Worried about kids playing with a computer game instead of going out? Locomatrix, a games company based in Brighton, is having a stab at combating the problem by using mobile phones to get them playing outdoors.

The technology pairs the phone with a satellite navigation unit, available for around £30. Players decide on a location for a game and then set it up. In one of the games, Fruit Farmer, they might decide to hide some virtual oranges in a park; the first person to get to the right location “picks up” the oranges and wins points.

Richard Varhman, managing director of Locomatrix, demonstrated the game to a group of 15-year-olds and one of them had difficulties. “She said: ‘well, how do you get things to move?' I said ‘You don't. You have to move.' And you suddenly saw her eyes light up, and she grabbed her friend, and off they went.”

Fred Garnett, community programmes team manager at the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency welcomes the idea. “If you can get the kids to have a game which takes them outside, they'll be doing the health thing without thinking about doing the health thing,” he says.

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