Design Patterns for Playful Augmented Reality: Enhancing Cultural Heritage Engagement with Game Mechanics

Augmented reality (AR) can enrich museum exhibits, yet head-mounted devices often challenge novices. We prototyped three game mechanics: jigsaw puzzles, object catching, and spatial drawing on Microsoft HoloLens 2 to boost engagement, learning, and immersion in a natural science museum. A mixed-metric evaluation covering usability, cognitive load, immersion, and engagement found each mechanic increased visitor participation and comprehension despite distractions and gesture-recognition errors. Embedding these mechanics in an AR interaction design pattern language shows how playful, instructive patterns can guide developers toward adaptable, gamified cultural-heritage experiences. Our study provides practical guidelines and theoretical insight for tailoring AR in museums, education, and related domains.