I'm pretty sure there are already reality-augmenting Android games – I think "Zombie, Run!" is on such game.

Here's a link to a discussion of the game: http://androidcommunity.com/forums/f12/zombie-run-5642/

Good example!

It really is the perfect platform for this sort of thing, I'd be suprised if there weren't a few around already.

Looking back, Disney's Tron (movie and video game) seemed like a great early example of possibilities with reality augmentation, though the game never achieved the level of fun that Jeff Bridges and Bruce Boxleitner looked like they were having.

I'd be interested to see how some of the other "early" classics could be "augmented", and not just the the FPS-like ones. Both Missile Command and Tempest come to mind (though they are shooting games), though I think I'd like to see the reality-augmented generation of some of my old favorites: An "Android Shovel" prop to recreate the fun in Dig Dug or bouncing around the isometric pyramid of colored blocks in Q-Bert?

Anyway, great article and food-for-thought!

I would like to see a "Multi player Bomber Man" converted to a augmented reality game. It should have problems as bombs and groups can collaboratively solve it in real time.It would be great real time experiential game for collaborative problem solving.

I would like to see some PacMan action converted. It would be awesome to run after some food while having to avoid some ghosts inside the city!

I'd like to see a real-world massively-meatspace game. The kind of game where a thousand people come together somewhere every weekend to play it.

I'm inspired by the old videogame of Defender*, where there are multiple classes of enemies with different powers.

In the real world, each player would wear a sash or some other way of identifying to other players that they are "in-game" (and not simply members of the public). The devices would keep track of the location of all the players, and direct the game-play (calling players to certain places for activities and battles, etc).

For example, the device says "Rocket maintenance in the city square at 11:15am" and the number of (notional) rockets your team gets depends how many of your team "engineer" members can get to the designated place by 11:15am.

* "The Defender (fiction) – a knol by Roger Browne"
http://knol.google.com/k/-/-/1xdiqvw5h03s1/10#

I'd have to say capture the flag meets laser tag.

Team borders drawn on Google maps, a real jail location, different classes of players, etc.

What about chess? Very simple, yet could be interesting with the right twist of the rules (for example, king decides which piece moves, then it decides where to move)...

Wonderful post! This may just make me go for my long abandoned dream of becoming a game designer. When I was a kid, we had a small gang of friends. Inspired by the Enid Blyton books, I used to write mini adventures and share it with everybody in the hot afternoons after a good game of cricket. The characters where us and the places the ones mysterious to us! Like the deserted house nearby, a really steep cliff filled with trees and bushes. All of us pitched in with our own incidents which made it all the more believable. I still yearn for such good times. Perhaps we could make a multiplayer game where people have to get together and complete. More like a puzzle game where each person gets to solve his own piece. Clues can be found over the instant messenger. Talking to an all powerful AI like Oracle perhaps? Searching the Internet to find out the meaning of various clues. Setting up a teleconference to discuss the proceedings. May be I am just crazy to even think of such a setup! :)

Digger, definitely Digger.

I'm definitely liking the idea of games like "Defender", "Laser Tag / Capture the flag", and "Bomberman". Dig Dug and PacMan are interesting.

For PacMan I suppose you could use a segment of streets as your maze grid, but I how would you go about playing Digger / Dig Dug in real life? :)

A huge hello from Italy!
I want to submit an old and very popular childhood game played in my country! I'd like to see it translated into an Android App.
The name is "Strega comanda color...", that means "Witch commands color...".
You'll need a player impersonating the "Witch" and some other players trying to defend theirselves till the end of the game (in which only one will be the winner).
The game go trough a reiteration of the same phase: the witch yells "Witch commands color..." followed by the name of a color.
Everyone then try to touch something (tipically other people clothes) matching the given color command, then the slower in the attempt go out of the game till completion. The winner becomes the new "Witch".
And now the point...
This game seems, perhaps to me, something actually and easily transformable into an android application (I'm a Java developer), no gps involved, only camera and the standard features of Android.
Imagine several terminals linked together into the same multiplayer game, then the system choose a Witch randomly. The Witch select from the interface a color to match. The networked terminals receive the choice and then players could try to capture the correct color by the embedded camera.
The system could assign points based upon response time, color closeness, etc... and signalling the last player, at each iteration, as "cursed" till the end of the current game. Obviously on screen display, sounds and multimedia could help into the task of matching the closing color.
I hope to get some feedback in response. Maybe if someone is interested, we could open a discussion?
Sorry for my bad english... ;P

Yes, for Pacman. You I was thinking of streets... or maybe a shopping mall =D with elevators and stuff... the extra challenge would be people around and obviously trying not to sound like an idiot while running around looking at the phone! =)

I've got a few ideas...
The first childhood game that pops into my head (which I can't believe hasn't been mentioned yet) is Hide and Seek.
Everyone could hide within a certain area (with android devices of course) and the 'Seeker' could have a laser/gun application and has to shoot the Hiders when they're in his line of sight (this could use the camera and show a laser beam on the screen, they're shot if you snap them while they're in the lasers beam)
The hiders could have radar applications which show them the direction of the Seeker so they can try to stay away from him.
This would be cool in a woodland area or a disused quarry at night.

I was also thinking it would be great to recreate a Commandos game. You could carry certain tools (e.g. weapons, health packs, metal detectors etc.). Google Maps could be overlayed with the map of a military base* with enemy soldiers. Your team has to get in without being caught.
Each team mate can carry a certain number of tools, There can be areas which you're spotted if you enter (using GPS) and other obstacles eg.
Minefields which you need to use special equipment to pass. You could hold your phone like a metal detector and sweep the area and it beeps if you locate a mine.
Locked Doors which you need to use your lock pick set to pass, it could be a mini-game in itself, you tilt your phone and move it forwards and back to pick the levers of the lock.
You have to hide from patrolling soldiers (on screen) by digging a hole to bury yourself.
Walls which you need to blow up or use grappling hooks on, enemies you need to befriend using enemy uniforms, you can set traps, sniper enemies, distract guards while other teammates attack using mines, grenades, guns or knifes. You could communicate using your phones as walkie-talkies, the possibilities are endless.

* http://www.sg.hu/kep/2001_10/commandos2_bemutato_01.jpg

When I was little I loved going over to my friends house to play with her doll house. It was metal with printed scenes imposed upon the outside of the house as well as inside each room. These environments pushed my pretend button to the max and I would spend horse setting up house with all of the plastic doll house furniture. I think it would be awesome to give children the opportunity to set up their house just the way they wanted. I could see how this could evolve into a therapeutic use for all ages. My mind is going nuts thinking about all the possibilities. What was so important to me back in the day was that I set up every design which was probably some sort of cathartic experience on an emotional level.
And as we know from the literature in the field of learning theory "we all associate emotion to every learning experience be it positive or negative-it's always an emotional response. Well there's my very slight outline of an idea for implication- hope you like it and can see the enormous sense of pleasure it could bring to a child. thanks, Susie

Susie: a child's version of Google Lively, in other words.

Wow, thanks everyone for your great ideas. I'm thrilled to see so many other people can see the potential for reality augmenting games. Now it's just up to us to start creating them.

In an effort to help, the following commenters have won themselves a copy of Professional Android Application Development.

JoeW for Commandos and Hide and Seek
Roger Browne for Defender
Rockus for your Enid Blyton inspired puzzle adventures
AzidHouse for the Italian favorite, "Strega Commanda Color"
Uday Kumar Bandaru for BomberMan

To claim your prize please get in touch with me via email at androidradioactiveyak.com – I'll need a snail-mail address to ship you your copy.

Cool, thanks Reto! I look forward to reading the book. I've sent an email.

Now I need to decide whether to get a G1 now, or to wait for a different Android phone in a month or two. Decisions! Either way, I have a Linux machine to run the SDK.

=(

My pacman didn't got it!

Thanks Reto.
I've been writing down more ideas while I've been away and I can't wait to try and make the game.
I've programed a bit in Java but I'm a bit rusty and haven't done anything this advanced.
I did two years of a computer games design/software development course so I'm going to try and get some of my uni mates to give me a hand and see if we can win some of the $5M that google are giving to the best android programs.
Me and my girlfriend are getting each other G1's for Christmas. I cant wait.