While the trajectory of the pandemic varies across countries, youth NGOs expressed greatest concern about the impact of COVID-19 on mental well-being, disruptions to education and culture, familial relations and friendships, as well as limitations to individual freedoms according to the 2020 OECD Survey on COVID-19 and Youth. Drastic changes to our routines during pandemic times have forced us to alter our social habits and re-evaluate our relationships and our place in the community. Over the past year, the extended lack of physical face-to-face communication made us realise how valuable social and group interactions can be. Therefore, Monomyths Association and 6 Youth NGOs have explored together the options, mechanics and dynamics that could be used to maintain some semblance of human contact and decrease loneliness, facilitating greater social engagement and came to the following conclusion: as our isolation grows by the day, games could be key in reducing loneliness and fostering a sense of connection among youth. Both indoor and outdoor games could offer the necessary dynamics for youth to learn, grow, socialize and remain mentally and physically fit in times characterised by insufficient activity levels and sedentary behaviour. According to the WHO’s Physical activity strategy for the EU Region 2016–2025, performing various types of physical activities can be not only an effective way of promoting mental health and well-being, but can also contribute to the treatment of mental health conditions, which are statistically proven to be on the raise for all age groups. In particular, as stated by the Policy Department of the European Parliament for Economic, Scientific and Quality of Life, the segment of YP aged 18-28 is at high-risk of developing poor mental health, due to higher employment and income insecurity since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to improving mental wellbeing among youth, another need addressed by the project is the need to better preserve and safeguard our European intangible cultural heritage. In this sense, traditional games represent an important part of the world’s recreational cultural heritage and a symbol of the cultural diversity of our societies. Traditional games provide a reliable framework for enjoyable play, as well as opportunities for creativity and exploration and are an efficient means for conveying values of solidarity, diversity, inclusiveness, cultural awareness and better mutual understanding at international level, acting as a bridge between different cultures and beliefs. In 2015, the games collection “În Fața Blocului'' received the award for Most Wonderful Book of the year in Romania. This collection is one of the isolated endeavours to preserve Romanian games and encourage youth and older generations to “play it forward”, reconnect, develop essential skills while playing folk games. Furthermore, through a G-Form applied among 241 YP 15-25 y.o. from 6 EU countries, we have discovered that most young people are interested in promoting their childhood games through new media tools and campaigns and want to actively contribute to their preservation by designing new features and dynamics to make them attractive to the newer generations. “We are at risk of forgetting and losing our games, therefore our cultural heritage and identity”. 71% of respondents value their intangible/tangible heritage, but don’t know in what ways they can pro-actively be engaged in its promotion and preservation. “Play it forward” represented the initiative of 6 youth NGOs and its main aim was to use traditional games as a tool for generating non-formal educational experiences in order to connect young people through folk games as a solution to overcome the emotional negative effects of the pandemic as well as to preserve the intangible European cultural heritage. The specific objectives of the project were: O1: To create one playground (mobility for YP) in May 2022 which encouraged 30 young people from 6 European countries to revive national folk games and preserve the European cultural heritage, while enhancing their emotional wellbeing. O2: To promote solidarity, emotional wellbeing, human connection and the preservation of the European cultural heritage by organising 6 local game tournaments with European folk games for 180 participants, during “European Folk Games Day” in June 2022. O3: To design with the participants the European digital library “Folk Games 2.0” with more than 36 revived European folk games from all over the EU space and beyond dedicated to “playful” European citizens and education professionals who want to create sustainable playgrounds by June 2022. O4: To encourage more than 350 European young people to join the movement “Play it forward! Save the folk games” and contribute to the effort of preserving the folk games by expanding and promoting the collection of the digital library “Folk Games 2.0” on all digital platforms.