Location-based games emerged in the early 2000s following the commercialisation of GPS and
artistic experimentation with 'locative media' technologies. Location-based games are played in
everyday public spaces using GPS and networked mobile technologies to track their players'
location. This book traces the evolution of location-based gaming from its emergence as a
marginal practice to its recent popularisation through smartphone apps like Pokémon Go and its
incorporation into 'smart city' strategies. Drawing on this history and an analysis of the
scholarly and mainstream literature on location-based games Leorke unpacks the key claims made
about them. These claims position location-based games as alternately enriching or diminishing
their players' engagement with the people and places they encounter through the game. Through
rich case studies and interviews with location-based game designers and players Leorke tests
out and challenges these celebratory and pessimistic discourses. He argues for a more grounded
approach to researching location-based games and their impact on public space that reflects the
ideologies lived experiences and institutional imperatives that circulate around their design
and performance. By situating location-based games within broader debates about the role of
play and digitisation in public life Location-Based Gaming offers an original and timely
account of location-based gaming and its growing prominence.
