In Brief

'Force Friday' Festivities Pair with 'Star Wars' AR App

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Find the Force App
In honor of Force Friday II, Disney and Lucasfilm have released a new augmented-reality experience called "Find the Force." (Image credit: Disney/Lucasfilm)

Happy Force Friday eve! The Force is strong with all the new "Star Wars" merchandise and other festivities that you can find in stores worldwide this Labor Day weekend (Sept. 1-3).

The global event celebrates the upcoming release of "Star Wars: The Last Jedi" with the launch of new toys and other products inspired by this latest addition to the "Star Wars" saga. Retailers are also hosting special events and activities, like "midnight madness" store openings and exclusive gift giveaways.

In honor of this "Star Wars" holiday, Disney and Lucasfilm have released a new augmented-reality (AR) mobile app called "Find the Force." Fans who download the app can take part in an AR treasure hunt and battle the dark side by visiting any of the 20,000 participating stores around the world during Force Friday weekend. [The Best Star Wars Gear for Force Friday II]

"Star Wars has always championed new technology, and we are excited that augmented reality will allow fans to experience the universe in a whole new way," Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm, said in a statement.

The new AR game can be launched directly from the "Star Wars" app. From there, you unlock new AR experiences by searching participating stores for pictures of characters with the "Find the Force" logo, then scan them with the camera on your phone. Find your favorite classic characters and meet new faces from "The Last Jedi." For every new character you scan, you'll receive a data chip. By earning chips, you can unlock more digital rewards within the app.

Find out more about the AR experience by visiting www.starwars.com/findtheforce. You can also find a complete list of Force Friday events and participating retailers here.

Email Hanneke Weitering at hweitering@space.com or follow her @hannekescience. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on Space.com.

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Hanneke Weitering
Hanneke Weitering
Contributing expert

Hanneke Weitering is a multimedia journalist in the Pacific Northwest reporting on the future of aviation at FutureFlight.aero and Aviation International News and was previously the Editor for Spaceflight and Astronomy news here at Space.com. As an editor with over 10 years of experience in science journalism she has previously written for Scholastic Classroom Magazines, MedPage Today and The Joint Institute for Computational Sciences at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. After studying physics at the University of Tennessee in her hometown of Knoxville, she earned her graduate degree in Science, Health and Environmental Reporting (SHERP) from New York University. Hanneke joined the Space.com team in 2016 as a staff writer and producer, covering topics including spaceflight and astronomy. She currently lives in Seattle, home of the Space Needle, with her cat and two snakes. In her spare time, Hanneke enjoys exploring the Rocky Mountains, basking in nature and looking for dark skies to gaze at the cosmos.