The red dot game

The Red Dot Game is an outdoor location-based augmented reality experience that runs on smartphones, as shown in Figure 1. The game encourages young children to engage with the environment and participate in increased levels of physical activity. Similar to the game of “tag” that is played in a physical playground or park, The Red Dot Game provides a shared virtual space (a map representing the play area) populated by numerous red dots that the players collect by physically visiting their locations as represented on the map (see Figure 3). Active play, such as walking and running (“locomotor and non-locomotor skills”), supports the development of motor skills (as required in the “Healthy and Physical Education” learning area of the Australian Curriculum, 2017). This can be encouraged by varying the way in which the red dots interact with the player and allowing players to chase the red dots and/or be chased by the red dots. This variety of gameplay ensures that 420 LEARNING, EDUCATION & GAMES, VOLUME 3 the game can be modified to meet the needs of varying ages, abilities, and learning/developmental objectives. Key characteristics of The Red Dot Game is the integration of digital game play with the physical environment, opportunities for direct human-human engagement during play, and flexibility to repurpose the game to include in other learning experiences.