The Space Journey Game: An Intergenerational Pervasive Experience

There is a need to re-design the entertainment systems for the older adults, incorporating the population of this age group into the digital culture. With this aim in mind this work presents an intergenerational experience carried out in an Interactive Space where tangible and gestures interaction are used to participate in pervasive gaming experiences. The experience makes use of a game initially designed just for children but in a very flexible way so that it can be tailored to different players' characteristics. Family groups made up of one or two grandparents and one or two grandchildren have played together The Fantastic Journey fulfilling all the missions either on tangible tabletops, just moving around the space or interacting by gestures. The experience was positively valued by both age groups; they were indeed happy with the opportunity of playing together in a challenging game. Nevertheless, the difficulty of designing engaging experiences for both age groups points to a challenging research area.