‘Pokemon Go style Christmas trail’ hits Polegate

Wealden District Council has teamed up with Polegate Town Council to run a free trail in the town this Christmas as part of its ‘Shop & Dine Well in Wealden’ campaign.

The ‘Santa Needs You!’ reality trail will feature 10 Christmas characters for children to find on stickers located in Polegate town centre shop windows.

Each will have a QR code attached which, when scanned, will allow the children to learn the animal’s names, stories, and see them on a smartphone.

After spotting all 10 animals, players will be rewarded with a free e-book that concludes the story. The socially distanced event will be run in the town until December 31.

Councillor Roy Galley said, “The council is delighted to provide this free and fun activity in Polegate this Christmas.

“The ‘Santa Needs You’ trail is designed to encourage families to get active, do some walking during the festive period and discover local businesses and parts of Polegate they might not normally visit.”

Polegate mayor Councillor Douglas Murray said, “It is fantastic to see Polegate involved in the Christmas augmented reality trail.

“It’s a great way to get people back into our wonderful local shops and I hope that after the challenging year we have all had, this activity brings some Christmas cheer to the families taking part.”

A spokesperson for Wealden District Council said, “The animal characters have been specially commissioned for the trail and have been modelled in 3D for augmented reality, ‘Pokémon Go’ style.

“The use of augmented reality means that players can not only discover the characters in participating businesses windows, but they actually get to see them burst to life in front of them and can take selfies or even record movies with them.

“The trail takes about 45 minutes to complete and is free. With safety in mind, it has been designed so that there is no need to go inside.”