A new Finnish outfit has created a new iOS game designed to motivate children to be active and stay entertained while walking to the store, school, or any other place with their family. With Treesure, children are provided a story and given activities to complete based on how far they’ve progressed on the way to their destination. In a funny way it’s kind of an augmented reality app, but for younger folks that have a more active imagination.
To use Treesure, you first need to select one of the game’s themes (fairy tale, Egypt, “trick course,” etc.), and then pick a route to where you’re going using the in-game map. While you’re on the way to your destination, a pop-up will appear in the app that will have some activity for the kids to do that falls within the theme’s narrative. At the end of the trip, the kids are rewarded with a short story provided by the app.
To monetize the service, the developers are taking an interesting route. They’re allowing advertisers to create their own narratives and destinations, which can provide an entertaining motivation for families to enter their store. This also opens up an opportunity for businesses to offer a prize to kids, which is a strong motivation for families to visit a business that’s out of their way.
I noticed they were also on the Venture Bonsai crowdfunding site, and there they mention further plans for more of a whitelabel service for businesses, and a more complete service for theme parks or zoos that would incorporate similar features, as well as payments and other location-based services.
You can download the app for iPhone or iPad here
