Nerf guns are very much a part of our agency’s culture. On a 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. 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, took over a room and streamed it live. We even brought back the annoying dog. For 48 hours if anyone in the world mentioned #tweettoshoot, the gun in our office would fire and their name would appear on the Duck Hunt interface.We believe this project was the first of its kind. Cooperative gameplay in a remote location utilizing modified Nerf products. All streamed live so players could feel more connected. And while it might seem odd for an ad agency to branch out into engineering/robotics, we’re feeling like these assets all tie back to the communications toolbox of the future. Results On September 13-14, 2012, we had more than 2,800 people from 52 different countries, join us for a game of Duck Hunt with a social twist.
