Stupid Robot

Browser

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Play.
Tag.
Connect.

British Library
Games

Pyramid Tag

Broswer / iOS / Android

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Nextag

Browser

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Zen Tag

Browser

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Open Source Crowdsourcing Game Platform

Metadata Games (MG) was a free and open source (FOSS) crowdsourcing game platform. As players play Metadata Games, images, video, and audio from libraries, archives, and museums gained valuable descriptions, making it easier for the general public and scholars to discover these collections.

From 2012 to 2019, we hosted a MG build that contained over 45 Collections from 11 Institutions, containing tens of thousands of media items (images, audio, video) that have generated over 167,000 tags.

Past collaborations include the British Library, Boston Public Library, The Open Parks Network, Digital Public Library of America, and the American Antiquarian Society, among others!

For more technical information, check the Technical Implementation section.

Play

We had Metadata Games for every type of player! Challenge your friends or play by yourself!

Metadata Games was accessible through your web browser, and prototyped with iOS or Android mobile devices!

Play as long as you want! Games can be as quick as 30 seconds, or you can tag for hours, it’s up to you. Start right now!

Tag

What’s a tag? A ‘tag,’ or piece of metadata, is a word or phrase that describes an image, audio, or video clip.

When you play and submit tags, you help libraries, museums, and universities across the country.

Without your help some of these images, videos, and audio clips could be lost forever in the jumbles of the internet.

Connect

Every image, video, and audio clip in the Metadata Games collection had a unique story for you to explore!

Use the powerful Metadata Games search tool to browse images, video, and audio that players have tagged!

Discover media about a wide range of topics! Like baseball? We’ve got that! How about animals? You can find them, too!

Games

The Metadata Games platform had games that cater to all different types of players! Take a look:

Zen Tag

A zen-like one player tagging activity — be as specific and accurate as you can to earn high scores. Ohm!

Nextag

metadatagames_nextag_20130416_4web

In the “next evolution” of Zen Tag, you can tag audio and video clips, too. Plug in your headphones and get ready!

Guess What!

metadatagames_guesswhat_20130416_4web

Work together with a stranger to identify images in this fast-paced guessing game. Give great hints and you’ll both score big!

One Up

oneup_iphone4_20131211_2_4web

Challenge a friend and see if you’re smarter than they are! The best descriptions win, but be careful not to be One Upped in this competitive game for Apple and Android devices!

Pyramid Tag

pyramidtag_ipad_20131220_2_4web

A competitive one player game — We asked random people to describe the image you are about to see in a single word each. How many of these words can you match in 2 minutes?!

Stupid Robot

stupid robot

Stupid Robot looks at everything but understands nothing. Can you help? Teach it as much as you can about the image. As it learns, it’ll want to know longer and longer words!