Take part in Augmented Reality Monster Villain Trail
Published: 21/10/2020
Monster villains have been spotted in Woking Shopping and the centre is inviting young monster hunters to help track them down.
The creepy trail has been set up using ‘augmented reality’ monsters which families can bring to life on their smartphones.
The fun starts on 12th October through to Halloween and is helping to raise funds for Woking Shopping’s official charity of the year, Sebastian’s Action Trust.
The trail takes an average of about 45 minutes to complete and runs in an entirely secure, socially-distanced way. It works by using contactless QR codes, without the need to download or sign up to anything. Ten vinyl window monsters, all specially created for this project, have been placed around Woking Shopping for families to hunt down. When the QR code is scanned a monster will come to life in animation on their smartphone. After finding all ten ‘MonsterVillains’, families will be rewarded with a free eBook, telling the full story about the monsters.
Rowen de Grauw, Customer Experience Manager,WokingShoppingsaid: “We are very excited to be bringing augmented reality to Woking Shopping. We hope families enjoy the challenge of finding the monsters around the centre! It’s great that we can bring some much-needed fun to Woking in a totally secure socially-distanced way, as well as giving the opportunity to raise funds for Sebastian’s Action Trust.”
Martin Blackwell, former CEO of ATCM and the Charity Retail Association, who is coordinating the project nationally, said, “I loved the idea of a “safari on the high street”! We had such wonderful feedback from our first trail over the summer that we just had to create a new story for Halloween. We’re delighted to have Woking Shopping involved as a venue. If something fun like this can help make families and kids feel good about going back out onto the high street in a safe way then we’ve done our job.”
Editor’s Notes:
Background on Sebastian’s Action Trust
The charity was founded by a nine-year-old local boy called Sebastian Gates, just days before his death from cancer in 2003. It provides respite and day breaks for the families of children with life-limiting and life-threatening conditions at its unique facility, The Bluebells. The trust provides emotional, social and practical support to more than 600 families in the local area. The charity receives no statutory funding to deliver its services and is entirely dependent on its supporters and sponsors.