We’re a diverse team of designers, researchers, and facilitators, united by a belief in the power of play and the spark of creative culture.
Our passion is crafting playful, research-backed learning experiences that blend imagination with cutting-edge technology. With backgrounds in learning science, game and experience design, innovation, and tech, we bring deep expertise to designing trainings that support team growth and transformation.
We embrace kindness, inclusivity, and curiosity — aiming to bring lightness, clarity, and joy to the way people work and learn together.
We’re excited to get to know you and explore how we can help boost your team’s creative culture – playfully, of course.
What’s your background?
My journey began with a decade of researching learning and the impact of play and games at universities like MIT. But I didn’t want to stay in academia — I wanted to bring this knowledge into the real world. So, ten years ago, I founded Playful Solutions as a space to do exactly that. It’s been a joy turning it into a unique playground for learning, creativity, and transformation.
Why play?
Play is one of the most fascinating human practices. It reflects our world while giving us space to reimagine it. It’s a tool for learning, a form of self-expression, and a place for freedom. Play helps us step into more of who we are — and it reminds us to breathe, laugh, and not take everything so seriously. Play shapes us.
What’s your role at Playful Solutions?
I wear many hats: Co-CEO, lead game designer, facilitator, co-creator. I design the playful tools that power our learning experiences — and what I love most is seeing those tools come alive in action.
What’s your background?
My path started at the intersection of technology and business, but what’s always driven me is a passion for helping people and teams unlock their full potential. I spent years working in impact innovation and entrepreneurship consulting. Along the way, I found myself drawn to the design and facilitation of learning experiences. Being part of Playful Solutions felt like a natural next step to bring that passion to life.
Why play?
For me, play is a state of mind. When we approach things playfully, we open ourselves up — to experiment, to fail without fear, to trust the people we’re engaging with. Play sparks creativity and invites us to let go of rigid thinking. I see it as a powerful force for connection and learning. It deepens engagement, encourages reflection, and helps ideas land in ways that are both memorable and meaningful. Play doesn’t just make learning more enjoyable — it makes it more effective.
What’s your role at Playful Solutions?
Externally, I work with our clients as a facilitator and consultant — supporting them in building creative cultures and fostering innovation within their teams. Internally, I wear the co–CEO hat, helping guide Playful Solutions’ strategy and operations. I’m focused on creating the conditions for people, ideas, and systems to thrive.
What’s your background?
I come from a background in cultural studies and event management. I use this experience, combined with my curiosity for innovation and the connections between people, to manage projects and think outside the box.
Why play?
I believe that play is a wonderful way to connect with life. A playful approach helps me stay curious, creative, and open to new possibilities. Especially at work, it can help us get unstuck when a challenge comes up and find fresh solutions together.
What’s your role at Playful Solutions?
At Playful Solutions, I take care of accounting, project management, and creative thinking. I'm a free spirit who thinks outside the box and finds new ways to bring ideas to life - but I also appreciate the steadiness of routine processes, like accounting.
What’s your background?
I’m a psychologist with a decade of experience working at the intersection of people, work, and change. From leadership coaching to workplace culture, my expertise blends deep psychological insight with practical tools to help individuals and teams do their best work - without burning out or playing small.
Why Play?
Because play isn’t the opposite of work - it’s the gateway to creativity, connection, and bold problem-solving. When we play, we break the rules just enough to find better ones. And that’s where real transformation begins.
How do you collaborate with Playful Solutions?
At Playful Solutions, I bring the human lens. I help teams and leaders go beneath the surface - spotting dynamics that block spotting dynamics that block innovation, engagement, and psychological safety, and designing experiences that build clarity, trust, and momentum. Basically, I make the deep stuff actionable.
What’s your background?
I spent a decade working in the non-profit sector, building up social entrepreneurship ecosystems across Europe and supporting aspiring social entrepreneurs on their journeys. This experienced shaped my knowledge and passion for (social) innovation, organizational development, and facilitation, and since 2024, I’ve been freelancing as product manager and facilitator.
Why play?
As adults, we’re often told to be efficient, serious, and productive - but rarely encouraged to play. Yet play is where the magic happens: it sparks our imagination, unlocks new perspectives, and gives us permission to explore without fear. It’s not just fun - it’s a powerful tool for creativity, innovation, and human connection. And let's face it, a little silliness can go a long way in solving serious problems.
How do you collaborate with Playful Solutions?
I support the team in project and product management, making sure ideas move smoothly from spark to launch. I also jump in as a learning designer and facilitator when needed.
Why Play?
Because playfulness is the key factor to unlocking new bold ideas. Playfulness invites people to show up as their authentic self, adopt new perspectives and connect with others. All of this is needed not just for the sake of having a good time but for daringly facing the complexity of today's world and finding solutions for the most pressing challenges.
How do you collaborate with Playful Solutions?
At Playful Solutions I help to design and facilitate tailored workshops, conferences, and strategy development processes. I enjoy supporting the team in doing concept work as well as throwing myself into the middle of the action and guiding groups through memorable experiences.
What’s your background?
My journey began as a sociologist - curious about what drives people and how we make sense of the world. But over time, I transformed into what I now call a Mystery Maker. Today, I blend behavioral insight with storytelling, experience design, and meaningful play. I'm the Co-Director of Sherlocked, an escape room and experience design agency in Amsterdam — and I’m also involved in many other creative projects. You could say I’m a creative kaleidoscope.
Why play?
Since I was a child, I’ve been building playful spaces - first for myself, then for others. I love the unique worlds that games can open up: places of exploration, expansion, deep engagement, and a little bit of magic. For me, play isn’t just about joy - it’s about transformation. I believe a more playful world is a better one.
How do you collaborate with Playful Solutions?
I’ve supported Playful Solutions over the years with game design, storytelling, facilitation and the creation of playful tools. Together, we’ve built treasure hunts, designed immersive events, and explored how play can spark learning in workshops, talks, and trainings.
What's your background?
My background can best be described as interdisciplinary. I started as a biologist, have been working as a 2D Artist the last few years, and am currently trying myself at coding. If I could, I would probably never stop learning new things. That also explains why I always find myself going back and forth between Art and Science.
Why Play?
To relax, to compete and collaborate, to spend some time with friends who live far away, to visit foreign worlds and - most importantly, to have fun.
How do you collaborate with Playful Solutions?
As a freelance 2D Artist I draw and come up with visual solutions. I enjoy the process of creation, so anytime I feel like I have more to contribute, I try to do so.
How do you collaborate with Playful Solutions?
What’s your background?
I come from a background that bridges storytelling and design. I first studied classical philology at the Faculty of Philosophy in Belgrade. Later, I turned to Interactive Design, where I found the perfect medium to bring narratives to life visually. My early career was rooted in tech as a UI designer, but once I took on my first branding project, everything clicked. Branding allowed me to connect the dots between meaning and form. For me, design is not just how things look; it’s how they feel, resonate, and invite people in.
Why Play?
How do you collaborate with Playful Solutions?
I collaborate with the Playful Solutions team to transform their storytelling concepts into visual presentations that guide workshop participants through the designed experience. Additionally, I assist in creating supporting materials for events and workshops, ensuring that the visual elements align with the intended narrative and objectives.
How do you collaborate with Playful Solutions?
For the past six years, I've been a research & design partner at Playful Solutions, translating insights and ideas into visual worlds that speak to both head and heart.
What’s your background?
As a father of three, trained as a historian, my work centers on cultures of knowledge visualization: how different media are used to shape learning environments, often in pedagogical contexts. Before that, I helped pioneer Vienna’s specialty coffee scene. I still cultivate this skill set to treat seemingly minor things as main issues of our every day agenda in my newsletter/blog-project (link below).
Why Play?
My fascination with play lies in its deep ambiguity. It holds both sacred seriousness and frivolous joy at once. No one can fully own it, yet everyone has to engage with it. In a game of football it's the ball — never in one place for long — constantly contested and only collectively redefined, with our whole bodies and not by the words looked up in a dictionary.
What’s your role at Playful Solutions?
I’m an academic at heart, investigating the possibility of a consistent ludology — a science of games and play. At Playful Solutions, I act like a satellite: mapping the wide terrain of playfulness from a thoughtful distance. As Head of Humor, I’m actually in authority for internal communications — sending out jokes, puns, and gags into the oblivion of office space, creating a kind of cosmic noise made entirely of laughter, too quiet for the ears but unmistakable in its effect.
Researching learning and game design at MIT — and winning awards for our Game Design Framework.
At the MIT Game Lab, our founder, Konstantin, developed two digital playful learning experiences designed to foster engagement and reflection. The award-winning games were based on a design framework that has since become the foundation for hundreds of research projects, games, and experiential learning tools used worldwide.
Bringing theory to life with our first large-scale applied project grounded in playful design.
We co-created the core idea for City of Words, an interactive language-learning app for the Goethe Institute. Players navigate a gamified urban landscape, collecting vocabulary, forming sentences, and testing skills in collaborative challenges — blending language acquisition with social play and movement.
Going global with high-tech, immersive games designed for mass audiences and international stages — from brain challenges to full escape room tournaments.
We developed the concept and led the creation of Red Bull Mind Gamers, a competitive platform for puzzle and logic games. It became a global destination for curious minds, featuring physical tournaments, digital challenges, and story-driven problem-solving experiences streamed to international audiences.
Quiz Duell in the Air: an in-flight creative learning game, prototyped as a playful interaction and transformed into a flying innovation showcase.
We co-developed this educational game for Lufthansa short-haul flights — playable via smartphone. Combining knowledge, fun, and friendly competition, it became a prototype for what playful interaction could look like in unusual settings, and brought learning to cruising altitude.
Mistopia for MA48: designing escape games that explore real-world sustainability issues.
Developed for Vienna’s waste management authority (MA48), Mistopia is a set of eight mini escape room experiences that teach young players about recycling, scarcity, energy, and pollution. Designed with sustainability experts, the games are fast-paced, physical, and deeply rooted in real-world impact.
BMW Moon Base: blending experiential games with corporate learning objectives.
We designed an in-house escape room at BMW HQ, turning innovation topics into experiential puzzles. Thousands of employees played to better understand creative mindsets and new work culture. In parallel, we co-created M-ission Possible, a portable suitcase game built with a global team over four days in China — helping international teams address conflict, culture, and collaboration through sci-fi storytelling.
Gather introduces a new way to learn together — across distances and dimensions. Used by Goethe Institute, Takeda, Bayer, and international clients.
We designed multiple hybrid learning formats — from historical puzzle adventures to space-themed meta verse simulations. Hundreds of participants worked together remotely to solve challenges, learning communication, leadership, and trust in fully digital, story-based environments.
Our own product: three digital games designed for team building, learning, and playful connection.
TeamPLAY™ turns ordinary screens into extraordinary learning. With just a shared screen and smartphones, groups from 4 to 500 can play customized experiences built around collaboration, problem-solving, and storytelling. Our latest game, “Cosmic Bakery”, can be used by 80+ players and is used at conferences worldwide. Supported by the Vienna Business Agency, TeamPLAY now powers trainings from team building to strategic thinking.
BMW Cube and Supply Chain Game extend TeamPLAY’s reach into strategic learning across departments.
We developed The Digital Boost Challenge — a multiplayer installation at BMW HQ that lets employees tackle digital transformation through gameplay. Topics like data, cloud, mixed reality, and cybersecurity became tangible through fast-paced challenges and shared discovery.
Waldwelt experiments with immersive formats, while Red Bull expands our creative culture trainings at scale.
We turned a forest park into an interactive mystery using AR and puzzle storytelling — blending environmental exploration with game-based learning. Meanwhile, Red Bull scaled our creative culture workshops globally, bringing playful learning into leadership and innovation programs.
Sharpening our mission: designing playful trainings with a strong focus on creative culture — including a global Red Bull initiative to reimagine how teams grow, connect, and innovate.
For Red Bull, we developed an immersive training journey that blends secret retreats, global programs, and skill development to boost creative culture. We now focus fully on building playful learning experiences that help teams unlock their hidden strengths and transform how they work together.