Find your own fight

In a room filled with historical struggles, you may discover what you want to fight for

The entire, permanent historical exhibition “Kampen i tiden” / “Challenge in Time” is a 300m² playing field. Through 37 historical and now living persons, players explore 7,000 years of destinies, of champions who fought for things they believed in.

Through questions on an iPad, players must find the right person in one of the exhibitions five themes. Clues can be found in images, texts, movies and objects. Each theme also concludes at a physical station with an analog challenge.

The game ends when players – inspired by the champions they met in the exhibition – choose what they themselves want to fight for. They will then match with their own champions in the exhibition, the ones who strived for the same thing before them.

Further research can take place on the spot or later, via login to each unique game round online.“Kampen i tiden” / “Challenge in Time” can be played focusing on one or more themes, or experienced as a conventional exhibition without an iPad.

The game's home screen on the iPad. The logo shows a circle in five sections, which correspond to the five themes visitors encounter in the exhibition. The player's first mission is to find the right person on the wall next to the iPad stand. This introduction directly demonstrates the main task of the game – finding the right person in the room via clues.

The room is designed for exploration – and clues to the game answers are hidden in texts, images, movies and objects.

The line on the floor corresponds to the circle on the game screen, divided according to the game's five themes. Players can follow the line on the floor throughout the exhibition, but can choose to play the themes in any order.

Players are given one to four clues to find the right person in the room. Fewer clues mean more points to distribute at the end. If you manage two people out of five in a theme, you can move on to the theme's physical station if you want, but you get more points if you take your time and find all the people in the theme.

The game ends with players – inspired by the champions they met in the exhibition – prioritizing what they themselves want to fight for in their own life. They will then meet their own champions, who strived for the same thing before them.

Some of the many portraits and pictures that Moa Hoff illustrated for Kampen i tiden. Portraits are color-coded by theme for quick navigation in the room.

Symbols from the game. Players input a symbol from app to station to start the station. If they complete the station's mission, another symbol will appear for them to choose in the app. In this way, the game stations need no direct contact with the iPad or the internet, which simplifies the maintenance of the entire game.

The Lab station in the theme "Fitting in".

Each theme ends with a mission at a physical station. The station is activated when an iPad is placed on it. In the Lab, the players must mix different chemicals. In the Stone, an ancient symbol must be found by rotating wheels.

In the Castle station, players must remember a sequence of symbols. In The Lighthouse, players must navigate dangerous waters. In the Factory, various items are manufactured by turning dials the right way.

In the themed challenges, players get to interact with the physical stations. In the theme "Heave ho!" the player's task is to match three symbols in the Factory to get the correct answer and progress in the game.

The Factory is the mechanically most advanced station. When the dials are adjusted on each side of the station, the correct symbol appears in a large revolving cylinder magazine with six openings. If the dials are in the wrong position, the correct symbol is covered by the rotating discs inside of the magazine.

Each dial in the Factory also controls how fast a small animated figure manufactures something. The figures are archival images from various Småland factories, which have been taken apart and mechanically animated. When all three figures in the factory beat in time, the answer is correct. The entire factory thus also becomes a small ticking monument to Småland's legendary manufacturing industry.

The game ends with a voluntary selfie which can then be emailed to the visitor. It is also possible to visit your game round afterwards via a code that is entered on the museum's website. In this way, school classes can visit their game rounds afterwards and discuss the experience further in the classroom.

Project: Kampen i tiden

A game about finding inspiration from those who fought before you for what you believe in, in a historical exhibition at the Jönköping County Museum.

Exhibition: Kampen i tiden
Client: Jönköpings Länsmuseum
Target audience: 10–16 år

Project start: 2019-01-15
Opening: 2020-11-06
Size: 320 m²

Mission

A game that uses the entire room as a playing field, to tell about 37 local, historical destinies in an exploratory way.

Together with the museum and a focus group of young people, the game “Challenge in time” was developed by jointly designing the selection of people, themes and game questions.

The exhibition received the Educational Award of the Year 2021.

Team

Producer: Katali Jarefjäll
Project manager: Anna Martindahl
Educator/producer: Vera Zherdev
Game concept: Alexis Holmqvist, Jönköpings läns museum
Game developers: Per Gantelius, Björn-Olle Rylander
Spatial/graphic game design: Alexis Holmqvist
Spatial/graphic design: Igor och Ilkka Isaksson, Gullers grupp AB
Illustrations, portraits: Moa Hoff
Illustrations, game: Alexis Holmqvist

Components

iPad with app can be collected at the exhibition entrance.
Clues are scattered around the room, via texts, pictures, films and objects.
Five physical stations in the room, each completing a theme in the game. The stations focus on analog interaction.
The Lab and Factory stations were physically designed by Utställningsverkstaden/RAÄ. AO designed game and concept.
The Castle and Stone stations were constructed by Kalmar Mediespecialist. AO designed games, concepts and drawings.
The Beacon station was constructed by a Kalmar Mediespecialist and the museum’s exhibition technicians Sebastian Petersson och Niklas Syrén. AO designed game and concept.