LocoMatrix Park to Park

This is a description of a proposed game to be played in New York and London at the same time. The game can only be completed if there is a player (or team) in each place. The intention is to introduce the game during the Come Out and Play festival in NY which runs between the 6th and 8th of June 2008.

We have created a treasure hunt using cell phones connected via Bluetooth to GPS. Our current version has players navigate a route on which several landmarks have to be found.

To get to the first destination from the start: a photograph of a part of the surrounding landscape appears on the phone screen. The player heads in the corresponding direction and as they get closer, a more detailed picture of a specific landmark or object appears. Once they arrive, a suitable piece of text is shown, maybe describing the object. Players are aided by the warmometer (goes from blue to red as you approach “warmer/colder”) which is displayed at the top of the screen.

The Come Out and Play version will be played in NY and London simultaneously. A player in NY will try to find the first location while the player in London has to follow (both players will be seen as dots on the screen and move relative to each other – the London player will have to stay on track). Once the first location is found, the roles swap over with the London player doing the leading/finding. Thus the course can only be completed by the corporation of the two players.

Pairs of players/teams would set off at 5 minute intervals from the starting point (also the finish) with an average course time of around 30 minutes. Phones and GPS would be provided at the start and a guide would be on hand for further help.

Teams have to visit all the locations in the Treasure Hunt in the correct order. Course time will appear on the phones when the last location has been found. The winners are the ones who complete the course in the fastest time.

A nice touch might be to photograph the 2 players and put them on a web site so they could see who they had played with – alternatively it might be possible to do this at the start/end if one can get internet access in the parks.