Imagine watching a suit-clad professional feverishly staring at a ping-pong ball while wearing a funky-looking headset. I'm seeing it more and more as toy companies harness the power of brain activity to create fascinating new types of toys, and everyone's clamoring to get their heads around the new trend.
First, I tested the Jedi Force Trainer from Uncle Milton. I put on the crazy-looking headset and stared at the ping-pong ball sitting at the bottom of a clear plastic chamber. Yoda's voice welcomed me to level one. As I stared, it really worked! The ball levitated! I stared harder and it went up some more. I got distracted by the doorbell and the ball dropped like a rock.
The Jedi Force Trainer has many levels of training and the ultimate goal is to reach Jedi status. I am no Jedi, but I can think of some hard-core Star Wars freaks who would persevere, staring at the ball for hours under Yoda's patient guidance. When I asked a couple of 15-year-old boys to try it, they thought it was cool at first, but lost interest after about 20 minutes.
Then I played with Mindflex, Mattel's new brain-wave game. It comes in a beautiful and intricate package with different compartments for each component. It takes seven batteries and a few minutes to put together, but I had it working in no time.
Players can design and build their own obstacle course using several clever attachments including a teeter totter, a merry go round, several tunnels and two ball cannons. I moved the fan nozzle by turning a dial with my right hand to propel the ball around the course. Like the Force Trainer, the headset detected my EEG waves and caused the fan motor to blow harder as I concentrated.
I immediately wanted to share this with my husband, shouting, "You've gotta try this!" when he walked in the door. This is such a cool thing for adults at a dinner party or teens hanging out. Many small pieces make it inappropriate for small kids, but my 4-year-old was able to make it work, too.
The ball moves horizontally around the course, over bridges, under tunnels, and through the cannons. (If you concentrate too hard, the cannons spit the ball out and off the course.) Players can play multiplayer games, beat the clock, chase lights around the course or take a little target practice by blasting the ball from one cannon to the other. The courses can be built in many different ways and the different gameplay modes give Mind Flex far more play value than the Force Trainer, which just moves the ball up and down.
The final verdict is that this is a technology trend with staying power and both of these games are fun, but Mindflex is a much more compelling toythat everyone will want to play over and over.