The Intelliphone Challenge is a narrative-based locative game created for Fort Edmonton Park, a historical heritage site in Edmonton. The game was created through collaboration between students in the Computer Science and Humanities Computing programs at the University of Alberta and staff from Fort Edmonton Park. The name of the game is intended to evoke a steampunkesque association in player, for within the park, interpreters are always “in character””, playing roles appropriate to the time period represented by the park. The name, then, is an attempt to address the anachronism implicit in the game’s play.

The Intelliphone Challenge takes the form of a scavenger hunt quiz, wherein the quiz questions are tied together by an overarching narrative. As the park itself is divided into three distinct time periods, the game has three separate challenges/quizzes: 1885 street, 1905 Street, and 1920’s street. Upon beginning a challenge, the player is presented with text which sets up the narrative for the challenge. This text also serves to link the challenges to one another, for the character in the 1885 challenge is the father of the characters in the other two adventures.

Game play consists of searching for QR tags that are scattered throughout the physical space of the park. Upon scanning a tag, players are presented with a multiple choice question thematically linked to the physical location of the tag. Players receive points for correctly answering questions, and are notified of achievements for passing various thresholds of correct answers.

Examples of the Intelliphone Challenge Questions: