LCD screens are now commonplace on many London buses. Displaying advertisements, local information and news, classic BBC comedy, or a cycle of CCTV footage from inside and outside the bus. They act as both entertainment and deterrent.

The brief: create alternative content for these screens that expands their use; considering this mediums limitations, such as the absence of audio and the potential to use other technologies on board like GPS.

Oy!

Oy is a system of between-stop informal gaming, played for small stakes, the price of a text message, or just for fun with fellow passengers on board. Oyster card holders can sign up in their existing online account to play for top-ups to their card.

Through integration into payment systems the age of players can be authenticated and a multitude of simple games are played in succession from stop to stop with gaps for other content, creating excitement through the punctuated time frame of travel.

The system also utilises the bus’ GPS data, pulling up games that are context specific, responding to the places passing by or live activity in the journey (e.g. the number of passengers to get on at the next stop), giving regular travelers a chance to do some educated guessing.

Technologies that could be used by Oy include: GPS, SMS, ticketing data and of course the screens themselves.

How To Play

– register your mobile online
– payment and prizes use the poynt system (15p = 1 poynt)
– each game played costs 1 poynt billed through the price of the text message
– each bus has a unique text number so that players may be matched to games

Oy! was developed during a 1 week project at the RCA with Phil Worthington and Tom Jenkins.