Today I will talk about the Chopin Bench themed after the famous classical composer Frederik Chopin.
The Chopin Bench is a very well designed gamification project that you can find on the streets of Warsaw and gives you information on the composer and the city of Warsaw.
When you press the play button, Chopin music starts playing and you also get information on the city monuments and Chopin. These benches are spread across Warsaw and are located in the most famous landmarks of the city. This way people visiting Warsaw get a map of the most well known landmarks of the city while learning about Chopin and listening to his music. The Chopin bench is a great example of a mystery box. A mystery box is something that gets peoples imagination going. “That looks like a bench but there is more to it, what could it be”. You have to explore it to find out the play button and the map that eventually leads to other Chopin benches spread across the city.
I researched the Chopin Bench after a friend that visited Warsaw in Poland told me about it. While talking about what I do for a living and explaining what gamification is, he told me “I have seen gamification, in Warsaw”. Apparently, these benches were particularly popular with his kids that wanted to learn more about the city and Chopin.
So public gamification is out there. Go look for it. Go and get inspired by that for your next project. Go and experience something that hundreds or even thousands of other people have experienced. See what works and what doesn’t. Observe people as they walk up to the Chopin Bench. Could you do improve something maybe? What business need does that project address? These are the questions that always pop in my mind when I find something cool like the Chopin Bench.
P.S. That’s a great Ted talk from J.J. Abrams on mystery boxes https://www.ted.com/talks/j_j_abrams_mystery_box#t-988694
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