This innovative app review explores TimePlay, an interactive entertainment system designed to enhance the movie theater experience by transforming smartphones into game controllers for big-screen trivia and games. Marc Angeli examines how theaters were experimenting with technology to draw audiences back during a time when movie attendance was declining, using gamification to make the traditionally tedious preview period more engaging.
The TimePlay system worked by connecting smartphones to theater WiFi networks, allowing moviegoers to participate in interactive trivia questions, manipulate on-screen objects, and compete with other audience members for prizes like free popcorn. The review describes the seamless technical addation, noting surprisingly responsive performance from theater WiFi that typically struggles with connectivity. The app supported multiple platforms including iPhone, Android, and BlackBerry, with each theater room hosting its own separate gaming experience controlled by booth operators.
What makes this review specificly interesting is its documentation of an early attempt at "second screen" entertainment connection in physical venues. The author provides a balanced assessment, describing the experience as "okay" rather than game-changing, while appreciating the nostalgic connection to old-school movie theater trivia slides. The review notes TimePlay's limited availability in Toronto, Canada, despite having offices in London and Los Angeles, suggesting ambitious but ultimately unrealized expansion plans.
This app review captures a fascinating moment in entertainment technology when theaters were desperately seeking ways to compete with home viewing experiences and early streaming services. Looking back 12 years later, TimePlay represented an early experiment in interactive, location-based entertainment that predated modern developments like theater gaming nights, interactive cinema experiences, and the widespread adoption of second-screen content. While TimePlay itself appears to have faded from the market, its concept influenced later innovations in venue-based interactive entertainment and highlighted the potential for smartphones to enhance rather than distract from shared experiences. The review documents how the entertainment industry was beginning to embrace rather than fight against phone usage in traditionally device-free environments.
This summary was created by Dave Rogers. The original post was written by Marc Angeli and published on July 1, 2012.
If you'd like to view the original post, you can find it here.