Product Idea: Pokeball that can actually be thrown

Hi! So back in 2016, I funded a Kickstarter project for a foam Pokeball that had an accelerometer in it. It was advertised so that you could throw the ball in real life, and the kinetic sensor would sense that the Pokeball was thrown, thus activating the catch animation. This project, unfortunately, was a complete scam. They took all the money that was given to them from their backers and ran. (Here’s the link to the project now, it was changed to a VR project before they went ghost. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1193114899/revolutionary-game-controller-for-the-1-app-in-the/community) Anyway, it got me thinking that this is totally possible, whether the use of an accelerometer in a foam Pokeball is used OR a special Pokeball (probably also made of foam) is produced that is easily traced by the AR that is used in-game. At the very least, they could make another device like the Pokeball used for Pokemon: Let’s Go! to detect a throwing motion which would activate the in-game throw. I feel this isn’t a too far-fetched idea and wanted to see what the community thought about it. Thanks!

Isn’t the let’s go pokeball currently working like that? Or am I mistaken?

Only for the game on the switch. In pokego it just works like the pokemon go plus bracelet and is used when the game isn’t open.

Oh yeah you’re right.

Anyway, I think it seems like a very cool idea, but a bit impractical in my opinion.

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Neat idea, especially for a cosplay accessory.

But if it were heavy enough to feel satisfying to throw it, would it be too much of a risk of being taken or lost before the user could retrieve it? And about how many times could it be thrown (and bang into objects or the ground) before the kinetic sensor began to lose its reliability?

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Very good point, hence the other suggestion which would be to just make it so you could do a throwing motion much like in pokemon let’s go. Or to just make a specialized foam ball with no technology in it for the AR to detect.

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