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Belgians Are Hunting Books, Instead Of Pokemon (reuters.com)

An anonymous reader shares a Reuters report:Inspired by the success of Pokemon Go, a Belgian primary school headmaster has developed an online game for people to search for books instead of cartoon monsters, attracting tens of thousands of players in weeks. While with Pokemon Go, players use a mobile device's GPS and camera to track virtual creatures around town, Aveline Gregoire's version is played through a Facebook group called "Chasseurs de livres" ("Book hunters"). Players post pictures and hints about where they have hidden a book and others go to hunt them down. Once someone has finished reading a book, they "release" it back into the wild. "While I was arranging my library, I realized I didn't have enough space for all my books. Having played Pokemon Go with my kids, I had the idea of releasing the books into nature," Gregoire told Reuters. Though it was only set up a few weeks ago, more than 40,000 people are already signed up to Gregoire's Facebook group.

7 of 38 comments (clear)

  1. Sounds Familiar... by ewhac · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I think they just re-invented geo-caching, only with books.

    1. Re:Sounds Familiar... by safetyinnumbers · · Score: 4, Informative

      bookcrossing.com, in fact.

    2. Re:Sounds Familiar... by Solandri · · Score: 2

      Or going to the library, looking up a book in the card catalog, and tracking down its location on the shelves.

  2. popular in northern eu by DrYak · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I think they just re-invented geo-caching, only with books.

    (and PockemonGo itself is just virtual geo-caching, only leveraging Nintendo's brand recognition to bring it to the masses, Apple-style.)

    in north-european countries, anonymous book exchanges seem quite popukar. there was a book-shelf in the middle of a small plaza near where i was living back in Germany. each day I passed in front of it, the contents seemed to change.

    this Belgian teacher has mainly managed to make it popular with the kids by leveraging the PockemonGo craze. nice job!

    --
    "Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
  3. Re:All on my kindle by Jason+Levine · · Score: 2

    I'm normally the first one to defend Kindles. I love how easy and ubiquitous they made eBooks. However, I do agree that limiting eBooks to just Amazon sources isn't too bright. This thread has made me come to a decision regarding my first novel (to be published next month - shameless plug). It'll be available in paperback and Kindle versions as per usual book publishing methods (because, like it or not, that's where most people will buy the book from), but I'm also going to look into setting up a DRM-free option for people. Perhaps even a Pay-What-You-Like system.

    If anyone has any recommendations for systems like this that an author (with a web development background) can put into place, I'd be interested in hearing them.

    --
    My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
  4. Mapping Concepts by SuperKendall · · Score: 3, Funny

    Me: *Picks up Harry Potter Book*

    Game: *It's Super Effective!*

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  5. System by bugs2squash · · Score: 2

    Is this the open source version of the Dewey Decimal System ?

    --
    Nullius in verba