VR for Change Alcove Challenge

The VR for Change Alcove Challenge is a collaboration between AARP Innovation Labs and Games for Change. Using the Alcove platform, a VR application created by AARP Innovation Labs, and the Alcove™Playground powered by Rendever, the Challenge aims to inspire people to think about how games can enhance quality of life, create new memories, and deepen intergenerational bonds with loved ones across the world.

The top five Challenge finalists presented their projects during a panel at the 2020 G4C Festival and the Grand Prize Winner was revealed during a mainstage announcement. The winner received a $10,000 cash prize and all five projects were published on the Alcove platform. 

🏆 GRAND PRIZE WINNER:

LABYRINTH LUNACY VR (created by Peter Pichya)

Labyrinth Lunacy is a fiendishly, challenging game of puzzle logic and spatial physical reflexes that brings the familiar ‘ball in a maze’ game into VR; players tilt the ground playfield and maneuver a marble ball, collecting coins and avoiding obstacles as they navigate through a labyrinth.

⭐️ CHALLENGE FINALISTS:

AMA’S MOMENTO (created by Momento Team)

Ama’s Momento’ is a mixed reality installation dedicated to capturing the story of a grandmother who dreams of building an art museum to preserve Taiwanese culture; the experience captures Ama’s story by shaping it into a virtual museum and sparking a movement that makes her dream a reality.

AVATAR VR (created by Avatar VR)

Avatar VR is a meditative experience that provides a way for individuals to gain a greater embodied awareness through hypnosis and cognitive simulation; inspired by zen practitioners, players bend elements in order to release blocks from their chakras.

LAKE BAIKAL VR (created by: MediaCombo)

Transporting users to one of the most extraordinary places on Earth, Lake Baikal VR brings people together in a shared virtual reality space to encourage conversation and storytelling as they watch short vignettes of life on and near the Lake.

VISITATIONS (created by: David Lobser)

Visitations is a compilation of VR experiences which have been designed as distraction therapy for patients undergoing infusions. The experiences are simple postcards and are meant to provide a calming and comforting space for users to relax and chill out.

HONORABLE MENTIONSIn addition to the top five finalists, AARP Innovation Labs recognized four additional projects with Honorable Mentions and the opportunity to be published on the Alcove platform: CONQUEST IQ (Created by Hubert Gaillard); DEAR MOM (Created by AmaVR Team); DIGITAL EMOTES (Created by Aaron Tate); PHILOSOPHER’S WALK (Created by Ricardo Miranda Zuniga).