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Find the Kittens: an AR adventure

Start the trail

19 Jul 2025 -14 Sep 2025

Manchester Museum, Oxford Road.

Free, self-led trail.

You can access the trail on your own smartphone or tablet.

Find the Kittens

An augmented reality adventure

The Cat’s kittens have escaped and they’re sleeping in spots across the Museum, so we need your help to find them.

Inspired by our exhibition The Cat That Slept for a Thousand Years, this playful augmented reality (AR) trail will take you on a paw-some quest around your Museum, bringing imaginary characters to life and finding out the fascinating secrets of cats.

A statue from ancient Egypt, crafted in honour of Bastet, the goddess of protection, holds stories of devotion and care. Maude, the tigon, who once roamed Manchester’s Belle Vue Zoo, causes us to think about our relationship with the natural world. And the first bird does its best to escape the kittens’ clutches.

You can get involved every day throughout the exhibition’s run, all you need is a smartphone and a sense of adventure.

Instructions

How to use our AR trail

Find the Kittens: an AR adventure takes you on a journey round the Museum to find kittens in seven different locations. Each one has an interesting story to tell about an object that’s on display.

At each stop, you’ll see a sticker featuring one of the kittens, which will come to life when you start the augmented reality experience. The only exception is in the South Asia Gallery, where the artwork on the back of our rickshaw will come to life.

 

Full instructions
  1. To get started on your augmented reality adventure, first head to cats.arhistory.co.uk
  2. Once you’re on the trail microsite, you’ll see a list showing each of the stops and information on which gallery they’re in.
  3. Once you arrive at a stop, click the arrow next to it on the microsite list to expand it. Hit the start ar button to open the AR software.
  4. Once the AR software is open, stand about a metre away from the target sticker/artwork and point your phone camera at it. When the sticker/artwork is highlighted in white on your phone display, hit the play button.
  5. The cat should now come to life. You’ll see an animation, as well as information about the object you’re looking at.
  6. Once you’ve completed each stop, you’ll receive a letter. Once you’ve completed all the stops, these letters will spell out a word. Head to the welcome desk and give them the code word to be entered into our prize draw for the chance to win a £100 goodie bag from the Manchester Museum Shop.

Submit your details below to enter the prize draw for Find the Kittens: an AR adventure. One lucky winner will receive a goodie bag from the Manchester Museum shop worth £100.

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Terms and conditions
Find the Kittens competition
  1. There is no entry fee and no purchase necessary to enter this competition.
  2. Entry into the competition will be deemed as acceptance of these terms and conditions and agreement to be bound by them.
  3. The competition is open to UK residents of any age. Entrants under 18 must get consent from their parent(s) or legal guardian(s) before entering. Manchester Museum will assume that the parent(s) or legal guardian(s) of entrants under 18 agree to these Terms and Conditions on behalf of the entrant.
  4. Employees of Manchester Museum, or their family members or partners (or anyone else connected in any way with the competition) shall not be permitted to enter the competition.
  5. Manchester Museum will not accept responsibility for entries that are lost, mislaid, damaged or delayed in transit, regardless of cause, including, for example, as a result of any postal failure, equipment failure, technical malfunction, systems, satellite, network, server, computer hardware or software failure of any kind.
  6. The rules of the competition, and the prize for each winner, are as follows:

Complete the Find the Kittens: an augmented reality adventure trail at Manchester Museum before 14 September 2025 and reveal the secret word. Submit details and the secret word into the form on the event page.

The competition will run from 19 July – 14 September 2025 and the winner will be selected at random on 15 September 2025. The winner will be contacted via email and will have 24 hours to claim their prize. Failure to claim prize will result in Manchester Museum selecting another winner.

Prize includes a goodie bag from the Manchester Museum Shop containing £100 worth of merchandise that will be selected by the Manchester Museum Shop team. There will not be an option to choose the items included in the prize.

  1. Manchester Museum reserves the right to cancel or amend the competition, and these terms and conditions, without notice, in the event of a catastrophe, war, civil, or military disturbance, act of God, or any actual or anticipated breach of any applicable law or regulation, or any other event outside of the promoter’s control. Any changes to the competition will be notified to entrants as soon as possible by the promoter.
  2. In entering, you confirm that you are eligible to do so and eligible to claim any prize you may win. Manchester Museum may require you to provide proof that you are eligible to enter the prize draw or competition.
  3. Manchester Museum reserves all rights to disqualify you if your conduct is contrary to the spirit or intention of the prize draw or competition.
  4. Manchester Museum is not responsible for inaccurate prize details supplied to any entrant by any third party connected with this competition.
  5. The prize is non-exchangeable, non-transferable and no cash alternative is offered. Manchester Museum reserves the right to replace the prize with an alternative prize of equal or higher value if circumstances beyond Manchester Museum’s control makes it necessary to do so.
  6. The decision of Manchester Museum regarding any aspect of the prize draw or competition is final and binding and no correspondence will be entered into about it.
  7. Winners will be chosen at random from all entries received and verified by Manchester Museum.
  8. The winner will be notified by email on 15 September 2025. If the winner cannot be contacted or does not claim the prize within 24 hours of notification, we reserve the right to withdraw the prize and pick a replacement winner.
  9. Manchester Museum will notify the winner of when and where the prize can be collected.
  10. The competition, and these terms and conditions, will be governed by English law, and any disputes will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England.
  11. The winner agrees to the use of their name and image in any publicity material. Any personal data relating to the winner, or any other entrants, will be used solely in accordance with current UK data protection legislation, and will not be disclosed to a third party without the entrant’s prior consent.
  12. The winner’s name will be available 28 days after closing date by sending an email to: museum@manchester.ac.uk
  13. The information you provide will be used in conjunction with the privacy policy on our website.