Our Council is proud to be part of Parks Week this year and have set up two magical parks at Rhodes Park in Thames and Mercury Bay Sports Park to celebrate.
"Magical Park is a geo augmented reality game like Pokemon Go that children can play on a smart phone using an app that you can download for free," says our Parks and Reserves Manager Derek Thompson. "Children typically cover from 700 metres to 2km to play a 30-60 minute game."

Last year there were over 200 Magical parks in Australasia with over 24,063 visitations.

"Sadly, we were hit by storms during Parks Week in March last year and Rhodes Park was pretty muddy," says Mr Thompson. "However, we registered 55 visitors and those, both young and old, enjoyed the adventure which allows kids to get excited while exercising and captures their imagination," says Mr Thompson.

Geo AR Games, the maker of Magical Park, describes the game as suitable for children 6-11 years old, turning a normal park into a digital fantasy land and connects physical activity and the use of screens, so it is a fun way for young children to be active.

"The real principle is that we want to get children active in our Parks and off the couch," says Mr Thompson. "The choice of locating the game at our sports parks is intentional as it will allow parents to train for sports, and instead of their child sitting in the car playing on a device, they can get outside and be active with their parents nearby."

To play, simply download the app from the App Store for iPhones or Google Play for Android phones.

The Magical Parks will run from 10 - 25 March 2018.

For more information on Parks Week see www.parks-week.org or watch a video all about it here.

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