An EKO Digital Trail · Partholón Place, Tallaght

AR(T)rail

Two scientists, one tech assistant, and six hidden gems. A playful augmented-reality trail that turns a walk through Partholón Place into a live performance, a game and a story — where the fun comes first, and a feel for the place comes free along the way.

LocationPartholón Place, Tallaght

GuidesMatt · Jack · Paddy

StationsSix

FormatLive launch + self-guided

01 — The Idea

A trail you play, not just walk

AR(T)rail gets people moving through their own neighbourhood — together. It leads with play and spectacle, and lets the heritage, the stories and the sense of place arrive almost by accident. The goal is engagement with the local area and its community; learning a little about the history along the way is the happy by-product.

🕺

Movement

Bodies first — stretch, dance and play to wake the trail up.

🎧

Audio

Sound responds to the crowd; movement can bend and shape it.

✨

Visuals

AR portals, characters and effects layered over real places.

🎮

Play & Fun

Mini-games and challenges at every stop — easy to pick up.

🏛️

Heritage & Story

Myth and real history, surfaced through the spaces themselves.

📍

Sense of Place

A reason to look again at what is already around you.

CORE IDEA

Now, before — and what comes next

Each station offers a slice of the present or the past: a game in the square today, a ship arriving from myth, a fairy with a secret about a park up the road. By connecting people with what is here and what was here, the trail builds a warmer, more positive relationship with the place — so that what it becomes is better for everyone, and for Partholón Place itself.

It's built for all ages and for organisations of every kind. Tech is the helper, never the point: it supports discovery, but it's your own drive and imagination that decide how far you go.

02 — How It Works

One live journey, then yours forever

It begins as a guided event and lives on as a self-guided trail. Come for the performance; come back whenever you like.

We gather

A live launch performance outside The Civic draws a crowd and breaks the ice.

We move

The guides lead the group from station to station — body and play first.

We play

At each stop, an AR game or scene is revealed through Paddy, the tech assistant.

We win

Beat the challenges for real perks — show tickets, a cup of tea, bragging rights.

We share

Snap it, post it, tag your friends — and dare them to come and beat your score.

We return

Every station stays live. Walk it again anytime, no performer needed.

The triggers. Stations come alive through location and image-target AR — pointing the screen at a wall, a window or a fixture summons virtual characters, games, portals and effects onto the real place in front of you.

03 — Your Guides

Two scientist geeks and a tech assistant

A small, playful crew leads the journey — and hands you the lens to see what's hidden.

Matt

Scientist · Movement

Part performer, part guide. Matt gets everyone moving and keeps the energy high from the first stretch to the final dance.

Jack

Scientist · Sound

The sonic half of the duo. Jack shapes the soundtrack of the trail and the moments where movement bends the music.

Paddy

Tech Assistant · The iPad

Your portal into the AR realm. Paddy reveals the games and hidden scenes that are invisible to the naked eye.

04 — The Trail

Six stations, six hidden gems

A digital trail of AR-triggered, interactive activities the audience gets to play with. Each station's clip loads from the Videos folder; you can upload or override any clip in edit mode.

STATION 01Outside The Civic Theatre

Warm up & Pong

The journey starts outside The Civic, where the scientists break the ice and invite everyone to stretch and activate their bodies through play. Then they introduce Paddy — the tech assistant and the key to experiencing the digital art hidden in the AR realm.

Together the whole group plays Pong through the screen. There's a time limit, and when the game ends we move on to the next activation point.

IcebreakerBody activationMeet PaddyAR Pong

The warm-upEveryone plays. The clock decides when it's time to move on.

STATION 02Side of The Civic building

The Slot Machine

At three screens on the side of The Civic's building, Paddy is asked to reveal the game waiting there — a slot machine. Line up the same fruit three times and you win a free ticket to the show at The Civic.

AR Slot MachineChance3 attempts each

RewardThree matching fruit wins a free ticket to the show at The Civic — roughly a 1-in-50 chance. Everyone gets three attempts.

STATION 03Outside Rua Red

Musical Statues & Whack-a-Mole

A quick round of musical statues loosens everyone up, then Paddy reveals the hidden play behind the three stools outside Rua Red: a game of Whack-a-Mole.

Musical statuesAR Whack-a-MoleHigh score

RewardBeat the high score and win a free cup of tea at Rua Red.

STATION 04Side of the Rua Red building

The arrival of Partholón

A history lesson plays out on the side of the Rua Red building. Through Paddy, a wall of books opens up to reveal a ship sailing on stormy waters, emerging out into the square.

Partholón steps from the ship and tells his own story — of discovering Tallaght and settling here — the founding myth that gives Partholón Place its name.

AR portalStorytellingHeritage

StoryA living history: the founding of the place, told by Partholón himself.

STATION 05Tallaght Library

Dance break & colour the graffiti

At Tallaght Library, Matt, Jack and Paddy lead a dance-break performance before the audience engages with the graffiti paintings on the wall.

The artworks appear in black and white, and it's up to the audience to colour them in. Once they're complete, the characters come to life — and lead everyone on to the last station.

Dance breakColour-in ARCharacters come alive

The hand-offFinish the colouring and the characters wake — then guide you onward.

STATION 06Bins outside the Library

The Tymon Park fairy & farewell

From the bins outside the library, the Tymon Park fairy appears. She tells of the abundance of hidden gems in the area and how wonderful it would be to discover more — inviting everyone to visit Tymon Park and places like the Hell Fire Club, whose building rises in the square with a dragon circling overhead.

It's a reminder of the importance of discovery and mystery, and a nudge toward a balanced life: technology can support and reveal, but it's our own drive and imagination that decide what we engage with. The two scientists thank everyone and close with one last short dance — playing with body movement to bend the sound — finalising the presentation.

AR characterDiscoveryFinale danceMovement → sound

FinaleGo and find the rest. The trail ends; the discovery doesn't have to.

05 — Rewards & Engagement

Play, win, share, return

Engagement earns something real — and gives people a reason to bring others back into the space.

🎟️

Real perks

Free show tickets, a cup of tea, and high-score glory — tangible rewards for taking part.

📲

Made to share

Capture AR moments and post them — every share is an invitation for friends to come and play.

🔁

Come back & play

The trail is always on, so there's always a reason to return and beat your best.

🤝

For the whole community

Built for all ages and for organisations of every kind — with room for partner rewards and perks.

06 — Why It Matters

A positive connection with place

What is, what was, what will be

AR(T)rail is a way for a local community — people and organisations, of all ages — to engage with the space they share. The play is the hook; the lasting effect is a real appreciation of what is here now and what was here before.

Build that positive connection, and what the place becomes in the future should be better for everyone — and for Partholón Place itself. The trail is a foundation: a format we can re-skin and re-tell in many places, each with its own hidden gems to uncover.