Paint a Virtual Koi and Release It Into the Pond in AR at a San Antonio Quarry Garden
Color a koi in the free Japanese Tea Garden AR app on your own phone, then release it over a real pond.
🐟 The Virtual Fish You Color Yourself
The site was a limestone quarry and cement factory. In 1916, parks commissioner Ray Lambert looked over the rocky void and drew a Japanese-style landscape inside it. The cliff walls stayed, along with the stone bridges, the island pavilion, the koi ponds and a 60-foot waterfall.
Six AR stops sit inside those walls. The koi one comes first: color a virtual fish, place it on screen over a pond and watch it swim; nothing live goes into the water. The rest include a selfie with Kokoro the flying dragon and a tea ceremony walkthrough, and the app carries the garden map.
The app is free on the App Store and Google Play as Japanese Tea Garden AR, so install it on your own phone first. The AR plays on your screen as you walk.
Entry is free from sunrise to sunset at 3853 N St. Mary's St, next to the zoo. The upper garden and pavilion are ramp-accessible, the lower garden is stairs only, accessible parking is in the garden lot, and leashed dogs are welcome.
