Snapchat's using dancing foam fingers to get fans to snap more during NBA games

Snapchat wants basketball fans to get onboard with its latest augmented reality feature.

The app is rolling out a new set of AR "world lenses" that allow fans watching NBA games live in the arena to snap dancing 3D foam fingers.

The feature, which is rolling out now to coincide with the opening game of the season, is essentially the NBA version of Snapchat's dancing Bitmoji lenses. Fans at or near the arena can call up a dancing foam finger decked out in the home team's gear and add it to their snaps.

You can cycle through three "emotions" for the lenses: happy, nervous, or sad. Here's what they look like in action.

Notably, not all fans will be able to access their team's corresponding lens. Though Snapchat is activating the feature throughout teams' cities today to mark the 2017 season's inaugural game, the lenses will be limited only to areas in and around the arenas after opening day.

Snapchat has been experimenting with these types of augmented reality lenses for some time, but the update is only the second time the company has tied the feature to a specific location. (The first was its augmented reality art installations launched earlier this month.)

Snap does have close ties to the NBA, though, so it's not surprising the company would choose to bring the feature to games. The company has previously partnered with the league on game-specific geofilters, themed Bitmoji, and a dedicated channel on Discover.