An Interactive Coffee Table: Exploring Ludic Engagement During Lunch Breaks

University classes may be demanding and tiring. The lunch/coffee breaks are the opportunities to reload energies for the next hour by interacting with other students and have fun together. Technology can help in enhancing this positive experience. Thus, we used the Interaction Design process to study the needs for a digital solution, which can enhance a ludic experience during lunch breaks in schools and developed an interactive prototype. Through interviews and observations, we explored what students considered ludic during breaks. Socializing in common areas and being involved in activities that require collaborative engagement, was highlighted. We used the assumptions of ludic design discussed by Gaver et al. [1] for designing our prototype, an Interactive Coffee Table, called Willy’s Pond. The solution consists of a tabletop transformed into a digital pond for Willy, the fish, to swim around. The prototype was tested in a natural setting with approximately 25 students in groups and individually. We found that the Interactive Coffee table enhances the ludic experience. Moreover, a relevant finding was that collaborative engagement was seen as a critical element for ludic design in addition to Gaver et al. [1] assumptions for designing for a ludic experience.