Twilio Present Puzzle
By Mark Brenneman on March 21, 2011
This post is the first in a series on adding a little play to regular activities. I have blogged about this before (Making things fun) and love adding a "Pinch of play" to activities.
This Christmas, I added a little spice to the present opening process. Using a small Twilio app I made (Textbox), I turned opening gifts into an engaging trivia game. Here is how it worked:
To start, my family awoke to an odd sight. All gifts were missing recipient tags. Instead, a large, single letter appeared on the wrapped gifts.
A nearby note explained the puzzle:
We wrapped so many more presents this year
Hoping to bring everyone some cheerDeparting the north with mounds of gifts
The sleigh was weighed down and began to shiftRaindeer pulled and tugged with all their might
As presents tumbled and shuffled all nightAs we elves landed and unloaded here
We realized what happened and along came fearThe presents were shuffled and no one could tell
Which gift each person should open, oh hellWanting you to miss the gifts we did not
So we labeled the presents and thought a lotBack in the north is the master list
So send a text to find your gift
xxx-xxx-xxxx
My dad texted the elves, and they immediately replied
Hey, sorry for the screw-up. To start, open package "8" after the person who was given a drug-related nickname while playing a sport. Txt back after
After deciphering the clue, my girlfriend texted in and received:
Hey Sharon… sorry! The turbulence was rough, but the master list says to start the Christmas gift opening with gift "d." Text back after opening that gift.
The gift trivia game began. We followed the same pattern for the next two hours: people would text "The North Pole" to get clues and open gifts in the order the elves hinted. It made the morning more engaging and fun. By adding a little story and technology (Textbox uses Twilio and Google Appengine) the experience of opening gifts was awesome. Everyone participated and helped each other figure out the clues.
What else can you add play to? Foursquare has made going out into a game ("I've gotta reclaim my mayorship!"). Turntable has added playful elements to online music. Often those little elements of play make all the difference.
