Tweet to Shoot

On September 13th & 14th 2012, we had more than 2,800 people, from 52 different countries, join us for a game of Duck Hunt — with a social twist.

About the project

Nerf guns are very much a part of our agency’s culture. On any given day, we take them apart and modify them so they shoot further and faster. But the ultimate modification was when we took apart the Vulcan EBF-25. That’s when the idea of Tweet to Shoot was born.

We rigged the gun to a 12-volt power supply and an Arduino Uno microcontroller. We combed the Twitter API for mentions of a specific hashtag. We rebuilt the classic Duck Hunt interface. We took over a room and streamed it live. We even brought back that annoying dog.

Why?

The possibilities of physical and digital convergence go well beyond the face value of this experiment. We’re merely just scratching the surface of potential that microcontrollers and relay switches can provide.

And while it might seem odd for an ad agency to branch out into engineering and robotics, we’re feeling like these assets all tie back to the communications toolbox of the future.