Digital health games run increasingly on mobile devices in order to stimulate and maintain health related behavior change. Yet, they interact with their topographic, social and cultural context in various ways and to specific degrees. In this article we discuss theories on locative media, urban as well as pervasive game design and set them in relation to current health game practice. Two approaches in "mobile persuasion" are contrasted: While some research emphasizes the transfer of newly learned behavior by providing a seamless experience, others focus on the collision between game rhetoric and "real world" context. Between the two, we argue, a "Situationist" approach may highlight interaction with everyday objects and environments as key to behavior change. We construct a new typology of game locations and give an overview into what we call "locative health games". Gaining a deeper insight to the role of space in digital health games, we claim, helps to address wider cultural implications and may well unfold new possibilities to leverage health messages. In conclusion, we present our concept for a mapping game, in which we interrogate how interacting with everyday environments may motivate young diabetic users to document their daily disease management.
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