Mattel's Mindflex: now stressing brain muscles for $80
By Darren Murph 
posted Sep 18th 2009 8:10AM
posted Sep 18th 2009 8:10AM
It's taken nine whole months for this mental-stresser to go from CES show-stopper to household mainstay, but at long last, the only Mattel product we could ever recommend (with a straight face) to those with an age larger than 12 is finally shipping. In short, the Mindflex forces your brain -- as in, that hunk of meat between your ears -- to keep a ball suspended in the air, and if you're thinking Matrix, you're thinking correctly. Sort of. Hit the read link to get your own for $79.99, and make sure you do so before these things sell out and break the $1,000 mark on eBay. It's almost the holidays, don'tcha know?
I have a harry potter game I bought for like 30 bucks... maybe 5 years ago that does this exact thing. Pretty cool in idea, neat for a bit... but you get over it pretty quick. Good luck on that 90 bucks for the futuristic version...
Thats a scary looking product
Awesome!!! I would like to have one.
Has anyone @engadget actually tried this out?
If you bothered to read the article and follow the links you wouldn't be asking that question.
Here's the link http://www.engadget.com/2009/01/09/video-mattel-mind-flex-hands-and-heads-on/
Would be bored after 10 minutes.
I think of better ways to spend $80 on my brain.
Isn't there a Star Wars thing that works like that? Using the Force is way more awesome.
next step- video games
There was something just like that that came out maybe 10 years ago... It had a little styrofoam ball just like that, and the premise was the same.
I had something just like this nearly 20 years ago when I was a kid. Parents probably still have it in there attic. Wasn't that much fun after a few minutes.
Is Mattel all out of new ideas?
Of course not, Mattel is full of new ideas such the new Stacy Malibu with a new hat.
I think we might have had the same toy. It has physical contols and it was a grey box that looked almost exactly like this except for the color scheme. I was thinking that the thing sucked pretty bad also because i could never get the balls to easily go through the hoops. And the thing sounded like you were running a blow dryer when you were playing it. Im sure that this newly updated version will also ruins some kids birthday or christmas present for the year.
I had the same thing too when I was a kid, but I remember using knobs to control the airflow to move the ball up and down and side to side to go through the obstacles. It was cool for all of about 15 minutes. What I really want to see is this brain control technology to do something real cool... we need this thing to work with Nukem! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmSSVt7Mfkk
This was the must have holiday gift in 1980...
It shouldn't take long for a skilled modder to take the brain sensor tech connecting to the game's controls and port them to an Xbox physical controller.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neural_Impulse_Actuator
You can hack and modify it to use as a time machine.
It's true cause I read it on a tech blog.
In the future?
;-)
Can you update the headline to be $129.99 because that is what is is selling for now on Amazon.
That's from 3rd party seller. Amazon has it for 79.99, look at the "more buying choices"
DAMN!!! I thought we were supposed to be out of the recession already. Seems the price of the Mindflex is inflating faster then the Deutsch Mark after the Great War(World War I)!!!
It looks like someone simplified/modernized Mousetrap.
tried it at comic con, i nearly shat in my star wars undies.
i've got one. it's interesting. but a little cheezy. you only control the up-down motion of the ball (the power of the fan). and for some reason either mine or my brain is reversed. it lowers when i'm concentrating and raises up when i try to blank out my mind.
I think that Mindflex Game can be use as a biofeedback device for concentration; because, in order to levitate foam ball with the air generated from the fan you must focus your concentration. If you concentrate well, it will do that the small foam ball rise on a gently stream of air produces by the fan. If you don’t concentrate well, then the ball doesn’t rise.
The Fun Mindflex Game
http://www.mindflexgame.net