What if a science exhibit didn’t ask you to read the answer, but to feel it? At the California Science Center, Game On! Science, Sports & Play turns 17,000 square feet into a laboratory where movement is the method and play is the proof.

The Science Center serves one of the most diverse cities in the country, free of charge. Game On! reflects that civic mission: built for families with children ages 4 to 14, focused on underserved communities across Los Angeles, presented in English and Spanish throughout.

Everyone deserves the right to play, especially those who’ve been told sport isn’t for them, or that science is too intimidating to touch. Here, winning gives way to learning. Confidence grows alongside understanding.

Throughout the exhibition, professional athletes and movement leaders guide visitors through the science behind movement and skill. The roster, all rooted in LA: Debbie Allen, Freddie Freeman, Rachel Garcia, Jamal Hill, Chris “Lethal Shooter” Matthews, and Angel City FC’s Alyssa and Gisele Thompson. Inside each activity and Skills Lab, they break down the science of every movement: force, balance, reaction time, and the physics that ties them all together.

Visitors begin in one of three Skills Labs focused on force, balance, and motion. Trained facilitators guide low-pressure progressions before letting them loose in the larger zones. Simple movements, real-time feedback, and iteration make invisible forces measurable. In the Force Lab, jumping turns into Newton’s laws: jump, check the force reading, try again.

At the gallery’s center, the Nike Sport Research Lab uses personal stories, interactive research tools, and visualizations to show how science makes sport safer and more inclusive, while opening doors to careers in sport science and design.

Beyond the Labs, visitors put science into action across baseball, soccer, swimming, yoga, dance, climbing, and adaptive sports. Interactives reward experimentation and second tries. Graphics and athlete-led media coach without pressure. Partnerships with Nike, LA84, and the Dodgers Foundation connect the experience to LA’s broader sports ecosystem. Contributions from local artists and community organizations root it firmly in the city it serves.

We co-created the exhibition with scientists, educators, medical professionals, coaches, cultural advisors, and teens, so it would reflect the diversity, resilience, and experiences of the communities it serves.

Families leave comparing techniques. Kids leave knowing they can learn through movement. And because memory is made in the body, the science stays long after the sweat dries.