Lakridsmanden – A Multimodal Mystery Game for the Hopspots Platform
How do you get children to laugh, learn, and reflect on climate change—without turning the message into a lecture?
Lakridsmanden is an interactive mystery experience based on Louis Jensen’s book of the same name. Developed for the Hopspots platform, the game invites students into a strange and atmospheric story told from the perspective of a young boy living in a small provincial town where something deeply unusual is happening. One day, the boy discovers a magical “lucky bag” at the local candy shop. Inside are pieces of licorice shaped like body parts — an arm, a leg, a head. But what happens if the pieces are assembled? A creature? A monster? A mystery waiting to unfold?
The Hopspots version of Lakridsmanden transforms the narrative into a multimodal learning journey, where students explore the town, investigate clues and uncover what happened — not just with their eyes, but with their ears, voices and bodies. By stepping on Hopspots’ interactive tiles, students “cycle” through the story world, engage in word puzzles, solve narrative challenges and collaborate to progress through the plot.
What is Hopspots?
Turning a literary mystery into interactive learning
As Senior Game Designer, my task was to adapt the original book into an interactive experience that made meaningful use of the Hopspots hardware. This meant designing gameplay that:
- reinforced the mystery at the heart of the story
- made physical interaction essential — not just optional
- created genuine player agency within the narrative
- connected linguistic tasks with embodied learning
- balanced accessibility for younger students with depth for older ones
- supported both short sessions and a full 18–20 lesson learning arc
Supported by the Ministry of Education, the final product offers teachers a deep, ready-to-use learning pathway that can sustain 18–20 lessons or be condensed into shorter sessions. The Hopspots version of Lakridsmanden has been praised for its capacity to merge literature, mystery, game mechanics and multimodal learning into a single cohesive experience.
Want to create something like this? Let’s build it together.
If this kind of playful learning experience sparks an idea for your own project, let’s connect. I love helping organisations turn ambitious concepts into interactive experiences that both entertain and teach.