Montreal Neighborhood Installs A Massive, Light-Up Reinterpretation Of "Where's Waldo?"

Warm up your interal hard drive thanks to an eclectic luminotherapy session held right in the heart of Montreal's entertainment-oriented Quartier des Spectacles. The four-year-old, Luminotherapie Festival is offering Montrealers nights full of light and creativity that keep the cities cultural epicenter alive and well through the coldl winter months.

As part of the festival, creative studio, Champagne Club Sandwich, invited Montrealers to discover Trouve Bob, a digital riff off Where's Waldo? or as it is known in French, Ou Est Charly?

Seven audio-visual projections spread out on as many buildings in the Quartier des Spectacles, prompting participants to progress and travel through an imaginative, wacky world as they seek out their new friend, Bob. Taking into account the different sizes, shapes, and constraints of each building, each projection consists of three different interactive games that get progressively more difficult as the journey goes on.

Participants meet kooky characters and pass from one colorful, graphically-stunning world to another, such as a pirate ship, a space ship, a Party BBQ, all designed with Illustrator and After Effect, and animated with grace and dynamism.

"We want this game to be accessible to everyone, from the youngest to the oldest participants, so there's no big technology needed to play along besides your eyes and your brain," said Rémi Vincent, co-founder of the creative firm.

Technologically, it's nothing particularly innovative or complex, but that's something that the "Find Bob" team wanted to preserve the game's easy-access mandate and its 8-bit, simple, minimal aesthetic concept. The game's retro soundtrack is sure to speak to players who are nostalgic for their first Nintendo console as well as a younger crowd.

So if you want to see the Quartier des Spectacles in a whole new way this winter--and whether you're a geek, a gamer, a Where's Waldo? connaisseur, or just curious--you've got until February 2nd to try and find Bob…

Photo Credits : Martine Doyon