Curious Cat

Randonautica: Build-Your-Adventure-App or Portal to Hell?

Jennifer Hotes Season 2 Episode 2

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0:00 | 42:05

Have you ever heard of the phone app, Randonautica? It’s a create-your-own-adventure-meets-Magic-8-Ball kind of experience. Open the app, set an intention, and the app generates a random place. You walk, bike or drive there and the final destination will match your intention. YouTube has countless videos, some fake, others real, documenting the experiences of Randonauters. Some raise the hair on the back of your neck, others are life-affirming, while a couple have led to homicide detectives being called. All of that and more have lent an urban legend type status to Randonautica. I downloaded the app and gave it a try. From the inspiration behind its creation, to the polarizing founder, to the random number generator used, to the mystical element of setting an intention before you hit the discover button to influence the final destination, let’s get into it!

Sources and Materials: 

Overview of Randonautica on WikiWands

https://nationalpost.com/news/world/teens-filming-a-tiktok-find-dead-body-in-suitcase-after-using-popular-exploring-app-randonautica 

https://www.newsbytesapp.com/news/science/what-s-randonautica-and-why-is-it-so-popular/story

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2020/07/randonautica-app-tiktok-body-reddit-quantum/614401/

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-articles/project-stargate.html?safari=1

https://www.qualtrics.com/brand-experience/ai-marketing-research/

https://www.buzzfeed.com/daniellaemanuel/randonautica-weirdest-experiences

https://psychologycorner.com/randonautica-a-dark-phenomenon-predictive-of-a-dangerous-future-adventure-game-analysis/

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