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ArtifactQuest Balboa Park

The Location

Balboa Park is a urban cultural park that is home to more than sixteen museums, multiple performing arts venues, beautiful gardens and even a zoo. Located in sunny San Diego, it was placed in reserve in 1835 and is one of the oldest park sites that is dedicated to public recreational use.

The Problem

  • Museums usually only have portions of their exhibits that are specifically designed for children.
  • Kid-friendly exhibits are often targeted towards certain age groups.
  • Children lose out on some of the learning opportunities presented in other museum areas due to lack of interactivity.
  • Parents or teachers with multiple children have difficulty finding activities for the entire group, especially if ages vary.

How can ArtifactQuest help?

  • Provides a new exciting game for children of all ages.
  • Equips parents, schools, and teachers with a more interactive education option.
  • Increases engagement of all museums and informs about the historical significance of Balboa Park.
  • Expands the collections of museums through virtual methods.

So what is ArtifactQuest anyway?

An Interactive Augmented Reality Puzzle Game

How does it work?

  • Artifact Quest places virtual objects across a collection of museums, historical landmarks, and other significant locations.
  • Each piece has a story, a history, and a place in the area which it “calls home”.
  • Players use clues provided and information about the artifact to figure out where the it belongs.
  • They then travel to the new location to scout and find the outline of their discovered artifact. Once found, they place the artifact into its outline to return it to its rightful home.
  • Once an artifact is returned to its rightful home, it becomes a part of that player’s personal collection. Artifacts in personal collections can be used to virtually decorate rooms anywhere.
  • Have a virtual replica of Starry Night in your bedroom at home or a Ming vase in your living room!

Look for a kiosk in any museum or online for a QR code to download ArtfactQuest

Scalable difficulty and hints available.

  • Puzzles scale in difficulty based on the age of the child.
  • Scaled random hints are available or team up with friends who have the same artifacts to see if they received different hints for the same artifact.

Take ArtifactQuest home. Come back anytime.

  • Track collection progress of all the artifacts in your local area and when new ones arrive.
  • Kids can see where their artifacts come from and where they exist in the real world.
Our world connected through shared virtual artifacts.

Why Balboa Park?

  • Large number and varying types of museums spaces.
  • Already attracts many visitors each year.
  • Ample space and personnel to test the game ecosystem
  • The less-frequented museums could benefit from additional visitors and publicity.
  • Ability to provide an interactive option in a visitor’s native language if other than English.

Perks for Museums!

One amazing benefit of ArtifactQuest is that local museums can augment their collections with artifacts from around the world.

Don't have the connections to get that dinosaur skeleton or Picasso painting in your gallery?

Let augmented reality help!

Extend your collections using AR technology and let others see your collection as it would be without limits!

The future goal is to allow museums to 3D scan their most valuable artifacts to add to the virtual archive along with supplementary information. Let's connect the art, science, and history of the world!

Happy Hunting!

The Team

Christine Benedict and Tiffany Tam

Credits:

Original graphics created by Tiffany Tam. All others used from no attribution sources.

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