Is it possible to improve upon the simple pleasure of tossing a ball around?
A Seattle startup called Play Impossible thinks the answer is yes, and after spending the past week with two of its connect gameballs, I (and my daughter) have to agree that they’re pretty darn fun.
These $99.99 Play Impossible gameballs connect to your phone via Bluetooth. Sensors in the balls precisely track metrics such as spin, force, distance and more, enabling a bunch of fun mini-games, such as a virtual water balloon toss, hot potato, a “Skyscraper” tossing game and many others. You can play with one ball or take part in head-to-head competitions using two balls.
On this episode of our Geared Up podcast, GeekWire’s Taylor Soper and I do demo and live review of the Play Impossible gameballs, including the charging experience, app interface, gameplay and more. Taylor is GeekWire’s sports tech specialist, and he’s subbing in for co-host Andru Edwards this week.
Watch the behind-the-scenes video at top, and listen to the podcast in the player above, starting with a discussion of iPhone X preorders, plus quick hands-on impressions of the new pint-sized Amazon Echo and the Garmin Speak Amazon Alexa device. You can also download the MP3 here.
Also check out Play Impossible from the recent Inventions We Love session at the GeekWire Summit.
