Smart Baseballs take a game of catch to the next level

There is finally an end to the debate – the bickering can stop. If you really want to know which member of the family or friend group has a better throw, there’s a connected baseball that can get the job done.

Playfinity are a relatively new tech company looking to combat the significant decline we’ve seen in kids taking up sport, and more specifically, continuing sport into their teenage years. The suggestion as to why these numbers have been dwindling is that at the end of the day, it’s often not enough stimulation to hold the ever shortening attention spans of our youth. A phenomenon that isn’t limited to the next generation, but is sweeping the globe with the likes of short form media content taking over.

Their answer to this dilemma is to make sport more exciting by adding minigames! Introducing, the smart gaming Backyard League Baseball:

This baseball is capable of measuring throws, catches, misses and ground balls. During which, it keeps tabs on speed, airtime, height, precision and transfer speed! These metrics are then combined into a series of games and coaching options available in their app.

It goes a little further than simply tracking progress and will create challenges to beat your own scores, as well as integration to let you take on your friends and players around the world.

There’s a wide range of options inside the app, including an audio coach that will tell you how fast you threw, whether you’re winning or losing your current minigame and advice on how to improve.

The Backyard League Baseball has a bluetooth range of approximately ~65 metres and has a 70 hour battery life (or 40,000 throws), after which you’ll have to replace the 3V cell battery. It’s also IP67 waterproof and is powered on with a quick button press on top of the ball.

Playfinity’s Backyard League Baseball is currently available for about ~$145 AUD and can be picked up from their website.

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