Augmented Reality Game Lets Kids Build Virtual Worlds

At first glance, the components of the board game Koski look fairly unremarkable. It consists of a set of magnetic blocks and flat discs that players use to build structures on top of a platform. The real magic happens when the game connects to an iPad. As Fast Co. Design reports, Koski is a smart toy that allows kids to bring scenes to life on screen using augmented reality.
The high-tech board game was created by Royal College of Art graduate Václav Mlynář as a school project. As you can see from the video above, Koski tracks the magnetic discs and overlays them with virtual characters, trees, and waterfalls in the app portion of the game. From there, players can have their animated character explore the world and solve problems by rearranging the physical blocks in front of them.
Augmented reality is having a bit of a moment. On July 6, a new Pokémon game that uses the technology was released for iOS and Android, and it’s already wildly popular. There’s no word yet on whether a commercial version of Koski will be released any time soon, but current trends suggest there’s definitely a market for it.
[h/t Fast Co. Design]
All images courtesy of Vimeo.
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