Vatican City • June 3–4, 2026
World
UnPlugNPlay
Day Conference
Love is a Verb—Connecting Amazing People to the People They Love and That Need Their Love
Location
Casina Pius IV
Delegates
50 Global Leaders
The world is facing an epidemic of loneliness, over-digitization, and declining in-person social connection. People of good will from every walk of life recognize that something essential is missing. The World UnPlugNPlay Day Conference brings them together to respond—not with more technology, but with play, presence, and the timeless human need to connect.
This landmark gathering brings together 50 global cultural, civic, faith, and business leaders at the Vatican—united by a shared belief that breaktime play can improve human connectivity and harmony. With conference special guest and speaker Fr. Joseph Farrell, O.S.A., Prior General of the Order of Saint Augustine, the conference elevates play as a universal human language of dignity, togetherness, and hope.
Table tennis is the catalyst. Connection is the outcome. Born from the Chicago Ping Pong Festival in 2000—where 300 tables were placed across the city and lines of people waited to play—this movement has grown for 25 years and now reaches the world’s most iconic cultural stage, proving that simple acts of play can bridge divides and restore our shared humanity.
For the first World UnPlugNPlay Day in 2016, Killerspin created a one-of-a-kind handmade table tennis table—the Revolution SVR Bianco—and presented it to Pope Francis at the Vatican. The custom pearlescent white table bore the papal insignia and became a symbol of the movement’s mission: connecting humanity through play.
In August 2025, the tradition continued when Killerspin gifted a second custom table to Pope Leo XIV—the first American-born pope and a Chicago native. The table features Pope Leo’s name in gold, a four-star Chicago emblem in red, the papal coat of arms on its playing surface, and the UnPlugNPlay insignia along the side rails. It was presented as “a gift from the people of Chicago.”
Only 37 replicas of the original papal table were ever produced. The final remaining replica is available through Killerspin’s Competition of Love, with 100% of proceeds going directly to the charity of the buyer’s choice.
Nestled within the Vatican Gardens, the Casina Pius IV is a Renaissance jewel and the home of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. Built in 1561, it is one of the most exclusive and historically significant venues in the world.
Vatican City • Est. 1561
In 2000, Chicago put out 300 table tennis tables across the city for the Chicago Ping Pong Festival. Wherever the tables appeared, lines of people waited to play. Strangers became friends. Communities came alive. That energy—the simple joy of play bringing people together—inspired the founding of Killerspin in 2001 and sparked a global movement.
The movement is rooted in a simple truth: play levels the playing field. It transcends language, culture, and status. Around a table tennis table, everyone is equal—and everyone is welcome. That is the spirit UnPlugNPlay carries to Vatican City.
In 2016, the first World UnPlugNPlay Day was held at the Vatican in partnership with the Italian Table Tennis Federation. In August 2025, the partnership deepened with a visit to Pope Leo XIV—a Chicago native. Now in 2026, the movement returns for its most ambitious gathering yet.
The call to action: UnPlugNPlay 15 minutes a day.
Human connection is a necessity for personal, organizational, and societal wellness.
Breaktime play bridges cultures, generations, and divides where they live, work, and entertain.
Killerspin elevates table tennis into culture, art, and world-class design.
From Chicago to Vatican City—connecting the digital generation through breaktime play.
Created by the Augustinian General Curia in 2014, the Augustinians Across the World Foundation supports humanitarian and social projects run by Augustinian missionaries in nearly 50 countries across five continents. Non-sectarian and inspired by both Saint Augustine’s spirituality and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Foundation works “with all and for all.”
Building bridges through human dignity, education for all, and equitable, sustainable development.
Standing alongside the poorest—providing technical supervision and economic support to help communities develop their gifts.
Augustinian men and women serving in approximately 50 countries across five continents.
Envisioning a world where structural poverty is overcome and no one goes without.
“As Augustinians, we believe that no one should ever feel unseen, unloved, or left behind. The World UnPlugNPlay Conference matters because it creates sacred space for encounter: children, families, and communities step away from their screens and discover one another again, face to face, heart to heart. In those simple moments of play and presence, we meet the people who most need our love—the poor, the lonely, the forgotten—and we remember that our first calling is to walk beside them. This is the mission of the Augustinian Foundation: to build a global community where every person knows they are cherished, supported, and never alone.”
— Fr. Joseph Farrell, O.S.A., Prior General of the Order of Saint Augustine
Be part of a historic gathering that brings the power of play to the world’s most iconic stage. June 3–4, 2026.
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