KCTS 9, sponsor of TEDx Seattle 2016. was looking for ways to engage the TEDx audience before doors opened and during intermissions. During these times, people are often busy checking their email, making important phone calls, using the restrooms, buying a beverage and/or snack, and other activities. Perusing the sponsors’ messages are not at the top of their to-do list during these breaks.

Working with the Experience Designers at Interplay, Inc., WORKSHOP 3D developed an augmented reality game that incorporated the sponsor’s well-known content in an interesting and engaging way, but took only seconds to play.

The game featured a set-up mode and a play mode. The set-up mode attaches a tablet to a specific augmented reality target so that it can be married to a specific target attached to the top of a pedestal, and so that the augmented reality responds quickly due to the single tablet and pre-loading of the model.

On the top of each pedestal was an AR target based on the splash screen from one of six well-known PBS shows, but with the words “Guess the Show” in place of the show’s name.

In game mode, when the target was viewed with the tablets, several iconic objects from the show would appear on top of the pedestal, and the guest would be given the opportunity to guess which show was being represented, out of four choices.

A guest could take as many tries as they wanted to guess the show, after which they were given more information about it. After a successful guess or a period of inactivity, indicating that the guest had given up and moved on, the tablet returned to scan mode, ready for the next use.