PP3: A Hidden Mystery

For Pressure Project 3 we were to reveal a hidden mystery in 3 minutes without a keyboard or mouse. Bonus levels were to make it unique to each user, have users move in a larger environment, and for users to express delight in the search and reveal.

Rather than making it unique to each user, I wanted to make an experience in which users must work together to reveal the mystery, and decided to make a treasure hunt.

I chose to start with putting a penny into a jar to signify the investment. The Makey Makey is attached to the penny and the tin foil that lines the jar. When the penny enters the jar, it triggers the next scene. In this scene, I video is projected onto a white box, and my voice (which has been slowed down) explains the next clue. They are to find the window and set it on top of the while box. The window has a strip of tin foil on the bottom, so when they set it on the box, it tin foil closes the circuit and triggers the next scene. (If you look at the image to the right, I have wires set up on either side of where they set the frame. These wires connect to the Makey Makey.)

In the next scene, the voice gives some vague directions that become more clear when the projection appears on the window. The users figure out that they need to link hands in order to close the Makey Makey circuit this time. This is the moment when the whole group needs to work together.

In this instance it would have been helpful to use something besides a penny, because the penny used in the first scene got mixed into the penny’s used in this scene.

Then, the next scene provides another riddle. It is pictured on the right.

They figured out that they needed to go back to the jar where they began. Taking the penny out of the jar triggered the next scene. I crossed my fingers that they would get the “Dig” message, but it wan’t clear enough. In hind sight, this scene might have had the voice tell them to keep digging. While we did it, however, I told them to think about the clue, and they figured out that they needed to go into the jar to find the treasure!

I definitely think that they expressed delight as they uncovered the treasure! Inside the jar, but obscured by the tin foil, I had hidden a bunch of chocolate coins.

To watch the experience, check out this video!