The Cleveland Cavaliers NBA basketball franchise has teamed up with software developer YinzCam to create a new augmented reality (AR) mobile application for the team’s Quicken Loans Arena.
Fans can use the ‘Deep in the Q’ app to play against other supporters in virtual shootouts during games at the venue.
Users can hold their smartphones up with the app’s built-in camera pointed at the team’s central scoreboard during select timeouts, and swipe their phone’s screens to shoot virtual basketballs at an AR hoop that is hung off the scoreboard but only visible in the app.
Fans in attendance for Cavs games will also be able to play the interactive game in a one-on-one format in the team’s ‘Social Zone’ on the main concourse of the arena. The app will be sponsored by beer brand Bud Light.
The app will also be open to consumers in the Cleveland region, with players able to point their app at Cavs and Bud Light signage, Bud Light cans and bottles to play the game and compare scores.
Priya Narasimhan, chief executive and founder of YinzCamm said: “Working with the Cavs, we were able to bring to life the idea of a communal interactive basketball game played by fans competing against each other by simply holding up their phones to view the in-arena scoreboard and then shooting basketballs into a virtual AR hoop in real-time.”
