The Power of Play at Belvedere Museum 

How this museum in Vienna made games part of its strategy

Whether you prefer chasing and collecting digital animals outdoors, solving challenges in Roblox, or discovering future artists through an interactive tour of the museum – the Belvedere Museum has got you covered.

Over the past three years, the museum located in the heart of Vienna, Austria, has developed three unique games. With that, it’s safe to say: games have become more than just an experiment – they’re now a central element of the museum’s strategic direction.

Let’s explore how this historic institution is gamifying culture and why it matters.

Why should museums even develop games?

The museum’s journey into gaming began a few years ago initiated by a workshop led by game researcher Johanna Pirker. The organisation of the workshop was driven by the museum team’s ambition to stay relevant in a rapidly changing cultural landscape and to discover what the power of play could contribute.

Soon it became clear, games could be a powerful way to connect with younger audiences. Play is emotional and engaging. It builds connections. And for younger generations – who grew up gaming – it’s second nature. Games create interactive, hands-on experiences that can make any content – even serious, complex topics – more approachable. They offer safe spaces for learning, exploration, and fun – qualities every museum values.

What’s more, bringing together cultural institutions and the game industry creates cross-pollination: developers gain access to rich cultural content, while museums benefit from the game industry’s in-depth knowledge of motivational design, storytelling, engagement and cutting-edge technology.

“The Belvedere believes in the power of play and is convinced that games provide a different entry point to the museum.”

– Markus Wiesenhofer

Deputy Head of Communications, Marketing & Coordinator of Game Projects

A strategic approach to gaming

Three years fast forward, the museum has baked gaming into its strategic mission establishing three dominant pillars:

• • • • an onsite experience that enhances the physical visit,
      • a fully-fledged digital game that expands the museum’s reach globally,
      • the organization of Game Jams where developers and the museum team co-create new ideas.

With that said, let’s have a closer look at each single game.

The Fantastic Palastics: Garden Game

Launched in 2023 to celebrate the museum’s 300th anniversary, The Fantastic Palastics is an augmented reality game set in the Belvedere’s baroque gardens – where in Prince Eugene’s time exotic animals where kept in a menagerie. The storyline behind the game: lost animals are hiding in the garden – and it’s the player’s job to find and feed them. The game is brought to life through six animal characters: Roco the Lion, Neo the Lemur, Rena the Gazelle, Pop the Sheep, Dada the Ostrich, and Flux the Porcupine. The goal: find each animal, complete a feeding challenge, and snap a photo. To start, players scan a Sphinx sculpture at the entrance of the gardens, then explore the surroundings using a web-based AR app – no downloads required to facilitate accessibility. Fantastic Palastics is free to play, educational in focus, and designed to run on a wide range of devices.

Developed in partnership with The Brand Father, ORB Amsterdam, and 8th Wall, the game uses Lightship VPS, Niantic’s geospatial AR platform – also used for the famous Pokémon Go game and involved manually scanning garden landmarks and integrating them into the AR map.

The Fantastic Palastics: Mission Museum

Once The Fantastic Palastics was rolled out successfully, it called for a spin-off bringing the players into the museum, so Mission Museum was born in 2025. For many centuries, the Belvedere has been home to some of Austria’s most valuable and historic works of art. But a mystery still lies hidden within the palace, waiting to be uncovered: Who are the artists of the future?

The game reintroduces the same animal characters, that help young visitors to solve the mystery. By navigating the galleries, clues can be collected to uncover the final code needed to solve the mystery. This time, the game blends digital interaction with a physical colourful interactive game map that kids pick up on arrival. Different game elements are used to tickle different senses of players as young visitors complete creative challenges like drawing, observing, and imagining all activities to engage with the architecture and art on display.

Art Leap on Roblox Game

The Belvedere’s most ambitious leap? Art Leap, a game developed with the help of Roblox, one of the world’s most popular gaming platforms with the core feature of user generated content. Art Leap invites players to step into four iconic paintings from the Belvedere Collection: Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss, Jacques-Louis David’s Napoleon at the Great St. Bernard Pass, Claude Monet’s The Cook (Le Père Paul), and Tina Blau’s Spring in the Prater. Each painting is transformed into an immersive world with three mini-games, offering action, exploration, adventure and surprising insights about the artworks. Whether you explore Gustav Klimt’s golden universe or run around as a squirrel in Vienna’s Prater, each game is packed with unique challenges and tons of fun bringing the paintings to life.

Initially developed with kids in focus, the metrics surprisingly soon showed that the majority of players are over 18. The museum reaches a large globalThe game was developed with Exclusible and Playerthree, and includes strict child protection measures to ensure a safe experience for all.

The Essence

Through thoughtful experimentation and strategic planning, the Belvedere has shown is that games aren’t a gimmick – they’re a powerful new language for museums. They unlock new audiences, deepen engagement, and bring art and history to life in surprising ways. From palace gardens to virtual worlds, the Belvedere is proof that with a little imagination and a lot of collaboration, even a 300-year-old institution can play like a pro.

A big thank you to Markus Wiesenhofer for the interview and sharing all the insights. 

Photo credits:  Exclusible / Belvedere; Johannes Stoll / Belvedere; David Zuderstorfer / Belvedere