India's MadRat Games Launches World’s 1st Wearable Gaming Platform for Kids at CES 2016

Bengaluru-based MadRat Games today announced the prototype launch of SuperSuit, world’s first wearable gaming platform for kids & families at CES 2016 in Vegas. SuperSuit is a wearable gaming platform that reduces screen time, increases social interaction, physical activities and takes kids & families outdoors to play with each other.

SuperSuit is a wearable gaming platform which can be used to play various types of games. It takes kids & families outdoors and interact with one another. It supports exciting but non-violent games. Above all, it is the coolest thing to play on! SuperSuit is designed for the new play space of the 21st century - the emerging ‘Third Space’, a space between the screen-dominated indoors & the vanishing outdoors. It’s the backyards, frontyards, parking lots, basements, terraces, corridors, streets in the neighborhood where the majority of play is happening today.



SuperSuit, as the company describe, is designed for the new play space of the 21st century - the emerging 'Third Space', a space between the screen-dominated indoors & the vanishing outdoors. It's the backyards, front yards, parking lots, basements, terraces, corridors, streets in the neighbourhood where the majority of play is happening today.

Commenting on the launch Rajat Dhariwal, Founder MadRat Games said, "We are excited to announce the launch of SuperSuit today at CES. SuperSuit aims to take away kids from screen dominated games. I feel SuperSuit is the future of gaming."

Rajat further added, "For children, outdoor play is already the favourite mode – they are unable to do that due to shrinking outdoors in cities & urban spaces and restrictions on them due to safety concerns in suburbs. There is a growing feeling of restraint & lack of freedom, and kids can claim that freedom back with SuperSuit."



SuperSuit has two units – Vest and Glove. The Vest records hits & displays scores (in form of lights, audio and haptic feedback). The Glove enables the interactivity between players with triggers to send beams. It incorporates a proprietary gesture engine which allows a wide range of gestures which trigger special powers, creating the charm of telekinesis!

Additionally, the system supports external 'Bots' (from RC cars to the new age connected toys) to be connected to & controlled by it. SuperSuit’s SDK allows developers to create new games for it. SuperSuit’s companion smartphone app allows the parents to monitor children’s fitness data & track their location for safety purpose. It does so via Bluetooth – which is also used for downloading new titles, upgrade firmware and maintain player profile and data.

You can pre-order your SuperSuit by registering here at- http://www.wearsupersuit.com/#!pre-order/u2cqn

For demo of SuperSuit at CES 2016, one may swing at the company's booth no -74669, Sands Expo, Level 2

India's MadRat Games Launches World’s 1st Wearable Gaming Platform for Kids at CES 2016

Bengaluru-based MadRat Games today announced the prototype launch of SuperSuit, world’s first wearable gaming platform for kids & families at CES 2016 in Vegas. SuperSuit is a wearable gaming platform that reduces screen time, increases social interaction, physical activities and takes kids & families outdoors to play with each other.

SuperSuit is a wearable gaming platform which can be used to play various types of games. It takes kids & families outdoors and interact with one another. It supports exciting but non-violent games. Above all, it is the coolest thing to play on! SuperSuit is designed for the new play space of the 21st century - the emerging ‘Third Space’, a space between the screen-dominated indoors & the vanishing outdoors. It’s the backyards, frontyards, parking lots, basements, terraces, corridors, streets in the neighborhood where the majority of play is happening today.



SuperSuit, as the company describe, is designed for the new play space of the 21st century - the emerging 'Third Space', a space between the screen-dominated indoors & the vanishing outdoors. It's the backyards, front yards, parking lots, basements, terraces, corridors, streets in the neighbourhood where the majority of play is happening today.

Commenting on the launch Rajat Dhariwal, Founder MadRat Games said, "We are excited to announce the launch of SuperSuit today at CES. SuperSuit aims to take away kids from screen dominated games. I feel SuperSuit is the future of gaming."

Rajat further added, "For children, outdoor play is already the favourite mode – they are unable to do that due to shrinking outdoors in cities & urban spaces and restrictions on them due to safety concerns in suburbs. There is a growing feeling of restraint & lack of freedom, and kids can claim that freedom back with SuperSuit."



SuperSuit has two units – Vest and Glove. The Vest records hits & displays scores (in form of lights, audio and haptic feedback). The Glove enables the interactivity between players with triggers to send beams. It incorporates a proprietary gesture engine which allows a wide range of gestures which trigger special powers, creating the charm of telekinesis!

Additionally, the system supports external 'Bots' (from RC cars to the new age connected toys) to be connected to & controlled by it. SuperSuit’s SDK allows developers to create new games for it. SuperSuit’s companion smartphone app allows the parents to monitor children’s fitness data & track their location for safety purpose. It does so via Bluetooth – which is also used for downloading new titles, upgrade firmware and maintain player profile and data.

You can pre-order your SuperSuit by registering here at- http://www.wearsupersuit.com/#!pre-order/u2cqn

For demo of SuperSuit at CES 2016, one may swing at the company's booth no -74669, Sands Expo, Level 2

This Indian Gaming Startup Has Reinvented The Jigsaw Puzzle and Now Crowdfunding For Global Expansion

In this digital age, the digital bug bites children at such a young age that children of even 2-4 prefer grabbing the Smartphones of their parents in order to play their favourite games online. The current generation is so hooked up on playing their games on their Smartphones, laptops and gaming consoles etc. that playing an offline games seems highly boring and uninteresting to them. Understanding this situation at hand and working towards bettering of it, is a Bangalore based startup called MadRat Games.

MadRat Games is one of those handful of offline gaming firms in India which builds and retails educational games. The firm is currently in the news for having launched a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign to support the overseas expansion plans of Madzzle, its new series, which is a reinvention of the age old jigsaw puzzles.

The company is currently going great guns as they were successful in raising $1 million earlier this year from investors including Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, the two co-founders of Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart.

Bermuda Triangle, a zero-gap jigsaw puzzle, is among the five Madzzle games that is currently taking the country by storm. Jigsaw puzzles, which were once a hit among children are no longer preferred by them because of their lack of replay factor. Madzzle puzzles fixes this glitch as they lend themselves to further games once the jigsaw has been completed. Each Madzzle puzzle kit comes packed with accessories such as decoders, glow-in-the-dark objects and magnifying glasses.



MadRat Games has been founded by the couple, Rajat Dhariwal and Madhumita Halder. Both are alumni of the same institute, IIT, Mumbai. They both quit their high paying jobs after being intrigued by the purpose-of-life question and started teaching at the well-known Rishi Valley School, outside Bangalore. That's when they decided to bring activity and play into teaching and started MadRat Games.

MadRat began its first official journey in 2010 with a help of 35,00,00 rupees from Dhariwal’s father and since then there has been no looking back. Their first game, Aksharit, which is the world’s first Hindi-language Scrabble was a big hit and was sold by the thousands to government schools and, later, as a mobile game, got bundled with mobile phones from device maker, Nokia. The startup was then funded by Blume Ventures and First Light Ventures and successfully retailed over 3 lakh games.

After much deliberation and thinking, they came upon jigsaws as a category because they thought there was a certain calmness and concentration built into them. All this led to the amazing Madzzle, the zero-gap, roll-up puzzle that converted into a board game with sunken ships underwater scenes and crashed plans that extended into treasure hunts.

MadRat Games is currently working on a project that involves incorporating technology – but without screens – by creating a wearable platform. The platform which is currently at prototype stage will be at the at the Consumer Electronics Show 2016.

Flipkart Founders Invests In Gaming Startup MadRat Games

Flipkart founders Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, have made an investment in a Bangalore-based offline games start-up MadRat Games. The startups raised about $1 million in this funding round, the other investors who have participated in the funding round includes founders of IT outsourcing firm GlobalLogic - Rajul Garg, Sanjay Singh, Manoj Agarwala and Tarun Upadhyay. Its existing investors Blume Ventures and First Light Ventures did not participate in this round.

Madrat Games will use the funds for branding, marketing and expansion. The startup use to sell its products through online sites such as Flipkart and Amazon, but these portals contribute only about 5% to its sales. Primarily, MadRat was selling through 2,000 brick & mortor stores and will now focus on retailing through 50 stores.

MadRat Games was started in 2010 by 3 IIT graduates - Rajat Dhariwal, Manuj Dhariwal and Madhumita Haider. The startup started out by launching a Hindi word game Aksharit after that launched over 70 board games, puzzles and toys. Three months back the startup got accolades when it launched Autista, an app that helps kids with Autism disease.

The startup had turnover of Rs 3 crore last fiscal. The market is large, with the Indian toy industry expected to expand to Rs 13,000 crore in 2015, according to a report by industry body Assocham.

"Innovation is at the core of MadRat's approach to disrupt the market and led by a team of very talented individuals they enjoy a strong competitive advantage in the industry," said Sachin Bansal, chief executive of Flipkart.

MadRat plans to launch its own experience store in Bangalore soon and use customer data from the retail stores for future marketing and product design.