AR game Rush ARound clubs fitness and gaming

In an effort to make staying healthy fun, Rush ARound, requires participants to score the most by running to the spots projected by their phone screens

My brow is beaded with sweat as I rush around intently focussed on my phone screen; it is flashing numbers at me and I have to run to the spot projected on the ground ahead of me.

The fact that visitors at the mall are throwing curious and astonished glances my way, doesn’t bother me. I’m racing against the clock and have to rack up as many points as I can against my opponent, 21-year-old Yazhini Samyuktha. We’re playing Rush ARound, an augmented reality game developed by Chennai-based Jambav, a mobile game studio.

The game requires players to compete against each other to score the most as they run to the spot projected by their phone screens. Built using the Apple AR Kit 2, the game projects a clock dial on the floor in front of the player. On starting the game, it begins flashing numbers on the screen and the player has to run to the corresponding spot. The game features several modes, each boasting different tasks, while the essence of the game remains the same.

“The idea behind the game is to club fitness and gaming. It’s not something one can play sitting on a couch. You’ve got to move around and that’s what makes it so much fun. You burn calories running from one spot to another without even realising it,” says Sridevi Pavitra, game developer at Jambav. To add to the experience, the team has also tied up with Apple’s health kit. “One can track the number of calories burnt and the distance they’ve travelled. We’re basically trying to make staying healthy fun,” she says.

Twenty four-year-old Pavitra is part of the three-member team that developed Rush ARound. Launched in September 2018 on the App Store, the game climbed the popularity charts soon enough. In its very first week, Rush ARound was featured as ‘AR Game App’ on the App Store in the Indian region; it has also featured in the ‘Games We Love’ list curated by App Store editors across Europe. The game won plaudits for its innovative design and gameplay, and was launched on Google PlayStore in February this year. The Android version was developed using ARCore.

“When Apple launched the latest version of its AR Kit in July last year, we knew we wanted to build a game using it. The question was what sort of game. That’s when we decided to go back to basics and create an AR game that is rooted in childhood. Rush ARound is very similar to the games we played as children. In fact, before we began working on this, the team played it offline — one person stood in the middle of a circle and shouted out numbers, while other players ran to the designated spots. We realised how much fun this was and decided to build the game around it,” says Pavitra. Yazhini, was one of employees at Jambav who helped the team test the game.

An exclusively AR game, Rush ARound provides players with an immersive experience by letting them interact with each other and not merely watching a screen. “The game can be played just about anywhere. All you need is space to fit the AR dimensions; about 4x4 metres,” says Pavitra, adding that the game is perfect for people of all age groups.

A freemium game, the app is free to download and offers players six game modes. In fact, the game has already become so popular that a city school has approached Jambav to set up stalls featuring the game at their school carnival.