  The field of the globular cluster NGC 3201 was monitored between 1998 and
2009 in a search for variable stars. $BV$ light curves were obtained for 152
periodic or likely periodic variables, 57 of which are new detections.
Thirty-seven newly detected variables are proper motion members of the cluster.
Among them we found seven detached or semi-detached eclipsing binaries, four
contact binaries, and eight SX Phe pulsators. Four of the eclipsing binaries
are located in the turnoff region, one on the lower main sequence and the
remaining two slightly above the subgiant branch. Two contact systems are blue
stragglers, and another two reside in the turnoff region. In the blue straggler
region a total of 266 objects were found, of which 140 are proper motion (PM)
members of NGC 3201, and another 19 are field stars. Seventy-eight of the
remaining objects for which we do not have PM data are located within the
half-light radius from the center of the cluster, and most of them are likely
genuine blue stragglers. Four variable objects in our field of view were found
to coincide with X-ray sources: three chromosperically active stars and a
quasar at a redshift $z\approx0.5$.
