Sure, this game may be prone to potential injuries, but it was nonetheless great fun to experience it.

Produced by Ergonomidesign and developed for the Microsoft Surface, Sonicspree is a music quiz game in which players are presented with many upside-down album covers of various artists (rotating around the edges of the Surface). As a new song starts playing, players have to swipe the covers towards the middle of the table to reveal the cover-art of each album. Once the right cover is spotted (the one according to the song playing at that time) players must drag the album cover back to the “container” in front of them to collect that cover. Once someone manages to do that, a new song starts playing and the game continues.

I had the chance to play with this (as well as having my first encounter with the Microsoft Surface) at Interaction 10 in Savannah, Georgia (US).

Take a look at the actual gameplay to get a better idea:

(those random comments in Spanish you hear… yes, that’s me).

As you can see, the game itself can be loads of fun —especially when a really popular song comes up (e.g. Min 2:17).

This game ended up consuming a considerable chunk of my time that night. I played with it during one of the evening gatherings/parties taking place after the regular scheduled programme at IxD10.

As a audiophile myself, I can see myself playing this game for hours with friends (I reckon I would win in *most* music categories… except maybe Country or Hip-Hop). Nevertheless, I don’t think I’ll ever be in the market for a Microsoft Surface, so I’d be interested in seeing if the same game could be exported to a different platform.

The iPad?… maybe if there is a way to hold it in place. Maybe a way for multiple iPhone or iPad mini iPod Touch devices to be connected via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi as everyone sits around in a circle could render a similar experience.

You can read more about the Sonicspree game (and music store) at Ergonomidesign’s web site.