A table-top game based on defending and conquering castles by setting and guessing (respectively) keywords from images retrieved from a SE

“Pictory” is a socially interactive, learning promoting, and thinking enhancing game that brings together human players, tangible objects, physical spaces, newly developed software architectures, and existing search engines. It is a two-team, table-top game, in which the aim of each team is to get as many castles as possible both by keeping their own castles intact and by conquering opponent’s castles. The graphic interface consists of a beamer projection on a table surface, where four castles per team are displayed. The teams take turns in defending and attacking. The defense of a castle is realized by the defending team setting a keyword, which is then automatically inserted by the system in an image search engine. The retrieved images are displayed for the attacking team to see. If the concealed keyword is guessed within a specific time and a fixed number of guesses, the castle is considered as conquered; if not, the defending team retains the castle. Then, the teams exchange their roles and the same rules apply. When each of the teams has defended and attacked once, a round is completed. The game ends after four rounds. The team that has more castles or, in the case of equal numbers, the team that has used less time and has given less wrong guesses, wins.