Mu-nopoly: Design and Evaluation of a Board Game for Museum Edutainment

Edutainment, namely, education and entertainment, has become an important part of the museum experience. Previous research has discussed the significance of edutainment in museums, but there is still a need to explore the effectiveness of edutainment activities through specific system designs and evaluations in real-world museum contexts. This study focuses on board games as an edutainment means. We identified three types of activities that are highly relevant to a board game: playing, learning, and socializing, and proposed a Playing–Learning–Socializing (PLS) framework for museum edutainment. Based on this framework, we designed a board game, Museum Monopoly (Mu-nopoly), and evaluated the edutainment effectiveness of two board game mediums, Card and Augmented Reality (AR). We conducted a between-group experimental study evaluating the use of Card and AR in Mu-nopoly, measuring users’ perceptions of playfulness, learning effectiveness, and social presence. With a comprehensive evaluation, the results provided detailed insights into the edutainment effectiveness of both conditions, showing that the Card condition better supported the sensory and imaginative immersion and allowed a greater sense of flow. This study provides design guidelines and brings insights into the interaction design and edutainment research in museums and cultural heritage.