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SpellBound Quick Distract Cards

AR-activated decals designed to reduce procedure anxiety for pediatric patients

Company
Timeline
  • 2016–2018
Role
  • Game Design
  • Software Development
Tools
  • Unity
Outcomes
A girl in a hospital gown smiles down at a tablet in her lap while a nurse in blue gloves works on her arm

summary

While launching their augmented reality storybooks, the team at SpellBound AR discovered an unexpected market: pediatric hospitals. Child life specialists found the books to be powerful tools for distracting young patients during anxiety-inducing procedures.

That insight led to launching Quick Distract Cards — SpellBound AR’s first product line built specifically for hospital use. Each card gives child life specialists a fast, no-setup tool that helps them transform a hospital room into a place of wonder and excitement with just a smartphone.

A tablet held over four hexagonal cards, three of them sprouting a creature on screen — a centaur, a horned horse, and a mermaid

my role

As the project’s game designer and developer, I owned the experience from concept to App Store: designing AR interactions for each card type, defining the visual style for our art assets, and building everything in Unity using the Vuforia Engine.

When child life specialists surfaced new needs in the field, I translated those needs into product pitches and delivered the designs, which spanned form factors from collectible trading cards to immersive playsets and room-scale wall decals.

card types

myth cards

Collectible creatures give patients something to look forward to each visit.

poseidon’s plunder & castle lionheart

Rich virtual playscapes have enough depth to hold attention through longer procedures.

magic portal

A large wall decal transforms any patient room into an immersive gaming environment.

outcomes

  • — Shipped to the App Store with a 5-star rating
  • — Used by child life specialists across 10+ pediatric hospitals in 3 countries
    • Ascension Health Care Clinic (Milwaukee, WI)
    • Beaumont Children’s Hospital (Royal Oak, MI)
    • C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital (Ann Arbor, MI)
    • Cleveland Clinic Children’s (Cleveland, OH)
    • Comer Children’s Hospital / UChicago (Chicago, IL)
    • Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital (Grand Rapids, MI)
    • Miller Children’s & Women’s Hospital (Long Beach, CA)
    • Providence Children’s Hospital (El Paso, TX)
    • Riley Children’s Hospital (Indianapolis, IN)
    • Shoe4Africa Children’s Hospital (Eldoret, Kenya)
    • St. Luke’s International Hospital (Tokyo, Japan)
    • Stanford Children’s Health / Lucile Packard (Stanford, CA)
    , including top-ranked pediatric centers like Stanford Lucile Packard
  • — Enabled successful IV placements, blood draws, and catheterizations in patients with documented needle phobia
  • — Produced a utility patent for scalable AR content based on wall decals
Source: Dose of Play

During the procedure, the girl was playing with the card and was not even paying attention to the needle, and the mom looked at the CCLSCertified Child Life Specialist, shocked… After they’re done, the CCLS says “OK, we’re all done!” and the girl asks “Can I keep playing with this?”

Registered Nurse
A boy holds a printed card up to a tablet showing the shipwreck scene while a clinician works on his other arm
A child sitting cross-legged on a hospital bed taps a tablet showing a mermaid card, more cards scattered beside her

Credits