Angry Birds Adventure Playgrounds To Launch Across The Globe

Angry Birds Adventure Playgrounds To Launch Across The Globe

Angry Birds is launching its own themed adventure playgrounds in local neighbourhoods, with two planned for the UK.

The announcement was made in the salubrious surrounds of the Finnish embassy in London, and is a joint venture with playground manufacturers Lappset.

The playgrounds will offer rewards for doing outdoor exercise, such as power-ups, new levels and new characters.

When Angry Birds players visit the playgrounds, an Angry Birds hot spot will detect their device and immediately offer them increased rewards.

Peter Vesterbacka, Angry Birds' "Mighty Eagle", said the idea was to get players exercising more, and to make exercise fun.

"We will increase the amount of exercise people do by making it fun. That is the Rovio way, to make things fun. Playing games is a very human thing to do - that's how humans learn - and we can make exercising into a game," he said.

Rovio will use the accelerometer in smart phones to detect motion to trigger rewards. Vesterbecka joked that there could also be rewards for how many steps you take in the playground.

Vesterbecka was keen to point out that whilst popular, Angry Birds does not seriously contribute to an unhealthy, sedentary lifestyle.

"Angry Birds is played for on average two hours a week, but people watch TV for 158 hours a month. When you're playing Angry Birds, you're sitting forward, you're moving, you're active. When you watch TV you're passive, you're sitting back. We also have studies that show playing Angry Birds is good for your brain," he said.

Vesterbecka suggested that the Angry Birds adventure parks were much more engaging than traditional theme parks, saying: "At a theme park, you sit, you eat and you watch what's going on around you. You sit on a ride and you try to repeat that for as many times as possible before you have to leave. The adventure parks will be much more active than that. You will feel like you are in the game."

Two Angry Birds adventure parks are currently being negotiated in the UK, one in Hampshire and one in Worthing, West Sussex. Others are planned for China, Indonesia and across Europe. The first to open will be in Särkänniemi Adventure Park in Finland this summer.

Click on the images below to see how the Angry Birds adventure parks will look.

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