Louvre Abu Dhabi launches immersive mobile game for children

The Secret of the Dome Stars encourages youngsters to develop observational skills through quizzes and puzzles

Young visitors at Picturing the Cosmos Exhibition at Louvre Abu Dhabi. The museum is rolling out a new star-catching mobile game for children. Victor Besa / The National

Louvre Abu Dhabi is launching a mobile game to help children immerse themselves in the best of the museum's art.

Part treasure hunt and part educational storytelling, The Secret of the Dome Stars is a location-based game suitable for visitors aged six to 12. Through the game, players will be tasked to uncover and collect 12 stars, each connected to one artwork hidden in one of the museum's 12 galleries.

With the help of their digital guide Volpi, a friendly fox who is the guardian of the stars, they must solve puzzles and quizzes to find the stars through the provided clues and by looking at the artworks. The game aims to teach them more about the artworks as well as inspire them to foster a relationship with museums and history, Louvre Abu Dhabi said.

“This is how you make a museum relevant for the new generation and make the museum fun and not only a very serious place,” said Ugo Bertoni, the director for external affairs, outreach and cultural engagement at Louvre Abu Dhabi. “It's what we call gamification in a fun but serious way because all our gamification is scientifically, accurate, relevant, based on facts of art history and it's a way to engage with kids of different ages.”

The Secret of the Dome Stars uses a sand fox named Volpi as a guide through the museum for players. Photo: Louvre Abu Dhabi

While learning about art and history, the game is also a means for children to learn how to look at art critically. “Looking at the artworks is important because we are a school for how to look at art – this is very important," Bertoni added. "But we also teach kids to look properly, with their own eyes, not only through a screen, as that is key to solving these quiz games and puzzles."

The Secret of the Dome Stars is a free web-based app, accessible via a link or QR code in the museum and can be used on a smartphone or tablet device with no need for app store downloads. Available in Arabic, English and French, the game was also tested in its early stages of development by 19 families and 34 children to ensure it was immersive and exciting.

“Here is a way to bring families to the museum, it’s something that they can do as a family activity, or kids can do it on their own,” said Bertoni. “It goes back to the idea of the intergenerational element of the museum, to make sure its a place for people across generation to come together.”

Featuring a global selection of 600 masterpieces, the permanent galleries at Louvre Abu Dhabi tell a chronological history of human expression and creativity through 12 thematic chapters.