Playtest (Black Mirror)

"Playtest"
Black Mirror episode
Cooper (Wyatt Russell) experiences SaitoGemu's augmented reality technology. An augmented Whac-A-Mole game was the initial inspiration for the episode.
Episode no.	Series 3 Episode 2
Directed by	Dan Trachtenberg
Written by	Charlie Brooker
Original release date	21 October 2016 (2016-10-21)
Running time	57 minutes
Guest appearances
Wyatt Russell as Cooper Hannah John-Kamen as Sonja Wunmi Mosaku as Katie Ken Yamamura as Shou Elizabeth Moynihan as Cooper's mother Jamie Paul as Josh Peters
Episode chronology
← Previous "Nosedive" Next → "Shut Up and Dance"
List of episodes

"Playtest" is the second episode in the third series of the British science fiction anthology television series Black Mirror. Written by series creator and showrunner Charlie Brooker and directed by Dan Trachtenberg, it premiered on Netflix on 21 October 2016, with the rest of series three.

The episode follows Cooper (Wyatt Russell), an American who playtests an upcoming augmented reality game in London while travelling. It is a horror game which accesses his brain and targets his fears. Hannah John-Kamen co-stars as a video game journalist Cooper meets. The episode was inspired by an idea Brooker had for an augmented reality Whac-A-Mole game which increased in speed until the subject went crazy. After considering Tokyo, the crew decided to shoot in London.

A work of psychological horror, the episode features numerous video game references and many instances of foreshadowing. The episode received mixed critical reception, with criticisms of the storyline and ending but praise given to Trachtenberg's directing and Russell's acting. The episode was nominated for a British Academy Television Craft Award, an RTS Craft & Design Award and a Visual Effects Society Award.