Museum Game

Event Gamification‘s Museum Game transforms a traditional museum visit into an interactive and challenging experience. Participants navigate with GPS or a digital map to specific locations in the museum. At each location, they are given assignments, puzzles or questions that not only let them work together, but also learn more about the museum’s stories and collection. This makes the Museum Game suitable for any target group: from families and school classes to business groups and team outings.

The Museum Game is fully customized to perfectly fit your museum’s mission and vision. It offers a unique blend of education, play and collaboration and can be used as a regular activity or for special events and exhibitions.

Challenges

Museums today have a unique opportunity to enrich their visitors’ experience in innovative ways. As audiences change, so do expectations for interactive and immersive activities that bring history and culture to life. By offering engaging, self-guided experiences, museums can appeal to a wide range of visitors and achieve different goals:

1. Increase visitor engagement: Traditional tours offer valuable insights, but many visitors-especially younger generations-seek ways to immerse themselves more deeply in exhibits. There is a growing interest in experiences that combine learning with active participation.
2. Appealing to diverse audiences: Museums serve diverse visitor groups, from business teams and families to students and individual visitors. Interactive offerings allow museums to connect with all of these groups, creating shared experiences that foster curiosity and connection.
3. Creatively increasing revenue: Many museums are looking for innovative ways to diversify their revenue streams to support new exhibitions, programs and maintenance work. A gamified experience offers a fun, profitable addition that increases the value of each visit.
4. Efficiency in operations: Self-guided operations can help museums optimize their resources, allowing staff to focus on providing quality service without the need for constant monitoring of new operations.

The Museum Game offers a modern solution to these opportunities by combining interactivity, learning and self-guided exploration. This approach aligns perfectly with the evolving role of museums as centers of education and entertainment, enriching the experience for visitors and museum staff alike.

Solution: museum game

The Museum Game offers a game-based approach to museum tours and uses GPS technology to guide visitors through exhibits in an interactive way. This self-guided experience allows visitors to engage with museum content in new ways-through puzzles, quizzes and challenges that make learning immersive and enjoyable. The game requires minimal supervision, making it easily implemented by museum staff, while providing a high-quality, self-guided experience for visitors.

Objectives

1. Increase visitor engagement: Transform the museum experience into an interactive journey that captivates visitors and encourages them to explore deeper.
2. Appealing to wider audiences: Make museum visits engaging and accessible to diverse groups, from business teams to families and individual visitors.
3. Generate additional revenue: Introduce a new, profitable activity that contributes to the museum’s financial goals and provides valuable experiences.
4. Reduce operational burden: Offer a low-maintenance solution that allows museums to offer a high-quality interactive experience without a large staff.

Implementation and support museum game

Development of the game required close collaboration between UP Digital and museum staff to ensure that the content matched each museum’s unique historical narrative. The game uses GPS to create a seamless self-guided experience, eliminating the need for staff to constantly monitor players. Staff receive clear instructions and training for smooth implementation, allowing them to easily manage bookings and assist visitors when needed.

Financial model and benefits museum game

The GPS Museum Game is designed as a profitable, low-maintenance activity that generates significant revenue for museums. The financial benefits are broken down as follows:

1. Initial cost: €3,000 for the development of a fully customized game.
   Unique bonus: Upon purchase, the museum will receive 300 free tickets worth €10 each (total value €3,000).
   Profit potential: By selling the tickets, the museum recovers the entire development cost, essentially building the game for free.
2. Ticket Structure: Each game ticket is purchased by the museum at a wholesale price of €10 per team. Teams consist of 4-5 participants, making the cost per person to the museum approximately €2-€2.50. The museum then sells the game for €10 per participant, resulting in a total team ticket price of €40-€50.
3. Profit margin per ticket: With an initial cost of €10 and a selling price of €40-€50, each ticket generates €30-€40 profit. This offers an attractive profit margin of 300-400% per ticket sold, providing a high profit with minimal additional investment.
4. Revenue potential: By selling tickets as team tickets instead of individual tickets, museums can maximize sales by group. The broad appeal of the game allows it to be used for both corporate and individual bookings, increasing sales across different visitor segments.
5. Fictitious Example Case
   • Total tickets sold in 2023: In 2023, from its January launch, the museum sold a total of 1,000 tickets.
   • Estimate for 2024: At 50% growth in ticket sales, it is expected that about 1,500 tickets will be sold in 2024.
   • Impact of growth: This sharp increase highlights the growing popularity of the Museum Game and its strong appeal to diverse audiences, such as corporate teams and families.
   • Expected profit in 2024: With a margin of €30-€40 per ticket, sales in 2024 would result in a total profit between €45,000 and €60,000.

These figures show that the Museum Game is not only a growing activity, but also an important and profitable addition to museum offerings.

6. Scalability and expansion: The financial structure of the GPS game can be easily scaled up. As demand grows, especially with the new setup for individual bookings, the income potential increases with no additional cost per ticket to the museum. This makes the GPS Museum Game a sustainable revenue source that continues to generate profits throughout the year.
7. Return on investment (ROI): The GPS Museum Game offers a high ROI because of low initial costs and operational simplicity. No additional staff costs are required, as the game is self-managing and low-maintenance, reducing ongoing expenses. Over time, museums can expect to quickly recoup their investment in setup and training, as ticket sales generate continuous profits with minimal resource commitment.

In short, the GPS Museum Game represents a financially solid addition to museum offerings, allowing institutions to increase revenue while enhancing the visitor experience. Its high profit margin, minimal operating costs and scalability make it an excellent choice for museums looking to modernize and monetize their interactive offerings.

Results and visitor feedback

Museums that have implemented the GPS Museum Game report overwhelmingly positive feedback. Visitors appreciate the mix of education and entertainment and find the game a fun way to connect with museum themes. The game encourages collaboration and exploration, making the experience memorable and engaging for visitors of all ages.

The Museum Game was a perfect combination of learning and fun. We discovered more about the museum in an interactive way and laughed a lot in the meantime. Highly recommended for groups looking for something fun and educational to do.

Participant after a group activity

Experience the Museum Game at the Arnhem Open Air Museum

At the Open Air Museum Arnhem, the Museum Game is already being used successfully to guide visitors through the museum in an interactive way. Participants explore historic sites and special buildings through GPS tasks and challenging puzzles. This experience lets visitors play and learn together while immersing themselves in the museum’s stories and culture, creating a unique and engaging experience.

Conclusion and recommendations

The Museum Game is a powerful tool for museums seeking to address the challenges of engagement, revenue growth and resource management. By enhancing the visitor experience with an accessible, self-guided and profitable activity, museums can attract broader audiences and deepen their connection to history. Extending this model to other museums has the potential to standardize gamified museum experiences and enrich cultural exploration in a way that resonates with today’s interactive world.