Burgomaster and Pedro - A Pervasive Multi-Player Game for Rural Tourism

Pervasive games have the potential to add new qualities to otherwise possibly tedious or uninspiring areas and let users interact with their environment in novel and enjoyable ways. The spreading of wireless communication infrastructures and low cost programmable mobile devices equipped with positioning systems and cameras span a large and growing open playground for pervasive gaming applications. In this work we describe the game Burgomaster and Pedro, the result of an interdisciplinary project for the state Ministry of Environment to promote development and tourism of rural areas. It is a multiplayer game that requires its players to explore villages in order to find real and virtual objects, which have to be delivered to given destinations. It also allows to hide from or seek other players, since objects that are being delivered can be stolen by competitors. GPS positioning, wireless communication and visual marker recognition are the key technologies in this game that is designed for playful engagement with rural environments.