With the app update 2.16.7, we have made a few changes to our map styles.

Various map styles are available to you in the Bound settings. The style you have selected will be displayed to the players in your Bound in Find spot elements and on the map in the menu in the app. Note: Only one style per Bound can be selected.

Important: All styles from Stamen (Terrain, Toner and Watercolour) will be replaced by alternatives from OpenStreetMap.

Note: The style "Google Melanzani" is no longer selectable for your Bounds. You had set this style for your Bound? Don't worry, it will still be displayed to your players.

As a general rule, players with older versions of the Actionbound app will be shown OpenStreetMap Bright if maps are not available.

The preview in the Bound Creator also only ever shows OpenStreetMap Bright.

The following styles are available until further notice:

• Google Maps Aerial

• Google Maps

• OpenStreetMap Basic (new)

• OpenStreetMap Bright
• OpenStreetMap Liberty (new)
• OpenStreetMap Positron (new)
• OpenStreetMap Toner (replacement)
• OpenStreetMap Darkmatter (new)
• OpenStreetMap Qaunt (new)
• OpenStreetMap Klokantech 3D (new)
• OpenStreetMap Fiord Colour (new)
• OpenStreetMap High Contrast Pattern (new)

Want to know how to choose from the different styles? Then take a look at our manual in the article on map styles. There you will also learn how to create a track visible on maps for your players.

Have fun trying it out!

Creating a Bound is just the beginning. If you want it to be played often and inspire your players, there are a few points to consider - after all, you want the world to know how much passion and energy you have put into the end result 🙂

Here are some helpful tips to promote your Bound in the best possible way:

Quality of your Bound:The key to success lies in the quality of the content. Make sure that your Bound is appealing, informative and entertaining.

Understand your target group: Engaging with your target group is crucial. Tailor your Bound to the needs and interests of your target group, because the better you know them, the better you can target them.

Creative titles and clear descriptions: Use catchy titles that arouse curiosity and precise descriptions that convey the content of your Bound. Creative and memorable names are an added bonus.

Visual appeal: Use appealing graphics and a user-friendly design to attract the attention of potential players. A visually appealing design is crucial.

Social media promotion: Share your Bound on the social platforms that your target group frequently visits. Use relevant hashtags and keywords and link to the Bound-page on the Actionbound website.

Email marketing: Send a newsletter to your customers or multipliers in your network to make them aware of your Bound.

Cooperations: Collaborations with influencers or other companies can significantly increase the visibility of your Bound and reach a wider audience.

Targeted advertising: Place targeted adverts on blogs, in magazines or regional media to directly address potential players. Invest in online adverts or flyers if you have the budget for it.

Landing pages: Create your own landing page on which your Bound is presented in detail and the start-QR code is displayed. Interested parties will find all the information they need here.

Customer reviews and recommendations: Ask participants for reviews and share them on social media or your website to gain the trust of potential participants. Satisfied players are often the best ambassadors.

Use feedback from participants: Collect feedback from players and use it to continuously improve your Bound. Players' needs can change, so stay flexible.

Time-limited actions: Announce when Bounds are only available for a limited time or when this makes sense in terms of content, e.g. in relation to seasons.

Community building: Create a community or forum where players can exchange ideas. The opportunity to exchange ideas promotes loyalty and interest.

Create incentives: Offer a prize for completing your Bound. This prize can of course be completely customised.

By following these tips, you can ensure that your Bound gets the attention it deserves 🙂 Plus, we're always excited to hear about your success. Don't hesitate to get in touch with us and become one of our testimonials!

Time and again, we at Actionbound are confronted with a question from our users. "Is Actionbound actually barrier-free?". Here is the blog post that answers the question and offers tips and tricks on how to reduce barriers. So we are not completely barrier-free, but our software still offers starting points on how to easily reduce barriers and design content that is suitable for the target group.

Let's take a closer look at this:

Actionbound can be used to create individual routes, rallies and games. The content is filled in by the creators in our Bound Creator. The players then play the Bound on their mobile devices. Depending on the target group, it is important to prepare the content in such a way that it is understandable and, of course, fun.

Actionbound is for EVERYONE! Inclusion is an important part of our society that aims to provide equal opportunities for participation and development. This also applies in the field of digital learning.

Here are some specific application tips:

READING

The contents of the Bounds can be read aloud by the players. At the beginning of the Bound, a person can be selected to read the contents to the group. Or there can be a game master responsible for reading.

A good option for solo players would be to read the text out loud and, for example, create practice videos with creative tasks. This way, you can review the reading success in the results afterward.

Unfortunately, there is no built-in read-aloud function in the app. However, the texts can be recorded by the creators of the Bound during the development phase and integrated into the individual elements as audio files. This allows players to listen to the texts while reading them. If necessary, the texts could also be narrated by professional speakers. This way, the Bound becomes an immersive auditory experience.

In general, when it comes to texts, it is advisable to pay attention to the following:

• Simple language
• Short sentences
• Paragraph breaks after each sentence
• Not too many sentences in one element
• Highlight words and sentences using Markdown formatting

With our extra feature, the Bound Styler, you have the option to customize fonts and background colors. If you are interested in this topic, get more information from our sales team.

LISTENING

Engage your players' senses and allow them to perceive your content auditorily. Give their eyes a little break and use the option to upload audio files. Don't just record texts, as mentioned above; use sounds or music as well.

Enhance your audio recordings with sound effects and music. Use the option to insert sounds in quiz tasks. For example, you can ask what sound is being heard or have players respond with sounds. You can find many licence-free sounds on the internet for free download. Alternatively, you can easily record sounds and voice messages with your smartphone and upload them to your media library. Give this option a try!

Making it even easier with audio files: Have you heard of our native audio player? We've written an entire blog article about this feature. With this setting, you can, for example, adjust the playback speed. Additionally, you have the option to continue playing the files while in standby mode. No more interruptions. If you're interested in this topic, click here.

PRESENTING & CREATING

Use pictures, illustrations, videos, audio files etc. when designing your Bound. Be creative in the design and avoid walls of text. Present your content to your target group. Or almost (even) better: Let your target group generate the content! Use the Task element and let your players get creative. How do they see the city? What is their favourite place? With photo and video tasks, you can address your players directly and involve them in what you want to convey. When the Bound is finished and the files are uploaded, you as the creator can find the files in your settings. Create a collage from the pictures and let the experience resonate.

TRY OUR INCLUSION-BOUND

Want to see what a Bound could look like? Then take a look at our example Bound. Here, the character Sidney Simple guides you through the Bound and explains the individual elements with a focus on inclusion. Download the Actionbound app for free and scan the starting code at the bottom of the page.

Have fun trying out and developing your Bound idea. We always appreciate your feedback. Do you have an exciting Bound project? Feel free to reach out to us! :)

Our IT has conjured up something new again: You can now have your Bound sections played randomly.

You can easily select this in your Bound settings. You can find them in your dashboard on the left side at the third position (wrench) directly above the button with your results of your Bound. Just click on it and then you can set the Stages order to Random on the right side.

Don't forget to update your Bound version after the change. You can do this in your Bound profile under "Publish".

If you want all your players to have an intro and outro, you can also set this. This is useful if you want to explain the rules of the game or welcome your players in the intro. The same is true for the outro. Here you can say goodbye to your players, say a few final words and for example refer to further bounds of yours. How to handle the intro and the outro separately you can find here: Just set a checkmark at Intro and/or Outro and the first and the last Stage will be played in any case.

The Stages in between can be played randomly in game mode. Your players won't know what will happen next. Surprise guaranteed.

The random sequence of Stages is useful for smaller quiz sections, for example, or if movement tasks have to be solved per section. In a group it is especially fun to work with the random Stages order, because you can be surprised together which tasks have to be solved.

Try the following: Additionally limit the playing time and set the task of completing as many sections as possible in 15 minutes. Let's see who can do the most!

Small tip: If you create a rally with GPS coordinates, you should make sure that the paths work for all Stages combinations.

Small disclaimer: If your Bound is downloaded and saved, then the order will not change the second time you play. If you want to reshuffle your Stages, it's best to download your Bound again. Then the Stages will be reshuffled.

Have fun trying it out!

Actionbound was created as tool to digitise the classic scavenger hunt and make it more intuitive. The fact that you can do this easily with our software is probably well known, but it's not the only thing you can put together with our software. Have you ever tried to develop Bounds that can be played from anywhere? No matter if sofa or forest, city or country. Here we provide you with a few simple tips and tricks on how you can create a location-independent Bound.

The classic Escape Game

Yes, it's true. Actionbound can also be used to create Escape Games. You don't need GPS coordinates for this. Important: Make notes at the beginning. What is it all about and what should happen in the individual sections? Where should the players "puzzle" their way out of? Does the Bound only work for one person, or does it need a team? Our Stages help you to structure your location-independent Bound. In each Stage, the players could, for example, puzzle their way through rooms or question fictitious people. For example, one puzzle could be solved per Stage. Just try it out. It always makes sense to start with simple puzzles and then increase the difficulty as the game progresses. Another tip for Actionbound pros: If you build Switches into your Escape Game, you can develop different paths. In any case, you should test, test, test beforehand.

A quiz to test one's knowledge

The quiz format is often used in education. You can create simple quizzes with Actionbound. The format is very suitable, for example, to check homework or to introduce a new topic. Tip: Too simple quiz questions will quickly bore your players and make the game experience monotonous. Try to pimp your Bound with creative questions and use photos and audio recordings to convey your content. Your quiz Bound should last no longer than 20 minutes in total to keep the game fun.

One Bound - different locations

Would you like to use Actionbound to bring places to life for players, even if they can't visit and discover them on site? Simply create a Bound that can be played from anywhere. Stages will help you structuring your Bound. Create a fictional character, for example a guide, who accompanies the players from place to place. Level up your Bound by adding different media like audio recordings. Use quiz questions to test your players' knowledge. Actionbound tip: Let your fictional character interact with your players. Questions like "Where are you right now?", "What does your environment look like?", "What places do you like to visit?" make your Bound more lively and you will get many different reactions, no matter where the Bound is played. Just give it a try.

Have you ever created a location-independent Bound? Can you still play it? We are always happy to receive links on our social networks.

There are new features to try out again! Change the Bound language while playing directly in the app, have your texts translated in the Bound Creator or end a Bound after the playing time has expired.

Since last year, it has been possible to offer a Bound in multiple languages with the premium feature "Multilingual Bounds". Now we have added even more functions to the feature.

In the app, players could previously only choose one of the translations stored in the Bound settings when starting the Bound. Now changing is also possible while playing the Bound!

This is how it works: Use the menu in the app to select a language from the translations stored for a bound. And you can continue playing in Spanish, for example.

Tip: As a creator you not only have the possibility to use known languages, it is also possible to create a fantasy language or to store your texts in different language levels or Special English.

Also new: Thanks to our DeepL extension you can add translations of your texts with one click.

This is how it works: Add a translation to your Bound in the settings. Click on the translate icon in the upper right corner of the translation tool and be patient for a moment

The translated texts will be inserted directly into the individual fields (or elements). You will also find your media and formatting, such as paragraphs and Markdown commands, in the translation.

Note: Make sure that the media you use, such as images or videos, are understandable to players of any language. Both the license information and any images or language in videos should be provided to your players in the language of their choice. If you want to include a medium in another language, it is best to include it in the Bound Creator so that you can first cut it out of the primary language in the translation tool and then paste it into the translation at the desired location.

You made minor adjustments in the primary language? THose concerned elements are marked with an exclamation mark (!). Adjust the translation, by clicking on the translation icon to the right of those concerned elements.

Data protection notice: The data sent to DeepL is processed on German servers and deleted directly after translation at the provider.

You can find the currently available languages of DeepL here.

Timing is everything - Limit the playing time of your Bounds

We recommend that you give your players an indication of how long a round of your bound will take. In the Bound settings under playing time you enter the corresponding time (in minutes).

Now select one of the two modes. Playing time as a recommendation gives your players orientation without further consequences, as before. Playing time ends Bound, on the other hand, imposes a time limit on the entire Bound. After the time limit has expired, players can still complete the current element, after which the Bound is ended and the ranking is displayed.

This way you can give your players an extra motivation boost or increase the fun of the game with a little bit of pressure. You decide!

Note: The playing time is a licensed feature. Check out our new feature overview here.

It is still possible to add a time limit to quiz elements.

If you are interested in the features, please contact our sales team at sales@actionbound.de.

The university in all its shapes and colors is quite complex and multifaceted. For first-year students in particular, both the building itself and the whole surrounding area can seem very overwhelming and intimidating. This is exactly where Actionbound comes in: Just in time for the start of the semester, there are tips and tricks on everyday university life and how to use Actionbound.

The interactive campus tour

Where is the cafeteria? Where can I borrow books? Where can I find the Unicafé and where is the Audimax? You can tell that the semester is starting again by the small groups of first-year students walking across campus and being guided from one station to the next. But not all students have time on the scheduled day or take longer to find certain places on the sprawling campus. Many universities are already using Actionbound to make the start of the semester more interactive and time independent.

Fun and games can be used to interactively explore the campus. Unlike a guided tour, the locations are discovered by the students themselves. Actionbound tours can of course also be created for groups. This is ideal for student councils, for example, or for rallies on campus.

Here are a few selected examples of campus tours with Actionbound:

• Click through the Campus Tour of the South Australian Institute of Business & Technology (SAIBT). Campus Tour SAIBT

• The Technical University of Munich offers a tour of the campus in Garching. There is a lot to discover in this area. Campus Tour TUM

• The Geisenheim University of Applied Sciences in Hesse also developed a tour for English-speaking students. Click here to check it out.

Scientific papers, seminars and co.

You are preparing a seminar paper or your thesis and you are still missing the whole part with the surveys? No problem. Actionbound can help here, too. You can easily insert your surveys into our software and your testers can start the bound via QR code. You can view the results on your account and easily integrate them into your work.

Bounds can also be used for presentations or group work. You want to introduce to a new theme or convey content in a playful way, then just try to build a Bound. It's super easy and fun on top of that. Bounds can also be designed explicitly for groups and do not necessarily have to be location-dependent. You can also create location-independent bounds. Just give it a try!

Some scientific articles on the Actionbound learning method have already been published. A list of the articles can be found here.

Create your everyday life with Actionbound

Studying does not always mean sitting in seminars and looking for books in the library. For most students, it is the first time in their own flat or shared flat, or alone in a new city. Have you ever thought about bounds that might add value to your free time? How about a flat-rate Bound? Elements in the Bound-Creator can be assigned with switches. These are then played, for example, on different days of the week. Who has to clean the bathroom and the kitchen when? Who lives in your flat anyway? The boring flat cleaning plan was yesterday - with Actionbound you can make it more digital and much more fun. Or how about a pub quiz or city tours especially for students? Or weekend trips with the circle of friends or or or.

Try our campus tours bound

Actionbound fits perfectly into the university context. Want to see what a Bound could look like? Then take a look at our example Bound. Download the Actionbound app for free and scan the starting code at the bottom of the page.

Have fun trying out and developing your Bound idea. We always appreciate your feedback. Have you ever built or played a Bound specifically in this theme area? Feel free to reach out to us and to link us to our social networks.! :)

Wouldn't it be nice to have a Bound available in different languages without having several QR codes? Imagine creating a Bound in the Creator and then be asked for the language when starting the Bound in the app. Fortunately, this dream has now come true.

It's finally here, our new premium feature: the translation tool!

It has never been easier to edit and offer a Bound translated in different languages. Find out how it works here:
Our translation feature can be booked for a fee on request. If you are interested, simply contact our sales team. Once booked, you will find the premium feature on your Bound dashboard in the Settings section. Your translation feature will appear directly under the estimated Bound duration. Select a primary language and add as many translations as you like.

For example: You create a Bound in your usual language – let's say English – and want to offer it e.g. in Spanish as well. So your primary language would be English and you add another language. Simply select Spanish as desired language and click on Add. At the moment, you can choose from 21 languages in total.

After adding the translation the tool will open. On the left side you will see all your Bound elements in your chosen primary language. On the right-hand side, you can enter the translated texts of your elements and copy your media, if available.

When a field is filled in, the small red exclamation mark in the top right-hand corner disappears, the element is now translated and the translation is saved. If you want, you can also download all the elements in your primary language as an Excel list, translate them there and then simply upload them again. Two possibilities lead to the same result. Your media appears in square brackets, just like in the Bound Creator.

Another very convenient feature is that the Bound translations adapt to the app language (only available for default languages). For example, if the app language is set to Spanish and a Bound with a translation in Spanish is selected, it automatically suggests the Spanish version. You can also change the language again at this point. Nice!

Even more possibilities: Create several versions of your Bound at different levels of difficulty. Your primary language would be Easy and your additional languages would be Medium and Hard. At the beginning of the Bound, your players can choose which level they want to play.

You want to offer your Bound in a language that is not available? No problem! You can also easily add a new language. So, how about a Bound in Elvish?

Do you have any questions about the translation feature and/or would you like to try it out? Just contact our sales team at sales@actionbound.com or call +49-30-12083317.

Have fun trying it out!

We now offer two new ways for you to use uploaded media more individually: an image editing feature and a native audio player.

Editing images

Do you want your images to be larger or smaller? Or maybe not left aligned? All this and much more can now be done easily with our improved settings. Simply insert your desired image from your media library into the Creator. Now just click on the cog in the Bound preview and you have a whole range of new possibilities at your disposal.

Choose section:
If you only want a certain section of your image to appear in the element, you can easily select your image section here.

Replace:
If you click on Replace you will end up in your media library. This makes exchanging pictures even easier.

Width:
Choose how wide you want your image to be. Simply drag the slider from left to right and the width of your image will change accordingly.

Alignment:
Choose between four options where you would like to place your picture should in the element. Do you want it to be the centerpiece or should it be on the right side?

Text flow:
Do you want your text to scroll next to your image? Then activate this option.

Zoom:
Do you know the little magnifying glass in the pictures? It appears on the image once you see the item in the app. If you don't want the magnifying glass to appear, you can easily hide it here. You need a license to use this feature.

Native audio player

Until now, inserted audio files appeared only as a simple play button in the app. In addition, the file broke off when the standby mode of the device was (involuntarily) activated.

Our new native audio player gives licensed creators and their players more options. A cog appears to the right of your file in the Bound preview. By clicking this icon, you can switch on the native audio player.

Important: You must switch on the native audio player individually for each inserted audio file!

The audio file will now appear in a new design for your players and contain more possibilities:

• no cancelling playback in standby mode
• pausing, resuming and browsing through the file are now possible
• the playback speed can be adjusted (Creator & App)

The bottom line is: more comfort for everyone! Plus a little gimmick for audio puzzles when the playback speed has to be adjusted first to understand everything.

!Check out our Manual if you like to know how things work in detail. Have fun experimenting with the new features!

We are happy to announce that we have a new answer mode for the quiz in the Bound Creator: the Cloze!

Again and again we receive messages from the community with wishes and suggestions for Actionbound . We are happy to announce that another new feature has made it into the Creator!

From now on you can ask cloze quiz questions. The feature can be found in the "Quiz" element under the different answer modes. You can create as many gaps as you want. Also here you can give partial points for not completely correctly solved questions via "Locker score".

How to create your cloze task:

In your Bound Creator you will find the cloze in the Quiz element at the very bottom when you select the answer mode.

You can easily mark your gaps in your text element with curly brackets. Be careful not to put a space after the brackets, otherwise this will be part of the correct answer.

Tip: For long texts, you can specify the missing words in the task.

Have fun trying it out and we are looking forward to your feedback! Send us your cloze tasks via Instagram or Facebook! We are always happy about links.

We are happy to show you some innovations. Results can now be exported as a table or PDF.

This works for all results as well as for selected or individual runs. The feature is automatically included in all PRO and EDU licenses.

Now you can save, print and present leaderboards offline. Either as a table with or without media, or as a PDF. You can download both individual results and an overview with just a few clicks.

The comparison of results is now clearer too. You can simply hide information and questions or missions without an answer. You can have the overview displayed in the browser as a full-screen view, which simplifies, for example, the presentation via a projector.

Learn all about this new feature and how to use it in our manual.

Want to give your students the chance to learn from home? Or you want to try using digital and interactive media to enrich the experience of learning from home. Here are some tips for using Actionbound to complement homeschooling.

Introducing New Topics

It can be hard to get students excited about a new topic, especially when homeschooling. An emotional response to a topic can often help get students excited. But how can you create that kind of excitement? Short, entertaining games are often especially good. With gamification– the combination of educational materials and parts of a game– information can be transmitted in a fun and creative manner.

At the beginning of a new topic, you can prepare a Bound for your students. You can awaken their interest using quizzes and creative tasks, then use multimedia tasks and quizzes to deepen their understanding. Students can simply play the Bounds from home. Since smartphones are everywhere, this is an easy way to get students started

Assessment

You can also use Actionbound to get a sense of where how your students are doing with the material. You can find out how much they know already or, if you’re midway through a topic, you can test how much they know and are likely to retain. A Bound is also an ideal way to reinforce materials that have already been taught– and without reinforcement, the best pedagogy often comes to naught. Neural pathways have to be reinforced so that information can be retained over the long run. You can use a short quiz Bound to get a quick and easy sense for how your students are doing. Education assessment at a distance– Actionbound makes it easy.

Let students make their own Bounds

Your students needn’t just be passive consumers of information. They can be makers, too. Using our Instant Account feature (automatically included with teacher and educational accounts), you can make accounts for individual students, while retaining control of the material they produce. Students can create Bounds for one another and become their own teachers! After all, we always learn the most, when we help others to learn. Instead of asking them to give a presentation, try asking students to develop Bounds, in which the students themselves can determine the topics and experiment with different pedagogical methods.

Students can easily use their own photos and video. Bounds can also be created collaboratively, making them perfect for (socially-distanced) group projects. Individual Bound elements can be combined into a unified whole, without students needing to meet in person. A Bound can easily be created with the help of a video chat. Or the tasks can be divided up ahead of time, so that each student can contribute one part of a Bound that the teacher will manage.

Flipped Classroom

Turn your teaching on its head! Instead of introducing new material in class and then applying it in the homework, do it the other way around– with Actionbound! Let your students get comfortable with new material using a Bound, which can then be played and discussed in class.

You and your students can create simple Bounds right away that you can play immediately. Our tip: Let your students choose their own topic (e.g. their favorite band or the neigborhood where they live) for their first Bound. That way, they’ll get comfortable with the software before they move on to other projects. The older your students, the more ambitious the projects they can complete. For more complex projects, a detailed introduction to the software and its capabilities is advantageous.

Take a look at our educational licenses . Before you choose a license, you’re welcome to try our Bound Creator for free for 14-days.

No schools. No day care. No office, and lots of social isolation. We’re all facing enormous personal and societal challenges at the moment. Fortunately, the internet helps us stay in touch. It even helps us learn at a distance! Actionbound is trying to support instruction at home with free access for teachers until the end of April.

With Actionbound, creating digital, game-like scavenger hunts or quiz games is child’s play. These “Bounds” can then be played by students using the Actionbound app. You can create Bounds to your own specifications and to meet the demands of your instruction. You can include many different elements, including quizzes, tasks, media such as videos and audio files, and much more. You don’t need to know anything about programming– in fact, the Bound Creator on our website has been recognized for its ease of use more than once.

Gamification can make learning fun. It can also help take our minds off our troubles and cares. Let your students play together, even when they’re far apart! For your Bounds, you’ll always receive an overview of the results, which you can process as you see fit. Start a Bound Challenge. You can find out how here.

Right now, solidarity is the name of the game. Thanks to the Bound sharing function, you can share your Bounds with other licensed users. They can then customize the content to their needs. So if you’ve created a great Bound on a particular subject, why not share it with your colleagues! You can post your Bounds to our forum, where your colleagues can play them and maybe even make a copy.

Your students can also create their own Bounds. Our school and teacher’s licenses include Instant Accounts, which can be used to protect your students’ privacy (in accordance with GDPR), without forcing your students to register for an account. Moreover, you’ll have complete control over their Bounds.

To make it easier for you to get started have a look at our Actionbound help

We‘re excited to share a new feature with you– one you can use to take your Bounds to a whole new level. First, we‘d like to say thank you. Once again, we have you to thank for our newest development. Without your feedback and your testing, we wouldn‘t be able to continue improving Actionbound.

You wanted to develop even more flexible Bounds, with secret bonus puzzles. You wanted tasks that depended on the answers to previous questions. You wanted even more flexibility in arranging the elements in your Bound. Now, thanks to Switches, all of that is possible! Individual elements or whole stages can now be included or excluded depending on conditions that you set. We can say with confidence that this is one of our most exciting bonus features so far!

• Hidden stages you only want to show once players have scored a certain number of points? No problem!

• Individualized feedback depending on the answer selected in a multiple choice quiz? But of course!

• Customized information after the scanning of a QR-code? Certainly!

• Extra points for uploading a photo? Now it‘s a possibility!

And that‘s just the beginning. Try it for yourself. Every element now contains a “Switches” tab. You can use it to set conditions for the switches. In order to test and play your Bounds, you’ll need to install the most recent version of the Actionbound app.

1. Activate Switches for your Bound

2. Specify conditions for each element individually

We admit that you’ll have to fiddle around a little and test a lot to get everything working right. If you accidentally set a Switch, you could end up hiding important information. That’s why Switches have to be activated manually for each element or stage.

Take a look in our tutorials, and in the instructions that we have created for the Switches.

Video tutorials

Manual

We hope you have a lot of fun testing our new feature!

Missions and quizzes can now be shuffled within stages

We are happy to present a new feature - randomizing elements. Within stages you can now have players play each mission oder question randomly or just one random element. Simply activate the feature in the settings of each stage and select the desired modus.

Christoph Deeg

The world of libraries has changed for good over the past few years. With the advent of digital technologies, the rise of social media, and the emergence of new media such as eBooks, our image of the library has changed. The scope of its tasks and its role for the future are constantly growing. Gaming and the mobile internet put two more topics on the agenda. Their influence on libraries promises to be even more profound. Social media has long been shorthand for activities that mostly take place staring at a screen, but now a new definition of the library is emerging, one in which the library the digital and the analog are enmeshed. That means it’s time to think about the ways in which the digital and the analog influence each other in the library. In the process, we might discover whole new forms of library science.

Using Actionbound in a modern library.

The use of apps that contain an element of gamification is especially interesting for libraries. Actionbound is an especially exciting example of such an app. A few examples and use cases have already been described, so I’m going to refrain from providing further approaches here. Instead, I’ll focus on the process of creating content. After all, it’s the content that determines whether or not the project is successful. When people hear or read this term, they often think of Game design plays an important role in determining whether or not a project will succeed. When people hear or read this term, they often think of the visual design of a game. But game design doesn’t refer to the graphics. Instead, it mostly concerns the structure of the game. It doesn’t really matter whether you’re talking about a digital game or an analog game. You could even say a good game works without technical aid. So it’s not about the use of an app. Instead, it’s about leveraging technology to design a game that unites content, goals, and location to create added value for the user.

Game design is something of a phenomenon. On the one hand, game design is a very complicated field and it’s not for nothing that long-term work in the field requires a lot of training. On the other hand, it isn’t so hard to get started – after all, we’re surrounded by games. Most people, whether young or old, have played a wide variety of games. It doesn’t matter whether they’re digital games or whether they’re old-school analog board or card games – the best way to get started is to play yourself and observe how the game functions. I can’t illuminate every aspect of the subject in this article, but i’d like to provide a few tips that have always helped me in my own work.

1. Games consist of a number of different components, for example storytelling, graphics, mechanics, rules, sound, and technology. You don’t need fireworks, but you should think about what components you want to include, why you’re leaving things out, and how you can compensate for those exclusions.
2. Games don’t necessarily need to have complicated graphics, but you should think about their appearance. This includes both the app and the location where the game will be played. If you’re designing a game to be played in a library, then the library should function as a gaming site.
3. Before you plan a tour or something similar, consider the entire location. What parts of the library can be part of a story? Are there areas where it can get a little louder? Do you have WiFi that enables thirty devices to establish a connection simultaneously?
4. Come up with an exciting story that does more than simply provide a mental framework. Instead, it should create a connection between the different levels or stages of the game, even if the whole thing lasts half an hour or less.
5. You should designate clear goals as well as clear feedback. That means the player should know how they are doing, as well as what they have to do.
6. Think about whether there should be helpers. For example, a librarian might be designated as a helper, so that they could help the players keep going if they were to get stuck.
7. Think about whether resources should be limited. Patrons might only be able to ask a librarian for help twice, for example.
8. Think about forming teams to play the game together. Collective experiences are always more fun than playing by yourself. You can also create intergenerational teams, so that teachers or parents help students.
9. You might also consider staging the whole thing as a competition. Competitions are always a good motivation.
10. Allow for a variety of possible solutions and means of progressing. There’s nothing more boring than following a path that has been laid out exactly.
11. Be careful not to make the game too hard or too easy. Tasks that are too simple or too difficult lead to frustration.
12. Think about whether you want an employee of the library to be involved in the game. If a library worker will be involved, think about their role, including their role in the story.

These are just a few tips, which naturally can’t answer every question that might arise. As was said above, the technology is pretty much irrelevant, but with the right content you can create something special. Take plenty of time when developing the content and try different things out. It can also be helpful to include players in the design process. You could even take it so far that you simply provide the goals and content of a library tour and then develop the game with the players. Let the games begin!

This article is part of the publication „Die Bibliothek spielerisch entdecken mit der Lern-App Actionbound (German) “. You can find the contents here.

„Die Bibliothek spielerisch entdecken mit der Lern-App Actionbound“ by Simon Zwick, Cynthia Lengler, Ilka Hamer, Annette Güzelmeriç, Eugenie Schatz, Dörthe Wiethoff, Florian Küpper, Christoph Deeg is licnesed under einer Creative Commons BY-SA 4.0 International license.

Your goal as a teacher is to inspire your students with attractive and contemporary lessons? Actionbound can help!

Using Actionbound you can easily create digital educational adventures that use the playful approach of a scavenger hunt. Your students can then use the Actionbound app to play the so-called Bounds.

Create your own Bounds according to your wishes and the demands of your lesson planning. You can combine a variety of different elements– quizzes, tasks, media, GPS-coordinates, QR-Codes, and many more. You don’t need to be able to program– in fact, the Bound creator at www.actionbound.com has received a number of accolades for its ease of use.

Versatile and Interdisciplinary

The method is suitable for all subjects. It’s perfect for field trips, but is also ideal for working on projects– students can create their own bounds for different themes, which the other pupils can then play. You can also use Actionbound to create a customized tour of your city or town for your students. Examples of other use cases include botanical tours, local history tours, historical political tours, or mathematical journeys of discovery.

„In an educational setting, the digital scavenger hunt is especially interesting,as the borders of the educational space of the school are broken and the pedagogy extends into the everyday lives of the students. In terms of the content, Actionbound is a tool with lots of potential applications. So long as a spirit of discovery promises to contribute to student success, Actionbound can play a role. It could be used in preparing students for a trip to a museum or for a field trip with real connection to the syllabus, such as a courthouse scavenger hunt or identifying plants."

Regional Academy for Continuing Education and Professional Development Actionbound Background and Introduction (German)

„Cooperation in groups also develops students’ social skills. Using tablets really motivates students.“

Schreiber, Ch. & Schulz, K. (2017) Actionbound – virtuelle Schnitzeljagd. Mathematische Aspekte in der Umwelt spielerisch entdecken. Mathematik differenziert, 1/2017, 22-25

„Actionbound is a contemporary tool that shows the potential of smartphones in educational settings in an impressive form.“

Baier, F. & Gottein H.-P. (2016) Mobile Learning am Beispiel Actionbound. Pädagogische Hochschule Salzburg, Hochschulschrift - PHScript 10 Schwerpunkt MEDIEN, 47-52, German

Literature as well as more information about using Actionbound in schools is available Google Google.

Try Actionbound yourself with a free 14-day trial period.

Actionbound wird bereits an vielen Schulen genutzt und wurde mehrfach ausgezeichnet.

The Teacher’s and Educational Licenses have been specially developed for pedagogical use. They’ll make it easy for you to get started. As a teacher you can use these licenses without any limitation in terms of the number of participants or the Bounds created. Your pupils can also create their own Bounds using your Teacher’s License– so it’s simple for you to protect your student’s privacy.

Whether for trainees, managers, visitors, or site visits, as an incentive or as part of a workshop, Actionbound can be used with any target demographic and is always warmly received. The combination of local data, gamification, team work, and high-quality multimedia content inspires learning.

In addition to classical education environments like schools, libraries, and museums, Actionbound’s media-pedagogical method of “serious gaming” is also increasingly being used in corporate settings. Photo: djile / Fotolia

We’ve collected a few testimonials from innovative trainers and experts in continuing education, who can testify to the success of Actionbound at their workplaces.

EY Germany is a market leader in advising our clients in the areas of auditing, taxes, transactions, and consulting services. We help our clients meet their legal obligations and optimize their processes. With more than 9,400 associates in more than 21 locations throughout Germany, we are in the position to meet the needs of the entirety of the German market.

With the change in generations (Generations Y and Z), a dynamic firm like EY must adapt to the new situations and demands of its associates. Mobile learning and gamification are especially important in this process.

EY’s Talent Development team uses the Actionbound app to provide new information to associates, as well as to reinforce concepts learned elsewhere, and to help make our physical trainings even more interactive. At large events as well, Actionbound is used for sightseeing and networking. Using the Bound Creator, we can customize Bounds to suit our precise needs, ensuring that our Bounds have a tremendous impact. EY focuses especially on using a combination of the features that Actionbound offers – searching for locations or objects, taking selfies, tournaments, etc.. Exactly this combination of features offered in a challenge format always receives top marks from our associates.

Can Özhan | Senior Expert Learning | Talent Development | Talent Team GSA | Ernst & Young GmbH Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft

We use Actionbound very successfully to support trainees in our team development. The app is used over several days in an experiential educational setting and is always a lot of fun for our trainees.

Andreas Geiger | Technical Education Mechatronics | Robert Bosch Automotive Steering

We use Actionbound in the orientation program for apprentice salespeople. In the course of a scavenger hunt, trainees work in small groups to get to know the nearly two-hundred acres of our premises.

Small groups download the app onto at least one smartphone and use it to scan an individualized QR code. The groups have to scan their QR code at every station. In the process they learn about the buildings or facilities they are currently visiting– they learn what is produced in the building or what department works in each facility. There are also some questions whose answers are located near the stations. The groups visit a total of eleven stations in about 2.5 hours.

After the answers have been evaluated the winning team usually receives a small prize.

Though we don’t test our trainees after the scavenger hunt, we are convinced that they retain more than after a simple tour. The use of Actionbound certainly encourages feelings of camaraderie. A little community emerges in the 2.5 hours of the scavenger hunt. The motivation of the trainees likely varies from individual to individual and also depends on how the leaders lead their groups. Do leaders encourage their groups to participate? Or do they show the way and answer most of the questions themselves? We do experience a high level of motivation within the groups and the desire to be the best or fastest group is a constant. Human Resources | Boehringer Ingelheim

We use Actionbound in courses across the spectrum of digital themes for our main target demographic– people who are 55 and older. Actionbound allows us to conduct exercises for groups of two with step-by-step instructions. Participants can proceed at their own pace. The method has been well received by our users, though it does require a certain familiarity with tablets. Otherwise using the tablet is a hurdle, though the app is very easy to use.

For users who do have some familiarity with tablets, the engagement with educational content is a tremendous amount of fun. The Bounds definitely provide a feeling of play and action.

We’ve already organized a number of activities at team events using Actionbound. Actionbound allows us to assign tasks to each team, which they’re supposed to solve as quickly as possible. With the Bounds there’s no need to carry around bothersome paper and the tasks can be presented nicely and embellished with graphics. The Bounds provide an immediate feeling of camaraderie, increasing team spirit in the process.

At our general assembly last year, we conducted a quiz on iPads using Actionbound. It was a great success among stockholders. In addition, it’s the perfect medium for us because we offer courses on smartphones and tablets and are able to offer an immediate impression of what will happen in the course. I would find it especially exciting to work with Actionboud with a target demographic that is more comfortable using digital technologies.

Christine Meziane | Swisscom Academy

These examples represent only a small percentage of the many possible use cases for Actionbound– the spectrum is enormous. Actionbound sits at the intersection of formal and informal education and increases motivation, fun, teamwork, and the spirit of discovery by using social elements and gamification. Local knowledge is improved in the process, and content is presented on a number of different levels, so that retention is improved. Actionbound was awarded the German Educational Media Prize digita.

You’ve created a great Bound and want to make it available so others can continue on it? Now, you can make your Bound available so that other licensed users can edit it in the Bound Creator. Click on the Bound you want to share and then on the button next to "Activate public copying". Now you can share the generated link with other users.

When you’ve already created a few bounds and your dashboard is getting chaotic, you can use folders to tidy up a little.

Click on the folder icon on your dashboard.

Type in a name for your folder and choose a color. Now click on “Create Folder”.

You can now drag & drop bounds into the folder or create new Bounds inside the folder. Name and Color can always be edited by clicking on the tool icon.

Here you can also delete the folder. Type in the name of the folder and decide whether you also want the Bounds in the folder to be deleted or if they should be moved to the next higher level.

If you use Instant Accounts a new folder will be created automatically. If you want to know what Instant Accounts are, check it out here.

Thanks to Instant Accounts, working with Actionbound will be even easier for students.

Collaborative learning will now be much easier thanks to Instant Accounts. With a teacher’s license you can create accounts for students, so they don't have to register themselves and give up personal information. Instant Accounts are linked to your accounts and all Bounds will be shown in your dashboard in a separate folder. Instant Accounts also use your Media Library. Thanks to certain permissions you can give to each individual Instant Account, you are always in charge of what happens in the accounts.

In this tutorial we'll show you how to create Instant Accounts or you can also check out the Actionbound Helpdesk.

We just released a new feature which allows you to combine two or more Bounds into one new Bound.

The feature merge Bounds allowes you to copy the content of your existing Bounds into a new one.

The following video shows you how simple it is to merge two Bounds.

In the last few weeks we've put a lot of effort into the map-based features of Actionbound. We're happy to present the results to you.

Actionbound now also supports OpenStreetMap! But that's not all. We have also implemented the beautiful maps of Stamen Design and some new styles for Google Maps.

The maps from OpenStreetMap and Stamen Design can even be preloaded for offline usage. Players can now use the maps while playing a Bound to easier find the way and solve the GPS based task "Find spot" even if they don't have an internet connection.

The maps are set in the Bound's settings and will be displayed in the Bound Creator and the Actionbound app where ever maps are shown.

The track the players have to go to complete the Bound can now be displayed as a blue line on all maps. The route is defined by a track file (GeoJSON, GPX or KML) which helps the players to stay on the right way. Track files can be recorded with a GPS device or be created with a browser based tool, e. g. GPSies, OpenRouteService or Google Maps. This file can be uploaded in the section "Track" in the settings of a Bound. Furthermore there is the possibility to create the track automatically based on the stages. It is important that GPS coordinates are set for the stages. With one click these stages are connected with a straight line and a track is created.

The start point will now be shown on more maps and a coordinate for the destination can be set.

Now it's your turn: Start to create your DIY digital scavenger hunt or interactive amazing race with Actionbound right now!

Also new with Actionbound 2.9

• The look and feel of the Actionbound app is now more lightweight
• Zoom into pictures
• Support of Turkish and Arabic language
• Improvement of the list sorting feature

… and much more! Check out our download page to get the latest version of the Actionbound app.

Let teams compete against each other with the Bound Challenge!

The Bound Challenge allows several teams or single players to play a Bound against each other. The Bound Challenge is ideally suited for Bounds which should be played by several small groups, e. g. in the library, at the zoo or in the museum. For this, neither the creator nor the participants have to be registered at Actionbound and can nevertheless benefit from a combined evaluation of the results.

Any number of players or teams are grouped together using the individual start code of the Bound Challenge. If a new Bound Challenge is created, a start guide PDF with QR code is automatically created for downloading and printing. The Bound Challenge creator also receives a link to access the results of his group and to easily compare them.

The Bound Challenge is available if the Bound owner has a valid Actionbound license and the Bound is online.

Results and comparison view of the Bound Challenge

The Bound Styler gives you the opportunity to customize the appearance of your Bounds according to your own ideas and wishes.

Customization possibilities

Logo: You can add your own logo on the home screen.
Colors: You can customize the colors of the individual elements of the Bound interface. In addition, you can set whether the buttons should be displayed square or rounded.
Background: How about a nice picture as a background for your Bound?
Font: Here you can choose from 14 fonts and adjust the size.
Import: In addition, you can use the Import function to import a style from one of your other Bounds.

Here are a few examples of how Bounds can be customized with the Bound Styler.

You can find out how to use the Bound Styler in the video above or in the Actionbound Helpdesk.

We proudly announce that the Henry County Health Center and Actionbound won a bronze Digital Health Award in Fall 2016.

The Summer Wellness Actionbound Challenge entered in the Division: Hospital — under 250 beds / Audience: Consumers / Classification: Mobile Digital Health Resources / Category: Mobile Application, Interactive, Gaming, Smartphone.

Thanks to Stacy Speidel for creating the Bound and representing HCHC and Actionbound.

Official News Release:

Winners Announced for Fall 2016 Digital Health AwardsSM

LIBERTYVILLE, IL — The Health Information Resource CenterSM announced the winners in the fall session of its 18th annual Digital Health AwardsSM which honors the world’s best digital health resources. The competition, which is held twice yearly, featured 80 categories in the following entry classifications: Web-based Digital Health; Mobile Digital Health Resources; Personal Digital Health Devices / Wearables; Digital Health Media / Publications; Digital Health — Social Media; and Connected Digital Health. A panel of 24 experts in digital health media served as judges and selected gold, silver, bronze, and merit winners from nearly 400 entries.

Fall 2016 Gold Award winners included Sharecare (Website); DaVita (Social Media — Facebook); Visible Body (Mobile Application); Spirit Health Group (Digital Publication — Magazine); Amino (Web-based Resource / Tool ); and Nationwide Children’s Hospital and Basecraft (Microsite). A complete list of winners and entry categories can be found at digitalhealthawards.com.

The Health Information Resource CenterSM (HIRC), organizer of the Digital Health Awards, is a national information clearinghouse for professionals who work in consumer health fields. Other well-known HIRC programs include the annual National Health Information AwardsSM (healthawards.com), which annually recognizes the nation’s best consumer health information (in non-digital formats), and the annual National Women’s Health & Fitness DaySM, held annually the last Wednesday in September. Visit fitnessday.com for details on these events, both the largest health promotion events of their kind.

A new version (2.8.0) of the Actionbound app was just released.

The update contains:

• Due to popular demand, we bring a new feature: Record audio!
• Global ranking shown when finishing a Bound
• Uploaded media can be removed
• Improvement of the count down timer
• Bug fixes
• Bounds that can be started with a ticket only

We wish you lots of fun with Actionbound and are looking forward to your feedback and rating in the app stores of Apple or Google :)

The new version of the browser based tool to create mobile adventures is online!

The Bound-Creator has been redesigned and has got tons of great enhancements:

• Live preview of the app screens right in the Bound-Creator
• Extensive improvements in user experience
• Responsive design: Create Bounds in your mobile device's browser
• Improved evaluation of the player’s results … and more: Check it out at https://actionbound.com

The Bound-Creator is now ready for the future: There will be splendid new features coming up in the next months.

Thanks to all beta testers!

This info graphic shows how you use the stages element in Actionbound.

• Choose wether you want the player to go linearly through the Bound or let him select the stages from a list or start them via QR code.
• Use stages to better arrange your sequence
• Give the player aid to orientation with geo tagged stages shown in the panel of the Actionbund app
  

Actionbound allows you to define places to be discovered by the players of your scavenger hunt. Here's how it works.

We just released a new version auf Actionbound!

NEW FEATURES
• Use existing QR and bar codes in your Bounds
• Add surveys to your Bounds
• Let your players sort stuff

SECURITY
• Data transfer is now encrypted

IMPROVEMENTS
• Bounds nearby can now be shown on a map
• External links will be opened right in the Actionbound app
• Many more improvements and bug fixes

Also: Underwater-Bounds!

Get the free Actionbound app 2.7 for iOS and Android here:





(For Android, there's also a direct download from our server available.)

This info graphic shows how QR- and barcodes can be used in Actionbound for interactive scavenger hunts, paper chases and stuff like that. Have fun!

Supported "own code" types:

• QR_CODE
• DATA_MATRIX
• UPC_E
• UPC_A
• EAN_8
• EAN_13
• CODE_128
• CODE_39
• ITF