Programmer Turns Rock Climbing into Live Action Video Game

Ever wonder how Pacman felt chasing those blinking dots across the screen? Then, you might be interested in Randori’s new live action video game, which creates arcade-style challenges for indoor rock climbers.

Like most classic arcade games, the Randori game has a simple concept: rock climbers take turns racing to touch a series of dots projected on a climbing wall. A clock—also projected onto the wall—records each player’s time and, at the end of each game, a high score board ranks climbers’ times. 

But the game poses an interesting challenge for climbers by eliminating marked routes, and adding a timed component to a sport that usually emphasizes slow, deliberate movements. Climbers only have a few moments to plan a course of action before they jump onto the wall, which means that they must be able to act quickly and with spontaneity—as is, of course, the case in most video games.

Programmers at Randori, a company that runs web development workshops for aspiring coders, created the game to show that coding can have applications beyond the workplace—and that those applications can be pretty fun: “Coding doesn't have to be for work at all," programmer Jon Cheng explains on the Randori website. "Having fun enhancing your hobbies is one of the easiest and best ways to get started."