NFC technology has already entered the entertainment world. Some prominent examples of multi- player parlor games implemented for NFC enabled mobile devices are Pass the Bomb and Exquisite Touch. In the game Pass the Bomb, a virtual bomb is passed from player to player in a circle by touching their NFC enabled mobile devices together.
Figure 4.5.1: Touch interaction: Example of players passing the bomb between devices [29]. Game starts with the activation of the bomb with a random countdown time until it reaches zero. If the countdown reaches zero despite of the attemps of the players to defuse it, the bomb explodes on the phone of the player who is currently holding it. This player is then eliminated from the game and cannot receive the bomb while the remaining players are allowed to restart the countdown
timer. In order to prevent this, each player receiving the bomb, tries to defuse it before allowed to pass it to the next player in the circle. Player can try to defuse the bomb by cutting one of three wires, selected by pressing the corresponding phone key. Each of these keys effects the countdown timer differently, increasing the speed of the countdown timer in varying modes, or resetting the countdown timer speed to normal. The game is equipped with different audio-visual effects to increase the excitement.
Figure 4.5.2: Game state diagram [29].
In the game Exquisite Touch, each player takes turn by writing words or phrases answering the questions of four different story options: Action, Comedy, Romance, and Adult, in order. Questions and the respective records are pre-set on the screen of the NFC-enabled mobile device.
A player starts the game by selecting the story type. After this the first question appears on the player's mobile device screen. The player is allowed to pass on the game to the next player by typing an answer. Passing on the game to the next player accomplished by touching the NFC devices together. Each answer of the each player is added to a string containing the story type. Each player while being unaware of all the answers of other players, respond all the subsequent questions of that particular story. The process being repeated until there are no questions left to ask. At this point, the last player sees a story on the screen of his/her device and has to read it out loud.
Mole game is to hit as many moles as possible with a toy mallet while they pop up from their holes. Players play the game with NFC-enabled mobile devices. The mobile client reads NFC-tags, communicates with the game server, displays status updates. The controls on the mobile client of the mobile device also starts new games suspends or quits running ones. A player starts a new game through the mobile client and others can join the game by touching the dynamic NFCdisplay in any place. During the game, moles rise and recede from their holes. Players can hit rising and receding moles by touching the NFC-tags beneath them with their NFC enabled mobile devices.
Figure 4.5.3: Direct, touch-based interaction with a dynamic NFC-display, the graphical user interface of the Whack-a-Mole game [30].
A successful hit is displayed by a visual feedback on the projected game UI. This feedback is also supported by vibration on the mobile device. Winner is determined by the number of hits on the moles during hundred seconds. As an additional challenge, players can try to hit others moles with different colours. Players can win extra credits by guarding their own moles against others and meanwhile hitting on the moles of others which are in different colours from his/her own.
a) b)
Figure 4.5.4: Moles pop up from their virtual holes (a) and can be hit with NFC-enabled mobile devices (b) to earn credits [30].
In an other entertaining application, NFC enabled mobile device changed into a new kind of musical instrument using NFC technology. The device concept called PhonePhone created this way is very different than the traditional one in the sense that the aim is to teach the user a new way of playing. The basic idea was to create a xylophone type of musical instrument using NFC enabled mobile device and NFC tags. The instrument designed in such a way that the NFC enabled mobile device used as a mallet touching ”instead of hitting” to the NFC tags which form in this case ”the bar” of the traditional xylophone musical instrument. The difference of the created model to the traditional xylophone musical instrument is that the NFC enabled mobile device plays the sound, not the target it hits.
In the earlier prototypes the sound sampled and attached to the links inside a tag which is played by touching the tag with the NFC enabled mobile device. In the prototypes developed later, the NFC tag and the mobile device considered as a generic platform for playing sounds, not depending on any particular sound or musical instrument. Figure 4.5.6 illustrates the PhonePhone images which can be used to play a sound such as piano and also a drum. The circles above the piano keyboard illustrate a drum kit with the cymbals at the top right corner. One of the challanges of this fun device is optimization of software to include rules for interruptions inorder to play several sounds like chords or drum sound and piano at the same time. This way timing can be set correctly behaving as in playing the conventional musical instruments.
Figure 4.5.6: Illustration of the PhonePhone, piano and drum instruments [31].