Mindflex Game

Price: $63.45 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

Product Description
A lightweight headset containing sensors for the forehead and earlobes measures your brainwave activity. When you focus your concentration, a small foam ball will rise on a gentle stream of air. Relax your thoughts and the ball will descend. By using a combination of physical and mental coordination, you must then guide the ball through a customizable obstacle course–the various obstacles can be repositioned into many different configurations. Mindflex™ combines advanced technology with the power of thought to create an interactive experience unlike any other– a game where players compete in the ultimate mental marathon!

For ages 8 and up.
Requires 4 "C" and 2 "AAA' batteries.


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Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #98 in Toys & Games
Color: White and Blue
Brand: Mattel
Model: P2639
Released on: 2009-07-28
Dimensions: 10.50" h x 6.00" w x 15.75" l, 4.45 pounds

Features
Mindflex, the new mental acuity game from Mattel, makes that dream a reality
Mindflex combines advanced technology with the power of thought!
A game where players compete in the ultimate mental marathon
The various obstacles can be repositioned into many different configurations
Finalists for 10th Annual Toy of the Year (TOTY) Awards

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Mindflex--featuring a headset that reads your brain waves and a levitating foam ball--is the kind of game that must be seen to be believed. Recommended for players aged eight and older, the game begins when you strap on the headset so you can use your powers of concentration to move the ball around the game console and through a mind-bending obstacle course. A dial-in console lets you to keep the ball lifted on a cushion of air, but raising and lowering the ball must be accomplished by alternating concentrating and relaxing your mind.

Headset Measures your Brain Waves
Tired of games that depend on the roll of a die or lucky draw? With the help of advanced technology, Mindflex introduces a whole new way to play--by using the power of your mind!

You'll feel like a character in a science fiction movie as you strap on the headset, connect the clips to your ear lobes, and align the metal forehead sensor just above your left eyebrow. But even this strange accessory won't prepare you for the sight of a foam ball quivering five inches above the game console!

Move the Ball with the Power of your Mind
Skeptics will be quick to point out that the console's moveable fan nozzle holds the ball aloft on a cushion of air. However, as players learn to alternately focus and relax their minds, the ball will respond by rising and falling. An instruction manual provides various concentration and relaxation techniques to try such as math problems or visualization and practice exercises.

Once you feel like you've mastered the art of telekinesis, you can test your mental acuity with five challenging games designed for groups of one to four players. Use the game console to select your game, set the difficulty level, and track your scores.

Design a Mind-Bending Obstacle Course
A variety of hoops, hurdles, funnels, and a teeter-totter can be positioned however you choose on the game console. Players use their minds to move the ball under, over, or through the obstacles. Several games test speed, while another challenges players to lift a ball up and through a funnel, shooting it across the game console to score points.

While Mindflex's advanced technology is sure to intrigue, mastering the games may prove difficult for some. Because concentration techniques will vary from person to person, the game rewards patience and a willingness to experiment. Fans of mazes and brain teasers will appreciate the mental challenge, and creative types will like designing the obstacle courses.

Mindflex's game console requires four "C" batteries (not included), and the headset requires three "AAA" batteries (not included). The four foam balls should be handled with care to keep their ability to levitate. Fortunately, the game console features an inner compartment for safe ball storage.

What's in the Box
Game console, headset, four foam balls, and various obstacles. (Batteries not included.)

From the Manufacturer
MINDFLEX Game: Have you ever dreamed of moving an object with the power of your mind? Mindflex, the new mental acuity game from Mattel, makes that dream a reality. A lightweight headset containing sensors for the forehead and earlobes measures your brainwave activity. When you focus your concentration, a small foam ball will rise on a gentle stream of air. Relax your thoughts and the ball will descend. By using a combination of physical and mental coordination, you must then guide the ball through a customizable obstacle course–the various obstacles can be repositioned into many different configurations. Mindflex combines advanced technology with the power of thought to create an interactive experience unlike any other– a game where players compete in the ultimate mental marathon. Requires 4 C batteries and 2 AAA Alkaline batteries.


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Customer Reviews

Great for my autistic son
I preordered this for my autistic son's 14th birthday and was happy that it arrived before his big day. The biggest praise I can give to this game is that it actually SLOWED MY SON DOWN and kept him in place for more than 5 minutes!!! He was fascinated with it and it instantly had him in tune with his speed, concentration, etc. He says it's the best gift he's ever received, and it gave US the gift of time while he actually occupied himself with something for an extended period on his own--thrilling!! He did have a temporary dent in his forehead where the sensor lay, although we checked the headband repeatedly to make sure that it didn't feel too tight. It would be easy for the components to get lost--we'd suggest putting balls and obstacle pieces into a zip-lock bag and returning everything to its original box each time. I think that a toy that can help special needs kids tap into more awareness of their own space and rhythms is a wonderful thing.

This toy might be a life-changing device
If you know the premise of the toy, skip to the second paragraph. This toy takes a measure of brain activity in the left frontal lobe and, based on the amount of activity there, sends power to a fan (high power when high; low or off when low). This raises a foam ball in the air and a dial can be turned with the hands to move the ball through an obstacle course that arrange with detachable pieces.

I read the other reviews. They make some good points. This toy could get boring fast. The headset does get uncomfortable after about 10 minutes. The guy who said that all it does is measure stress is way off-base. He is right that the ear clips are used to complete a circuit, but that is not all this toy does. After playing it for awhile, I can say it responds negatively to stress (i.e., the ball lowers and the fan turns off). I'm basing that off of the fact the fan tended to turn off when I would get worried about it turning off. If it was responding to stress, the power should have increased.

So why am I recommending this toy? Because studies have shown that if you can increase frontal lobe activity through exercises like this, you can increase objective measures of concentration (e.g., amount of time engaged with a task) and decrease measures of impulsivity. And not just for the task where the skill was trained. So a child who got adept at playing this game should also pay better attention in school, likely increase their reading comprehension, do better on homework, etc.

My recommendation is that, if this is something that is interesting to you, you buy this toy for your child and that you play it with them. Set performance goals with them and give them some sort of reward for meeting and exceeding those goals. Start small. At first, get a stopwatch and see how long they can keep the ball in the air. After that, see if they can start to raise and lower the ball a couple of times, then see how many times they can pass it through one of the hoops. And take data the whole time. Chart their data in some way so they can see the progress they are making.

But get this toy!!! In labs where they do this sort of therapy, children with ADHD have shown serious improvement in functioning. Some kids are able to get off meds altogether.

If you want to do a little extra research before purchasing, go to wikipedia and search neurofeedback. There's a good synopsis there with links to some peer-reviewed research at the bottom.

Scott Herbst, Ph.D. (in behavioral psychology)

Interesting, but not great.
I think this is more of a biofeedback machine than any sort of game. You only control how high the ball rises and lowers (the pressure of the air stream). Moving it around the ring and through the obstacles is done by turning the knob on the base. Takes a ton of batteries, makes a lot of noise, and some times seems more off in it's readings than it's on. Seems to work backwards for a friend of mine (concentrating lowers the ball instead of raising it). Interesting for about 30 minutes and you probably won't use it again. Lots of small and fragile plastic parts for the obstacle course. The different "games" aren't really all that different. Worth about $30 rather than the $80 they want for it.


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