AT: Pam Sherborne
WAUWATOSA, Wis. — After 10 years in and out of his garage, Adam Cohen has his first install of the new game he created called Magnetag.
At the first of January, Cohen set up the game in Bounce Milwaukee, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. So far, so good, he said. It is still so new there, however, he feels it will take a little time to get the word out. Plus, the resurgence of the COVID Omicron variant hasn’t helped either.
But he is encouraged and, right now, he said he plans to follow the market.
Cohen began working on Magnetag as a hobby.
“I started out to create a game to solve a problem of ‘the younger me,’ ” Cohen said.
Cohen used to play a lot of paintball with friends. A game he really loved, but, apparently, it was a little hard for them to tell who had gotten hit.
An engineer by trade, he decided to create some type of game to solve this problem. This endeavor began as a hobby in his garage and grew. Over the years, he continued tweaking it and perfecting it.
The end product is Magnetag, which he describes as “laser tag meets Game of Thrones.”
“It is really more physical,” he said. “It takes more effort. I think it is really cool.”
The new install allows up to four players at a time, two versus two. But, Cohen said the number of players is only limited by the space it is in. The space at Bounce Milwaukee has about 150 square feet.
Players don their armor, get their swords and begin to battle, sword fighting to get their points. The swords are magnetized. When there is a strike on the armor, which is the goal, the armor registers the hit. The hit then registers on the electronic tracking system.
The swords are stiff yet soft enough so that no one gets hurt. The same technology can be installed using a soft ball or a similar product.
Cohen tried to bring his product to market before — as in right before — the pandemic. That put a pretty quick stop to his efforts and he went back to the garage to tweak it some more.
During this time, however, he did license the patent to a toy company that is selling the technology under the brand Dojo Battle at Target and Amazon.
Then, came IAAPA Expo 2021 last November in Orlando, Florida. That gave him another chance to get the game and the word out.
“We had a lot of interest at the show,” he said.
Cohen is excited about getting the install at Bounce Milwaukee. He feels it will be a good place to show and advertise Magnetag, which has become his full time commitment.
This article appears in the FEBRUARY 2022 issue of Amusement Today.
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