How Games Can Support Museum Learning and Participation

Choose an idea visitors can explore through play

Games can give museum visitors something to do with an idea: design and test a vehicle, solve a puzzle or make a choice and see what follows. Start with the collection question and the intended audience, then decide whether a game offers a useful way to explore it.

Games can be designed for adults, children or groups playing together. A learning aim needs to be reflected in what players do, with opportunities to discuss or explain their choices. Adding a game or reward does not by itself establish a learning benefit; consider avoiding the gamification trap.

Cultural institutions have also used many forms of participation that are not necessarily games. The Smithsonian’s Pepper robot pilot included tablet-based games. By contrast, MoMA’s “I went to MoMA and…” project invited visitors to leave comments, while Google’s Arts & Culture face-matching feature offered a playful comparison with artworks. Each invites an action, but their purposes and mechanics differ.

A game might be analogue, actor-led or screen-based. Choose the form that fits the idea and the setting rather than assuming every topic will benefit from gamification. The cases below are historical examples; check current availability before planning a visit or downloading a game.

Rugged Rovers: design, test and iterate

The UK’s Science Museum commissioned Rugged Rovers for its 2014 Engineer Your Future exhibition. The game asks players to design and test a rover, as described in the developer’s project account.

“Games should have purpose but must also be fun,” said Dave Patten, then Head of New Media at the Science Museum. “We develop games that teach you about things in an entertaining way where you are probably not even aware that you are learning. For instance our Rugged Rovers game teaches you about the design process that engineers use to design, test and iterate. It teaches this by doing, but we never explicitly say this is what is happening.”

Rugged Rovers gives players an engineering problem: build a rover, see how it performs and change the design. That sequence makes the learning intention visible in the action of the game. A museum developing its own activity can ask the same question: what will the visitor do that relates to the idea we want to explore?

“In the museum, games are a great way of allowing visitors to have agency over often quite complex areas of content, allowing visitors to explore ideas and content in a very interactive way,” Patten says. “In-museum games have long been part of our interpretive approach in the museum and we have developed and commissioned many games for use in exhibitions and galleries. In-museum games tend to be very short, lasting from only several minutes whereas online games are designed with much longer playing times.” (see Dave Patten talking about the history of games at the Science Museum here).

Inside Opera: a different invitation

Inside Opera launched at the Palais Garnier in Paris on 9 June 2018. It was described as “a truly life-sized adventure with the immersive thrills of following in the footsteps of the Phantom of the Opera.” Actors in period costume guided players through puzzles, with the aim of lifting the Phantom’s curse. Players could take part independently or in teams as they explored the building.

The actor-led puzzle format offered a different invitation to explore the venue.

“The main goal was to provide a new kind of cultural trip in Paris, a different way to visit a place with immersive and interactive experience,” says Gregory Mangeret, who co-created Inside Opera. “Opera management knew that Inside Opera was the opportunity to have a new category of visitors.”

The creators aimed to attract a younger, more urban audience, including people who might not otherwise choose an opera performance. Assessing whether that happened would require information about participants, rather than treating the invitation itself as proof of audience diversification.

Prototype the rules and access

Museum games can combine physical and digital elements. The design needs to account for how people move between them and for the support required in a shared space.

“Digital games increasingly have physical components, and I think the future of museum games is probably going to be a much more blended experience,” Patten says. “We are always looking at games both digital and physical for ideas and inspiration.”

For teams developing a game, Patten’s advice begins with the audience and the quality of play.

“Be very clear about who the audience for the games are and develop for that audience,” he says. “Be thoughtful, work with agencies who understand how to make good games, make the games widely available, put them on gaming portals and not just on your museum’s website. Keep the ideas simple with great gameplay.”

Test the rules before investing in a polished build. Can someone understand the first step without a long explanation? Can a family play together? What happens when a visitor cannot use the controls or when several people are waiting? Plan session length, queueing, facilitation, accessible alternatives and replay. Involving intended users early can shape the design, as in developing a hybrid game with a children’s council.

Learn from how people play

Build in a feedback or debrief plan. A short conversation after play can show whether people noticed the intended idea, and may reveal a different question worth pursuing. Observe where players need help and whether they want to try again, then use those findings to improve the activity.