#243: Mobile jigsaw

Mobile service providers don’t really need any clever techniques to encourage the use of their services. There is, nonetheless, a certain amount of interest in providing people with mobile, collaborative, socialisation games. Today’s invention is a new approach.

A group of people register their mobile numbers. When they meet at a designated time, probably in the pub, they all receive a picture message (which might even autodelete after a short time).

Jay_Simons_jigsaw555.jpg

Each picture is a different fragment of a larger image. The original has been automatically ‘cut’ into the number of pieces corresponding to the friends in a group. This image might be a message or an image of a landmark. The point is that it’s only retrievable if nearly all the group members are present and if they can work out a way to quickly arrange their mobile screens in order to make the message visible. There is therefore a strong incentive for everyone in a group to turn up and play what amounts to an updated version of ‘twister’.

This might even be used by people in a corporate team building context or by unacquainted patrons of a singles bar.

Once the message has been deciphered, the group could follow instructions in order to win a prize or race against another group receiving the same message. A game might consist of a sequence of such messages with a sizeable prize at the end.

Comments are closed.