Seeking a strategic partner or an investor with expertise in startup brand building,
I have a patent pending device that is essentially a box that engages the player(s) by forcing reflex actions of speed, and agility. The invention is actually a platform for any number of fun games, and reaction sharpening activities. Honestly, it is far more dynamic than it sounds because it gives an unexpected spike in the players' pulse, and apparently, very beneficial neuronal activity. Mainstream medical science reports that this type of speed and agility exercise will significantly reduce the progression of both Alzheimer's and dementia.
This can provide, "Excitement on Demand". All the interactions are real, (verses the pretend "virtual" action in video games). It is fun, beneficial, and an athletic indoor sport. For a pennies' worth of electricity you can put a smile on anyone who visits.
A quality version would be cheap to produce, with most of the force coming from gravity. The components that release the balls are cheap, dependable, and long lasting. The programed chips are basic low tech. The main body is easy to mold from plastics, or, initially could be CNC'd from EPS foam. Quality would be dependent on your experienced sourcing. Best of all, there is no direct competition. My Non-Provisional Patent Application has been filed, and the recent Office Action reply shows nothing remotely similar. (As usual there are elements that are similar, but nothing like the concept as a whole.)
The working prototype is box like, measures about 2" thick, 30" wide, and 14" top to bottom. It holds 50 ping pong balls. It is hung on the wall at around eye level. Across the bottom are five exit ports controlled by a program that releases, at random, one ball, a pause, then another, (no predictable sequence). There is an adjustment knob to change the speed that the balls exit. Between one to two feet below the "Box", a narrow shelf hangs from two adjustable cords. Once the start sequence is activated, each ball drops, strikes the shelf, then bounces in an upward arc toward the player, who, depending on the game, attempts to catch, net, paddle/hit towards a target, or shoot at, each ball before it can reach the floor. I suppose it'd be along the lines of having a pool table, ping pong table, or foosball, only with an electronic taskmaster. Man versus machine.
Like several people I've talked to I noticed a little feeling of elation and kind of an afterglow buzz on some occasions when I accidentally knocked something off a shelf and caught it, I guess it was similar to when a friend unexpectedly says, "Think fast", then throws something towards you to catch, or dodge. There is that spark of reflex action, neural transmitters firing that lies deep within, all the way back to your early civilization DNA. (Sure, video games generate similar responses, but I'm talking about using your actual muscles while standing on your feet.) There are thousands of tabletop games, and video games, but almost nothing in the category of, "Active Indoor Games".
From Google "Unexpected, high-stakes reactions (catching items, avoiding accidents) trigger the
sympathetic nervous system and
adrenal glands. The medulla releases
adrenaline (epinephrine) and
noradrenaline into the bloodstream, immediately accelerating heart rate, widening airways, and redirecting blood to muscles and the brain. This rapid "fight-or-flight" response often bypasses conscious thought via spinal reflexes."
Such activity releases Dopamine, the feel good chemical produced by accomplishments, sex, drugs, delicious food etc. I knew nothing of this, only the physical feelings I experienced on occasion. One day I sought to make a device that could replicate the experience, kind like developing a recreational drug that is neither harmful, nor expensive. After several years, and expense that quest has evolved into a game platform that I'm in the process of patenting.
There are over100 thousand versions of table top, and video games but less than a dozen indoor activity games requiring speed and agility. Playing this allows fair and fun competition between players of different ages, genders, sizes, or strength. A healthy activity that gives you the brain chemicals dopamine, acetylcholine, norepinephrine that cocaine, and amphetamines make also.