54 Cities is a deck of cards – and also a set of walks around Kensington and Chelsea. Each suit in the deck (Hearts, Clubs, Spades and Diamonds) matches up with a route.
Players take part by following the routes and look at the illustrations and stories on the cards, figuring out which one matches the place where they’re standing.
The individual walks are designed to take between one and two hours, passing through parks and leafy backstreets – and past plenty of places to stop for a quick cup of tea. Each route has its own theme – loss and obsession for hearts, for example, and the hidden underground stories of the street for spades.
Some of the stories you’ll uncover as you walk are well-known. Some are almost unheard-of. We’re pretty sure that most of them are true.
Play by getting a deck of cards. They’re available from 19 June on the InTRANSIT website
and at:
Daunt Books, 112-114 Holland Park Avenue, W11 4UA
Honeyjam, 2 Blenheim Crescent, W11 1NN
Lutyens and Rubensten, 21 Kensington Park Rd, W11 2EV
Book + Kitchen, 31 All Saints Road, London W11 1HE
Game sets are also available to borrow from the libraries in the borough.
54 Cities was created as part of the InTRANSIT festival, and was inspired by the 54 cities of Thomas More’s Utopia. Illustrations by Martina Paukova, design by Studio M E O W.
