We walked into Ridley Centre expecting a fun distraction. We left sweaty, breathless, and already asking each other when we could come back.
Augmented Games, the screen-free interactive arcade running at Adelaide Showground as part of Illuminate Adelaide 2026, is not the gentle festival stroll some of the other events are. It’s a workout dressed up as a game night, and it earned every bit of the reaction we gave it. We went as a group of seven spanning three generations.
Augmented Games Tickets, Dates and Times
- Where: Ridley Centre, Adelaide Showground
- When: 26 June to 19 July 2026
- Sessions: Monday to Thursday 9:30am to 8:30pm, Friday and Saturday 9:30am to 9pm, Sunday 9:30am to 8:30pm, entry every 30 minutes
- Duration: 60 minutes
- Tickets: $25 general admission Sunday to Thursday, $30 Friday and Saturday, $20 to $25 per person for groups of 4 or more, under 4s free (a $0 ticket is still required)
- Note: The arena uses flashing lights and strobing projections, and involves genuine physical activity
What Is Augmented Games?
Augmented Games turns Ridley Centre into a screen-free, headset-free arcade where your own body is the controller. Motion-tracking technology and projection mapping track your movement across eight play courts, making this the Australian debut, and Adelaide exclusive, of a format from Moment Factory, the Canadian studio behind past Illuminate Adelaide favourites Light Cycles and Resonate. Presented by RAA, it’s Moment Factory’s largest version of the concept yet.
As Illuminate Adelaide co-founders Rachael Azzopardi and Lee Cumberlidge put it, the room is built to make you “move, laugh, compete and repeat.” There’s a spectator zone with food and drink for anyone watching rather than playing, and full session details are on the official Illuminate Adelaide program page.
The Eight Games at Augmented Games
- Polygon: This was the game we kept talking about on the drive home. Everyone takes a side of the shape and defends it, sliding a virtual racket left and right to deflect balls before they slip through your zone. It's part multiplayer pinball, part last-one-standing, and once the pace picks up, it turns into pure reflex, no time to think, just react. Our clear favourite of the day.
- Pathfinder: A quieter kind of challenge, and one we came back to more than once. A path lights up across a grid of tiles for a few seconds, then disappears, and you race to retrace it from memory before your opponents do. It rewards a completely different skill to Polygon, less about speed and more about who can actually keep their head under pressure.
- Target: Our toughest challenge of the day, no contest. You have to stay inside your own quadrant, collect the white dots, and dodge the red ones, all while the entire floor can rotate without warning underneath you. I was sweating within the first ten minutes here.
- Obstacles: A genuine cardio hit. Sprint back and forth across the court, clocking up as many round trips as you can while dodging obstacles and grabbing bonus points as you go. By this point in the hour, our legs were starting to feel it.
- Hotspot: This is the one Kayden ended up playing almost entirely on his own. It's a straightforward relay, dash from marker to marker along a lit-up path as fast as you can, and it turned out to be simple enough that a 3-year-old could get the hang of it in seconds. His dad and our friend Sunny cheered him on and called out directions from the sidelines rather than playing alongside him, and watching him figure it out solo, grinning the whole way, was one of the best moments of the day.
- Grid: Similar in spirit to Polygon, but played as a team rather than every player for themselves. You work together to slide a virtual racket and send the ball into your opponents' half, grabbing bonus points from loot boxes along the way. It has the same fast, reactive energy as Polygon, just with a lot more shouted teamwork.
- Memory: The game Kayden played hand in hand with his mum. Symbols flash across the surrounding tiles, and when one lights up in the centre, you race to find and stand on its match. You get four lives, and the difficulty escalates quickly once you're properly working as a pair.
- Maze: Steer a virtual ball through a maze using your own movement, working with teammates to stay synchronised before the clock runs out. A nice change of pace, more coordination than sprint, and a good one to end the session on before you catch your breath.
Our Visit: Three Generations, One Very Sweaty Hour
We came as seven, including my nearly 70-year-old mum, who joined us to watch rather than play. She had a minor stroke a couple of years ago, so the games themselves weren’t for her this time, but Augmented Games is fully indoor with proper seating, and a hot coffee in hand, she was completely comfortable cheering us on from the sidelines.
That’s actually one of the things I appreciated most. Augmented Games runs dedicated Seniors Sessions on select Wednesdays, separate from its general timetable, with reduced capacity built specifically for older visitors. We didn’t book one ourselves, but knowing they exist means my mum has an option if she ever feels ready to step onto the court herself. As she continues to recover, I’d love to see her build the confidence to try a Seniors Session one day, not just to watch us, but to play alongside her grandchildren in a format they’re growing up with. It’s a nice reminder that while we spend so much time teaching kids, they can just as easily teach us. Games like this, screen-free but unmistakably digital, might be exactly the bridge that makes it easy for a generation like my mum’s to join in.
Baby Jasper, 3 months old, slept through the entire hour without stirring once. Kayden, at 3, was buzzing with excitement from the moment we walked in, and staff had him guided into his first game almost immediately. For the rest of us adults, this was a real workout. We spent the whole hour jumping, laughing and occasionally yelling instructions at each other across the court. What I loved most is that none of it involved a screen. Every game came down to moving your actual body and problem-solving as a team, which is a rarer thing to find these days than it should be. By the end of the hour we were properly exhausted and already saying the same thing: we need to do this again!
Augmented Games Tips
- Wear comfortable, athletic clothing and shoes. You will sweat
- Games range from genuinely easy to surprisingly hard, even for fit adults
- Staff guide first-timers and kids through their first game
- There's indoor seating for anyone watching rather than playing
- Under 4s are free but still need a ticket booked
- Seniors Sessions run on select Wednesdays with reduced capacity, worth looking into for older family members
- The arena uses flashing lights and strobing projections, worth knowing if anyone in your group is photosensitive
- One hour is genuinely enough. By the end you'll be ready to stop
- A group of 4 hits the sweet spot for the team-based games
- Going as a pair? Staff may group you with another twosome if everyone's happy to, which only adds to the fun
FAQs
What games are at Augmented Games?
Eight in total: Polygon, Pathfinder, Hotspot, Grid, Memory, Target, Obstacles and Maze.
Is Augmented Games good for kids?
Yes, staff guide younger players through their first game, and the difficulty scales depending on which of the eight games you’re playing.
Is Augmented Games hard for adults?
Some of it is more physically demanding than you’d expect. Target, in particular, had our whole group sweating within minutes.
Can you come along and just watch?
Yes, there’s a spectator-friendly seating area with food and drink available, which worked well for a family member who wasn’t playing.
How much are tickets for Augmented Games?
$25 general admission Sunday to Thursday, $30 Friday and Saturday, with discounted group rates for 4 or more people. Under 4s are free but still need a ticket booked.
How long does a session last?
60 minutes, with entry sessions available every 30 minutes.
For more on what’s running throughout the festival, see our Illuminate Adelaide 2026 guide, our visit to Night Visions, Universal Kingdom: Ice Age, and Digital Abyss at ILA. Tickets for Augmented Games are available via Illuminate Adelaide.
Disclaimer: Glamorazzi representative Roslyn Foo and co attended Augmented Games on 12th July 2026 at Ridley Centre, Adelaide Showground, invited by TS Publicity. All opinions expressed are our own.
