Mattel's Mindflex Duel Pits Brain Waves Against Each Other

Tom Goldman

Crying on the inside.
Aug 17, 2009
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Mattel's Mindflex Duel Pits Brain Waves Against Each Other



Mindflex Duel is a board game that forces players to use the power of their minds to overcome each other, literally.

A new game coming out of Mattel updates the company's Mindflex Duel [http://www.amazon.com/Mattel-P2639-Mindflex-Game/dp/B001UEUHCG/ref=sr_1_1?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1294866841&sr=1-1], combatants will finally be able to determine who truly has the greater mind power.

Mindflex works with what Mattel told CNET at CES 2011 is "real EEG science," so it's apparently not a ruse. Players wear headbands that evidently detect their brainwaves, which are fed into the game board and used to control a fan. The fan uses air to propel a ball along a track, with players able to raise, lower, and move the ball back and forth with only their thoughts.

Mindflex Duel makes the experience a 2-player game, with participants competing or cooperating to the move the ball through different types of courses in five different modes. One such mode is called Power Push, and challenges each player to be the first to push the ball into their opponent's zone.

Assuming it actually works, Mindflex appears to be one of the next steps toward gaming with only our minds. The technology has reached videogames in conceptual form, but is apparently right here, right now with Mindflex. It might currently be used to push a ball around, but I don't see why it can't be easily transferred to a game like Monopoly [http://www.amazon.com/Nintendo-Brothers-Exclusive-Collectors-Monopoly/dp/B0030B89HM/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1294867737&sr=1-6].

Mindflex Duel will be available in August 2011 for $99.99.

Source: CNET [http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20028211-1.html]

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tomtom94

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May 11, 2009
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I predict nothing but hilarious failure will spawn from this.

Apart from a couple of intrepid people using the tech for their own ends, maybe.
 
Oct 14, 2010
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Oh, sure. It all starts out as fun and games; getting kids to use their minds. Then next thing you know, you have a Village of the Damned on your hands!
 

Cowabungaa

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Feb 10, 2008
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Onyx Oblivion said:
Not quite the psychic duels I'm hoping for...
Small steps my boy, small steps.

Anyway, I want this. Like, totally, even if I probably dump it aside after one go. How could you get better at it anyway?
 

Wicky_42

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Sep 15, 2008
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Ok, providing that works that is a SWEET application of this new technology! About time someone actually made a real product with all the early brain-wave reading research :D
 

s_glasgow99

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Jan 8, 2010
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I've actually tried this as a science center exhibit recently. It was weird, the more you relaxed your mind, the more the magnetic disk would slide to your opponent's goal. I was so astonished the first time I tried it I immediately lost. But if you get the hang of it, it's a great way of showing how meditation effects your EEG field.
The fact that Mattel is putting this out as game has me asking what scientists outside of game manufacturers are doing with the technology.
 

SmugFrog

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Sep 4, 2008
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Monopoly? Not unless there's an option to throw the board across the room with your mind.
 

Terminal Blue

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Feb 18, 2010
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Wouldn't the best way to win be to have epilepsy?

Possibly a Pyrrhic victory, but a victory nonetheless.