplify marginalised voices and perspectives often excluded from dominant techno-futures.

 will be on from July 12 to August 24, 2025
LOCATION : 

, Lasondersingel 129-131
EXPO OPENING on 

A Different End to a Different Play - Sondi

We will close the Dreamwalk chapter with a special ceremony shaped by the dreams we've shared over the past months. On the 12th of July, we will go on a camping trip to dream together under the stars!

Guided by Jana Romanova, our Dreamwalk guru, we'll gather for the final ritual, our way to reflect on these daydreaming sessions, and how we can take them on. We will remember, share and exchange, together with a meal around a fire, as one big group of dreamers.

We'll test a new game built from the dream cards created at the end of each walk, bringing our individual journeys into a shared experience. 

Each participant will be offered a dreamzine — a collection of dreamwalk scripts and impressions — which can also travel on, inviting others to host their own dreamwalks in new spaces.

The location and exact time will be announced soon, but expect the distance to be around 25 minutes biking from Enschede Central Station. You will need a 

, which includes the program itself, camping location, and basic dinner and breakfast! You will have to bring our own tent and sleeping bag. 

You don’t need previous dreamwalk experience, everyone is welcome!

DATE: Saturday 12th of July, 2025
TIME: (TBA)
LOCATION: we will go camping 🙂(TBA)

Final Dreamwalk 

This summer, Sickhouse and EnscheD&D are joining forces once more to bring the 


Over the course of a month, participants will create their own One-Page RPGs. Everyone is welcome, whether you're a seasoned designer or you are writing an RPG for the first time.

 with TTRPG designers and playful artists (TBA)

 where we play all the games made during the jam!

. Embrace Sickhouse's theme of the year and explore ideas of resting, dreaming, dreamscapes, care, sleep, resistance, and reflection.
(Think along the lines of 

Call of Cthulhu, Cloud Empress, Troika!, Yokai Hunter Club

Or join the theme of the Game Jam, that will be announced on July 13.

 with all submitted One-Page RPGs. In addition to access to all workshops, sessions, and panels, with your ticket you will get our zine featuring all games created during the jam!

Pay a small fee to the participating artists and designers

Professionally RISO print the zine (designed by Puck at HKU)

If the fee is a barrier, please contact us — we want this to be accessible for everyone.

 – Start of the online program & collaboration space

 – Online panel with game designers & playful artists


(Topics: writing methodologies, moodboards, game mechanics, Q&A)

(Bring your game, refine, get feedback, and test it in the evening!)

Stay tuned, we will have more information soon!

One-Page RPG Game Jam 2025 

 if you would like to play as a game master or test your game with us!
+ or 

DATE: Friday 18th of July
TIME: 19:00-23:00
PLACE: GrensFrequentie (Willem Wilminkplein 1, 7511 JE Enschede)
FREE ADMISSION

SICKHOUSE is a PLAYFUL ART SPACE presenting games, interactive art and participatory projects to look critically into the (digital) transformation of our society! 

Frontpage

📣 🫣 🚧 While you want to hear about games, dreams and celebration, here some news about delays, money and toxic fiber…

🏠 We knew it, finding a space as a cultural organisation would be a test of our ability to adapt. And since we really started looking back in 2023 we developed quite some skills to defeat the challenges. Two years ago we grabbed all our things and moved out of our top floor space leaving a building scheduled for demolition 🏨 (of course it is still standing…empty). Then we got forced into a 🚚 📦 nomadic limbo for more than a year, after discovering the temporary space that was given to us was standing on rotting foundations 🏚️ . And we worked that out with the wonderful support of so many local partners! (eternal love ❤️‍🔥).

While hosting our hoping events, we secured multi-year funding 💰🎉 for our unique program 🕹️🎞️ 🔉 and imagined multiple business plans ✖️ ‼️ ➰ to make ourselves fit in potential spaces. It seemed hard enough to find a new location, fighting in a real estate world where culture often loses to profit. But we made it! We worked out a deal (thanks to

) to afford commercial rent, signed a lease and we really believed May would be the beginning of a new era for us. We finally had a home again, a space for our caring community, wonderful playful artists, game-makers, queer and engaging people… ✨ 🎉 👐

… 🔥 💥 But... Welcome to level expert where the boss is ugly, sneaky and it eats money! Welcome to ASBESTOS ! 😰 ☠️ 💩

We wanted so much to be home, to paint our walls, moving in our colourful chaos, and opening doors this September. Instead, we discovered that the new location hosts this infamous wonder-material from the 60’s, once praised for insulation and now known for... giving people cancer.

We wish we could share different news, telling you about the arcade corner 💚 we will set up, the new sign for our cinema 🧡, the games 🩷 we are planning to showcase, the artists 💜 we are so much looking forward to working with…
But today we needed to share this before hopefully soon share the concrete steps in front of us! We’ll definitely need your help, we believe what we are trying to do is beautiful, relevant, sick and necessary. We won't be opening in September as planned and we’re not yet sure when we can open...

Sickhouse always loved challenges, may this one be the final boss before welcoming you all! 🥷 💪 🙅‍♀️ 🧞‍♀️ 🏋 🦄 🌈


Sickhouse won't yet open in September

On Saturday, May 24, the Ultimate IndieMash playful contest was broadcast live from Enschede to the world! Ten contestants showcased their projects through creative and humorous performances, and then joined each other for a chaotic, joyful play session led by none other than the Game Goblin.

And finally, the winning project was... 🥁🥁🥁 

: an open-source electromechanical game console with a wonderfully odd display, designed for creating and playing circular video games. Fully conceived and built in Argentina by 

Best of all, we will have Ventilistation at the next Overkill Festival! Where we will be able to talk with its creator, Alecu, and play some spinning games. If you're curious, remember to come to The Overkill, celebrated every year in Enschede, where you'll find our exhibition of alternative games and playful art.

🌐 Learn more about Ventilastation here

Ventilastation: the winner of the Ultimate IndieMash


Are you between 16 and 25 years old, and have you always dreamt of making your own short movie? Join us in this two-week Summer Film Camp! 



🎥 Open to young, curious minds eager to dive into the world of DIY filmmaking. You will learn about scenarios, storyboard, decors, filming, acting, editing, sound design and much more! 

✨ Together, we will make a short film from beginning to end. It will be experimental, it will be collective, and it will be full of improvisation! The finished movie will be premiered at 

, Sickhouse Short Film Festival in September.

🎬 You can sign up by sending an email with a short motivational letter/video/animation to Aike, where you tell us a bit about yourself, your favourite movie, what you like about films and what you are looking for in the Film Camp. The application deadline is the 16th of June. 




July 14th - 27th 
In and around Enschede
€ free! 
Sign up before June 16th to aike@sickhouse.nl



Please note that Sickhouse can't provide a place to stay or travel costs

Ben jij tussen de 16 en 25 jaar oud, en heb je altijd gedroomd van je eigen korte film? Doe mee met deze twee weken durend Summer Film Camp!



🎥 Het programma is open voor jonge, nieuwsgierige mensen die gemotiveerd zijn de wereld van DIY (doe-het-zelf) filmmaken in te duiken. Je leert over scenario’s, storyboards, decors, film, acteren, editing, sound design en meer!

✨ Samen maken we een korte film van begin tot eind. Vol experiment en vol improvisatie! De uiteindelijke film gaat in premiere tijdens het KO(O)RTS Short Film Festival in september.

🎬 Je kan je aanmelden door een email met een korte motivatie (text, video, animatie) naar Aike te sturen, waar je een beetje over jezelf vertelt, je favoriete film, wat je zo tof vindt aan films, en wat je verwacht van het filmcamp. De deadline om je aan te melden is 16 juni!




14 - 27 juli
In en rondom Enschede
€ gratis! 
Meld je voor 16 juni aan via aike@sickhouse.nl



Houd er rekening mee dat Sickhouse niet in een overnachtingsplek of reiskosten kan voorzien.

SICKHOUSE FILMCAMP - Make Your Own Short Movie

Sickhouse is proud to present the selection for Ultimate Indie Mash! Save the date of the show : 24th May accessible online! 

An immersive game created with twine, confronting the player with the role of passivity in the current aggressive system.

Body Focused Repetitive behaviour is a small game about a weird stim, nail biting, playing with your hair, picking at scabs... and ADHD

Outer Plays Eszter (she/they) & Joanna (she/they) - 

Have you ever found yourself elbow-deep in a sewer? Or followed ants disappearing into a hole? But most importantly, have you ever lost something that was important to you? Then you and Leah have something in common. "Something to Reach For" is a short interactive fiction game. To play, all you need is a mouse and some decision-making brainpower.


An experimental narrative game to look into the lives of others. Inspired by the experience of the makers the game reflect on isolation and depression in times of remote work.


Find the seven sanctuaries created by the mysterious ‘S’ and discover the untold stories and memories, the need for a safer world and the potential for healing. The game wants to inspire reflection about grief, identity, crying, human touch and rituals.

https://planning.goodcompany.be/nl/producties/plum

The Shaman, The Outsider and the Diet of Worms 


Multi-medium experience, presented as a collection of in-universe materials centred around the book 

The Shaman, the Outsider, and the Diet of Worms

, an autobiography of an anthropologist visiting a remote village. This includes the book itself, a republication with a preface, and a wiki page made 400 years after it was published. It is up to the player/reader to decide what parts of these materials, if any, are truthful.

👉 

Turns out, exploding a guy has consequences. Corporate spies Zoë and Gabe have messed up. There's only one thing they can do: escape to an alternate universe. But running can only get you so far. An interactive episodic story that shifts between comic, game and animation.

👉 

Ventilastation is the first game console from Latin America. A large fan spins a bar with lots of LEDs and a tiny computer, creating an odd circular display where games literally run at 600 RPMs. Players control the spinning action with a hacked testing lab dashboard, a submarine-grade gamepad or even a dance-dance mat.

👉 

https://ventilastation.protocultura.net/en/

Playful Systems LLC Jonah Warren (he/him) 

A fast-paced, two-player local multiplayer painting game. Two players compete on a shared screen, each armed with a mouse, a blank canvas, and a few simple paint tools. Each round, players select an abstracted version of a famous painting from art history. Players race to copy the painting as quickly and accurately as possible.

alpha_rats (he/they) & GLOR1A (she/they) 

An ongoing live A/V and video game project exploring different pathways for collective participation, using an afro-futurist virtual world as a stage for live broadcast and performance.

👉 

Ultimate Indie Mash Selection

After a year and a half of being nomads, on May 1 we will finally receive the keys to our new location at Oldenzaalsestraat 128. This will be our home for the next four years, and we are bursting with excitement about the new era ahead.

For five years, Sickhouse inhabited the third floor of the WARP building at Stationsplein, before being evicted due to plans for a housing project that has yet to be launched. Sickhouse was without its own physical location for 19 months (to be exact), during which time we continued to hold our events thanks to the support of friends and colleagues from the cultural circuit in Enschede, who generously lent or rented us their spaces and helped us in various ways to continue our programs.

Thanks to this support, our monthly events (TableTop Game Nights, Colliders: Playful Makers Meet-up, Sickhouse Cinema, and Stitching to Resist), our playgrounds (interactive exhibitions with guest artists), and our special events (like KO(O)RTS Short Film Festival, the Summer Film Camp, and The Overkill Festival) could continue while we searched for a new home. A thousand thanks again to Rijksmuseum Twenthe, Concordia Cinema & Kunstruimte, Het Vestzaktheater, DesignLab, GrensFrequentie, B93, Performance Factory, and many more.

It wasn't easy, but finally, an opportunity opened up. Last October, we signed the lease for Oldenzaalsestraat 128 — a building that housed a pool hall for many years — which will now become Sickhouse's new home.

 After receiving the keys, the next challenge will be fitting out the space: rebuilding our small cinema, stage, exhibition area, and bar. We will start hosting events already in May, but we will continue adapting the space to meet our community’s evolving needs.

We don't have a date for the official opening of the new location. But we will keep you updated on the progress we're making in this space that, like our previous location, aims to be a safe, fun, very pink space, where everyone can find a place and feel at home.

Sickhouse's New Location

KO(O)RTS is back in 2025!
The Short Film Festival of the weird, wicked and wonderful, organized by Sickhouse, returns for its second edition in collaboration with 

. To be held in Enschede, Netherlands the 26 & 27 of September.

KO(O)RTS is a vibrant 2-day short film festival. It provides a platform for (emerging) local and international filmmakers to showcase their work, celebrate creativity and connect with each other. At the same time, the program offers the public an alternative, never-before-seen and fun selection of films, presented with care, multisensory setups and
playful ways. 

In addition to the various screenings, the festival includes workshops, a filmmakers meet-up, and an awards ceremony. In this way, we strive to create a vibrant event that brings together both filmmakers, film lovers and celebrates the art of short film.

 and submit your film before May 1st (read the terms for applying on the open call page).

News
Sickhouse won't yet open in September

News
Ventilastation: the winner of the Ultimate IndieMash

News
SICKHOUSE FILMCAMP - Make Your Own Short Movie

News
Ultimate Indie Mash Selection

News
Sickhouse's New Location

News
KO(O)RTS Short Film Festival OPEN CALL

Upcoming Events

Gallery

NewsSickhouse won't yet open in September

NewsVentilastation: the winner of the Ultimate IndieMash

NewsSICKHOUSE FILMCAMP - Make Your Own Short Movie

NewsUltimate Indie Mash Selection

NewsSickhouse's New Location

NewsKO(O)RTS Short Film Festival OPEN CALL