Back in August 2025, as part of the Grand Discoveries Exhibition at the Grand Arcade in Cambridge, Orca Scan launched OrcaCam - a QR powered retro game celebrating Cambridge inventions that changed the world.
Players guide an orca down the River Cam, dodging obstacles that represent Cambridge innovations such as the structure of DNA and the invention of the webcam. By scanning a QR code at the exhibition, visitors could play the game instantly on their own devices, no app required. Built as a Progressive Web App (PWA), it’s designed to work offline, perfect for flights, trains, or anywhere without internet access.
The results
During the exhibition:
- 19,945 games were played
- 1,272 players took part
- From 55 countries worldwide
- 61% joined by scanning a QR code in the exhibition
- 39% joined directly online
All scans and games played were tracked using Orca Scan APIs and visualised live using a Grafana dashboard.
Why this matters
OrcaCam wasn’t built as just a game - it was a live demonstration of what QR codes can do today:
- Instant access - scan and start playing, no logins or downloads
- Offline ready - as a Progressive Web App (PWA), it worked anywhere, even in airplane mode
- Cross-device - the same game ran seamlessly on phones, tablets, and desktops
- Measurable - every interaction logged through the Orca Scan API
- Visualised - real-world activity displayed in Grafana dashboards
This showed that a single QR code can launch an interactive, trackable experience that works everywhere, not just linking to a static webpage.
Cambridge inventions that changed the world
OrcaCam was designed to shine a light on milestones from Cambridge’s history, here are some of the milestones that were included:
- 1687 – Newton’s laws of gravity
- 1838 – Darwin’s theory of evolution
- 1932 – Discovery of the neutron
- 1950 – Turing’s ideas for AI
- 1953 – Structure of DNA
- 1967 – Discovery of pulsars
- 1978 – First IVF baby
- 1982 – Launch of the ZX Spectrum
- 1985 – Design of the first ARM chip
- 1952 – OXO on EDSAC (one of the earliest computer games)
- 1848 – Football rules shaped at Parker’s Piece
- 1991 – The first webcam (watching a coffee pot)
- 1979 – UK’s first successful heart transplant
- 2025 – Is your idea the next Cambridge breakthrough?
Play OrcaCam here → https://orcascan.com/game
It’s not just a game
This project was more than just a fun way to celebrate Cambridge’s rich scientific and cultural history, it was also a chance to push our own boundaries.
Every part of the OrcaCam game was developed in-house by our Orca Scan team, and allowed us to experiment with new uses of the Orca Scan platform - ultimately moving us closer to our core mission: to become the one-stop platform for all things barcodes.
One exciting outcome is our new Grafana integration. The team have used Grafana to track the gameplay of OrcaCam and have now developed it to give Orca Scan users the ability to visualise their data without writing complex code or building custom plugins.
You can read the full setup guide here.
What’s next?
The Grand Discoveries Exhibition may have ended, but OrcaCam lives on. It continues online as both a tribute to Cambridge inventions that changed the world and a live example of how QR codes can bridge the gap between the physical and digital worlds in new and exciting ways.
A huge thank you to Julie Kervadec and the Grand Arcade team for making this possible.
