AR Foosball
View the case- Brand
- EE
- Year
- 2021
- Objective
- Awareness
- Industry
- Tech & Telecom
- Mechanic
- Racing & Sports
- Platform
- AR & VR
- Agency
- Cake
- With
- UNIT9
Objective
EE wanted proof of what its 5G network could actually do — not a spec sheet, but something people could watch happen live. With Wembley Stadium empty of fans during the pandemic, the campaign also had to keep EE's sponsorship of 'the world's most connected stadium' visible and put the Samsung Galaxy S21 5G handset in the spotlight. Billing it as the 'world's first 5G-powered AR foosball tournament' was designed to travel — driving press coverage and a Twitter competition for fans to win a place at the match.
Solution
Two players sit across from each other in the Wembley stands, phones raised at the pitch, and the empty turf below turns into a giant foosball table on screen, lined with rows of animated players. Sliding a finger shifts a row sideways, a flick sends off a power kick, and both players see the same ball in the same spot at the same instant, so it plays as one live head-to-head match rather than two separate views. Power-ups drop in mid-game — duplicating the ball, freezing the opponent's row — before the next attack. Whoever scores more goals wins. The same game runs on a tabletop version in EE's hospitality box, where guests point their phone at the table surface instead of the pitch to play.
- 1
Each player is handed a Samsung Galaxy S21 5G running a custom EE app, connected to EE's 5G network; the app is exclusive to the event and never released publicly.
- 2
The player raises the phone and points its camera at the empty stadium pitch; the app locks a digital playing field to the real turf, and the overlay stays anchored to the stadium as the phone moves.
- 3
Through the screen, the turf is replaced by a gamified table-football pitch: rows of animated figures on rails, a ball, an on-screen score and match timer, and pitch branding.
- 4
Matches are played 1-on-1: each player controls the rows of figures on their own half from their device, viewing the same live scene from their own vantage point, and slides a row sideways across the touchscreen to intercept the ball or line up a shot.
- 5
The player strikes the ball, including with a stronger 'power kick', sending it down the field and off the boards toward the opponent's goal.
- 6
Beyond standard table-football physics, players can trigger arcade power-ups such as splitting the ball in two or freezing the opponent's rows.
- 7
Scoring a goal triggers a full-screen 'GOAL!' state with confetti over the pitch and a banner naming the scoring team, and the score updates.
- 8
A match is won by goals scored; on-site play ran as a tournament between two celebrity teams, Team Aqua and Team Yellow, joined by winners of an EE competition.
- 9
In EE's hospitality suite at the stadium, the same match is playable at a smaller scale: the app is pointed at a purpose-built arcade-sized table instead of the pitch, and the AR game plays out on its surface.
