Introducing virtuality to enhance game-related physical artifacts

Various smart artifacts that embed computers and sensors have been developed. Some of these artifacts include extra hardware components to enhance their functionalities, but the components are always real, not virtual. Ubiquitous computing technologies for introducing virtuality offer the possibility of adding virtual components to physical artifacts, but this possibility has not been sufficiently exploited in previous research. In this paper, we present the Augmented Trading Card Game (Augmented TCG) as a case study for enhancing physical artifacts by integrating virtuality. Augmented TCG monitors the opponent’s movement using MS Kinect and maps them onto a virtual character representing the opponent rather than directly displaying the real opponent’s actions. An image of the opponent’s card is also projected onto the table in front of the player. Thus, the player feels as if he/she is playing face-to-face with the opponent. Moreover virtuality allows more information to be displayed during game play. We conducted several experiments to examine how players feel while playing a game,, and we present Augmented TCG experiences as a case study in integrating virtuality into physical artifacts.