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UrbanQuest

March, 2003 - August, 2004

Location Based Mobile Gaming

Back before the iPhone we built on demand scavenger hunts in San Francisco, Oakland and even one in Disneyland. After creating an account and registering your phone number and PayPal address, you could create a quest or competition at any time for yourself and your friends.

What We Said in 2003...

UrbanQuest is a collaborative gaming experience that lets teams explore and compete in physical environments such as buildings, neighborhoods or even entire cities.

To play UrbanQuest, team members receive clues on their mobile device, such as a cell phone or wireless PDA. They cooperatively figure out the location referred to by the clue and make their way to that location. The team solves the clue using characteristics found at the location. The team’s answer is text messaged to UrbanQuest Headquarters using their mobile device. For example, a clue may require a team to locate a specific room in a building and figure out how many desk drawers are in the room. Teams earn points for quickly solving clues with a minimal number of guesses.

UrbanQuest provides two styles of game play. Quests are games played by a single team. The team chooses when they want to play and earns points as they progress through the game. Events are scheduled games played by multiple teams at the same time. Each team plays in the same location and competes to earn the most points. Each game is unique regardless of the type of game played. Multiple teams can play in the same location yet have completely different clues. Also, teams can play the same location multiple times. UrbanQuest tracks all clues that have previously played by each team to ensure that duplicates are never delivered.

UrbanQuest adds great value to your organization. Custom Quests or Events can be created to draw customers to your venue. UrbanQuest provides an exciting way for people to explore and learn about a specific location. Because each game is different, visitors can repeatedly play to discover new aspects of your location.

Using UrbanQuest at your location is easy. Many people have mobile phones, and almost all mobile phones have the capability to send and receive text messages. Prospective players register to play a game on the Web. Optionally, a simple web-enabled kiosk can be placed at your location so visitors may register to play onsite. Game play is completely automated, which makes it a cost effective addition to your venue.

New clues and locations can be added to your UQ system at any time. After a brief training session, your staff can use a simple and secure web based interface that gives them the ability to enter new clues for future games. By adding new clues, locations can be continually updated and improved to highlight new areas of your venue. Not only does this encourage more people to play, it also encourages repeat visits.