McDonald’s is bringing Google Cardboard to its Happy Meals

Vaughn Highfield March 1, 2016

McDonald’s has decided that it’s time to bring a genuinely useful and educational tool to its Happy Meals: Google Cardboard.

The McDonald’s virtual-reality viewer isn’t an official Cardboard viewer, but it works on exactly the same design principles and is ingeniously made from the Happy Meal box itself. While the sturdy innards are placed inside the box, a McDonald’s-branded outer wrap is built from the Happy Meal box.

As it’s essentially a Google Cardboard, you can slide in any phone that fits (it’s unclear whether it’s the newer Cardboard that supports larger phones) to experience the VR. No doubt McDonald’s has a few free VR apps up its sleeve to accompany the viewer – especially as the video shows off a skiing title – but if not, Google Play has plenty of titles that support any number of Cardboard viewers.

Hopefully this promotion will pique kids’ interest in science, technology and a range of educational VR apps. However, as it’s limited to just 14 McDonald’s in Sweden, chances are you won’t get your hands on a Happy Meal viewer just yet. If it does well, McDonald’s has said that it will look to expand it out to other cities.

While I certainly hope we do see McDonald’s VR viewer here in Blighty, I’m less keen on smearing chicken nugget crumbs and grease on my face in the process.

Read next: Google is working on a VR headset that won’t need a phone

H/T: Pocket Gamer