Tangible Cubes Used as the User Interface in an Augmented Reality Game for Edutainment

In this paper, we present an Augmented Reality (AR) game for finding and learning about endangered animals in a fun way. It uses tangible cubes as the user interface. This game was included in the activity program of the Summer School of the Universidad Politecnica de Valencia. Forty-six children played the AR game and the equivalent real game. We have compared the results of the two games. The results indicate that children enjoyed playing the AR game more than playing the real game and that they perceived the AR game to be more fun than the real game. They also preferred the AR game to the real one. The children perceived the real game as being easier to play than the AR game. The children also seemed to learn about the subject of endangered animals.