Ten years ago, we had an idea that sounded a bit crazy to traditionalists: what if we turned the front wall of a squash court into a giant touchscreen? Today, we are celebrating a full decade of our company LYMB.iO and interactiveSQUASH. We are kicking off 10 days of celebration to thank the community that made it all possible.

Where It All Began

To kick off the festivities, we released a special video interview featuring our founder and our very first developer. Take a trip down memory lane as they discuss the early prototypes, the challenges of tracking a squash ball at 200 km/h, and how the system evolved into the global training tool and entertainment magnet it is today.

What Does “LYMB.iO” Actually Mean?

Since our rebranding, we are often asked about the meaning behind LYMB.iO. The name represents the three core pillars of our technology and mission:

• Limbs: The human arms and legs we use every day to move, throw, and kick.
• The Limbic System: The complex emotional nervous system deep within the brain. It manages emotions, behaviors, motivation, and long-term memory—the exact feelings of joy and drive we want to trigger when people play our games.
• iO: Input/Output, representing our tech-driven impact tracking foundation and our commitment to constant software innovation.

10-Days of Court Celebration

We are bringing the anniversary directly to your courts. For the next 10 days, all interactiveSQUASH systems (without an existing custom menu) will feature our festive 10-Year Celebration Menu.

We have also rolled out three exclusive, custom-themed games for the occasion: Darts – 10 Year Edition, Tic Tac Toe – 10 Year Edition, and a fun Anniversary Quiz. It’s the perfect time to get on the court, warm up with some target practice, and celebrate with us.

Thank You to the Squash Community

To the coaches, pros, facility owners, and players who believed in the digital future of squash: Thank you. Here is to the next 10 years of innovation, movement, and rallies!

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How does this Motion Tracking Game works:

The motion tracking detects every step and move of you and your opponent. Pong has been around since 1972 but it has never felt this intense and exciting. Because this time, you are the paddle and by moving around the court, you directly control what’s going on, but so does your opponent. Each player tries to shoot the ball to the others side. Win the Game by breaking your opponents guarded wall behind the paddle. Every hit breaks a brick of your opponent. The player who breaks the wall of the counterpart faster wins the game.

Power UPs:

Our new game “Pong” comes along with some funny Power-Ups to make the game even more exciting. You collect these power-ups by moving to the position where they would be on the court. The ball and paddles are fully driven by actual physics, so use your own momentum on the court to get the ball in game to neck-breaking speeds to beat your opponent. We put following Power Ups in the game to challenge you and your opponent more. Welcome to mixed reality gaming!

What is Motion Tracking?

The motion tracking feature enables to track every step, move and hit of the players in the court, to analyze the players performance in real-time. The system is operated by intelligent A.I. As a result, it let you know if you’re too far or too close to the wall when hitting your drives. The video tracking and analysis feature consist of 4 individual cameras strategically placed within the squash court. It changes how the way how coaches interact with their players.

How can motion tracking technology can be used in squash training?

Ghosting always seems like a boring exercise, isn’t it? With motion tracking you can practice it guided by your interactiveSQUASH court! Follow the lead and be fast! Check your results and improve them over time. The Motion Tracking Game Ghosting replicates typical movement patterns and game situations on the squash court. The app also measures the players’ performance such as distance.

Motion Tracking based analytics

Coaches and players will be able to go over performances or training sessions side by side. Our Motion tracking will provide players with a wealth of statistics. For example, running speed, how fast they’re returning to the ’T’, and much more. Through that it is possible to provide immediate feedback based on real-time video.

Players can analyze their performance and clearly identify necessary areas of improvement. This is crucial for professionals who are continuously seeking to improve their skills. It is also indispensable for beginners who will be able to track their progress.

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Squash has famously been dubbed ‘the world’s healthiest sport’ and it is famous for pushing players’ strength, balance and agility to the limit.

Even casual players admit that it compares to even some of the most energetic high intensity workouts. But squash is also fun and social.

According to a recent report by the World Health Organisation, physical activity drastically improves general health and reduces the risk of certain diseases. In short, we should all do more sport – so why not choose the healthiest one out there?

Before delving into the health benefits of squash, it should be mentioned that just like any workout, warming up is extremely important before playing. This could prevent injury, and lead to better results while playing.

1. It is for everybody

Squash can be played at any age. It is easy to learn (but difficult to master). Furthermore, play styles, games and equipment can be modified to suit every size, gender and skill-level. Research has proven that racket sports improve children’s sociability, motor skills, eyesight and much more.

Jehangir Khan, won the World Amateur Championships at 15, even though he was advised by doctors not to play any sports due to his weak health. He eventually became one of the best players in the world. Since then, many younger players have entered the game. The Essex junior squash league even has competitions for under 13’s now. By contrast, Lance Kinder who only started playing at 40, is Britain’s oldest competitive squash player at the grand age of 80.

2. It is good for your heart

Squash reduces the risk of heart disease by strengthening the heart muscles and preventing blood vessels from becoming clogged.

Scientists at The University of Rochester have proven that playing a racket sport for just three hours per week can lower people’s blood pressure and reduce the risk of developing heart complications. A key to getting a good aerobic workout when playing squash is to keep rest periods brief (between 1-2 minutes at most).

Squash players have an almost tribal loyalty to their chosen sport – that’s what makes them great. But this sense of community has added benefits. Regular contact with your squash partners and friends leads to better social skills and contact with others. This social aspect activates the neural reward circuitry making our mindsets overall more positive – according to a 2014 study published in Oxford Journals.

Your squash partner cancelled on you? – Try an interactiveSQUASH game or training program which can be played solo for a fantastic squash-based workout.

3. It’s good for your mental well-being

Many modern fitness trends are centred around burning calories, little more. Squash is the thinking man or woman’s game, and that has a host of advantages. Smart strategy often trumps brute force. It also demands a laser-like focus leading to improved concentration in other aspects of life.

4. It targets the major muscles

Squash is a full body workout. Obviously players’ arms get a workout as they whip the ball around the court but this compound movement also strengthens wrists and back muscles. It also requires short sprints which need fast-twitch muscles to be firing at all times.

5. It is playable all year round

Some countries have very harsh winters or summers. This can make it difficult for some to get regular exercise outdoors. An indoor, court-based sport making is perfect for those long winter months or stifling summer seasons.

There you have it: 5 great reasons to take up a racket for the first time. Your body will thank you.

Source: Mirror.co.uk

Physical gaming has the potential to combat modern society’s lack of physical activity 

Maintain a healthy lifestyle and making exercise part of our daily routine isn’t the easiest task in our increasingly digital world. Exergaming has emerged as a great gateway to achieve more physical activity and bring the benefits of technology-enabled sports to younger generations.

According to the World Health Organisation children and adolescents around the world are not active enough. Products that successfully capture the interest of youngsters for sports and exercise such as exergaming devices can be a tool to combat this worrisome lack of physical activity.

The holy grail of hacking our actions – gamification

Gamification, which targets our play instinct and encourages us to do something about it, is a great incentive for us humans to get active.

So is sportification. That means getting someone excited in a playful way to try a new sport or a new movement pattern, working with a low inhibition threshold and with games that let you progress quickly: To sweat, have fun, and stay on the ball for the long haul. After all, it’s only through a sustained commitment to exercise that the positive effects of sport on our lives can be activated.

Five benefits of combining physical activity and digital gameplay

Motivation and Performance:

Exergaming boosts training motivation and performance as players are focused on the gameplay while performing sports or fitness workouts.

Train body and brain at the same time:

It trains physical and cognitive skills at the same time. This multidimensional stimulation of body and brain is especially valuable for kids’ development.

Social Interaction:

Gamification allows for social interaction as multiple players can participate at one time and compete on worldwide leaderboards.

Boost overall well-being:

Exergaming is an essential component of an active and healthy lifestyle. Considering that human life is based on an inseparable physical-cognitive interplay, combined physical-cognitive training through exergames is a promising approach to boost mental and physical health as well as overall well-being.

The Fun Factor:

Exergaming enhances the enjoyment of exercise by infusing workouts with the joy of play.

Our interactiveSQUASH smart court system embraces gamified training modules powered by smart sensor technology to engage the next generation of players.

Like all consumer products, squash is no longer a discrete activity, it’s an experience — consisting of fun and engaging moments on the court. Particularly among younger and more tech-savvy audiences, technology is a driving force that transforms squash practices into fully interactive events.

Squash training 2.0 on interactiveSQUASH courts.

interactiveSquash will have you training at your limit with a smile on your face. Our ever increasing range of training modules will make planning your sessions effortless. Focus on precision by training specific skills while you rev up your engine. Take a look at the exciting ways to up your game with interactiveSquash.

1. AreaTraining

AreaTraining is the customisable training tool that coaches have been looking for. Coaches can now set specific interactive targets in order to improve a variety of shots. It visually shows the impact of every hit, motivating each player to improve precision.

For solo sessions, AreaTraining can also be played with one player only, making the rather dull training routine much more fun and valuable. Two different layouts for beginners and pro players are available are available.

interactiveSquash’s training modules will open up a new dimension to coaching.

2. AreaFocus

AreaFocus is programmed to have you practicing your shooting accuracy on designated squares positioned at different heights.

Your aim will be to hit the squares as fast, accurately and often aas possible within one minute. AreaFocus will have you honing your accuracy while encouraging you to speed up the rate of your returns with real-time feedback. Losing a ball in your rally will mess up your statistics, so concentration is a must.

The summary screen will show your accuracy ratio, proximity from the wall, and the time taken to make a return for each shot after every one minute interval. Gauge your improvement round by round or use the app to view your scores after the training session.

AreaFocus can be played solo or you can up the challenge with a second player on the opposite side of the wall. AreaFocus has different layouts available.

Choose your strategy for AreaFocus: Race to beat your best times or make the best of every swing.

3. AreaChase

AreaChase will integrate fun and competition into your training session along with the speed and precision seen in the previous two Area games.

AreaChase is match with an opponent who has their own colour coded areas to target. Each player has to hit the highlighted area of his color, this then moves to different locations across the wall after each hit.

Dodge and swivel around your opponent as you both take aim at your targets. This training module can be quite intense, imagine it like a normal squash match flus an extra task. Losing a ball will result in a voice granting your opponent to serve again.

4. Long-Line

Test your shot speed and accuracy with Long-Line. Keep hitting the ball in an area of the wall that gets progressively narrower with every hit. Switching sides will give a new dimension to training your forehand and backhand drives.

As with most of the training modules, the player will receive immediate feedback after every hit.

Long-line is a solo training and sets a challenge for even the most seasoned squash player. Set your high score then check the app to compare with other players around the globe.

Test your nerve and set your score on Long-Line.

5. Butterfly

This one is for the pros! Butterfly will train your volley technique (or figure-8) to have you sharpen your winning shot. The volley technique is an essential drill that focuses on opening the face of the racket.

The aim in Butterfly is to alternate hitting designated areas on either side of the front wall to train you to generate power and precision.

Your score and the average time of each ball hit will be displayed to give you direct feedback about your speed and accuracy. Gauge your high score against a friend or any player in the world using the interactiveSQUASH App.

Butterfly will have you mastering the delicate flick of your wrist and the powerful return drive needed to make the winning shot.

Who can use interactiveSQUASH Training Modules?

The training modules have been designed to develop the precision, fitness and agility of athletes at any level whether you are a beginner, a weekend warrior or a professional athlete.

Coaches will get the chance to analyse their players performance on the best feedback system available on the market.

Players and coaches alike will love how the interactiveSquash App streamlines their communication during personalised feedback sessions. Training alone will be more fun and and focused on results.

If you are an intermediate player looking to add these training modules to your workout then try our example of an intense (yet fun) workout with interactiveSquash.

New to squash?

This is the perfect way for you to gain an appreciation of the sport while having fun and getting a great workout!

Want to play?

Give us a shout if you’re interested in finding a court near you or if you’re interested in installing the system on your court.

Watch yourself getting better with every training session.

Struggling to improve your backhand performance or drop shots. You can feel there’s something wrong with your rhythm of movement and swing but you don’t know what. 

What if you could analyze your moves on the court in realtime? Take your squash skills to the next level. We got you covered: Say hello to your “Replay Coach” 

This new training application enables squash players to record and watch their training sessions in real-time on the court from four camera views. 

How does it work?

The Replay Coach is simple and intuitive to work with.

Replay settings

• Replay in slow motion
• Use the set bar to jump to a specific time

We are always looking for feedback and ideas to make interactiveSQUASH better.

Use our live chat to get in touch with us.

Have fun!

The latest development in our games brought another feature that came up from an experiment of combining motion tracking and keeping the squash ball in play. The idea is, to incorporate both input mechanisms to see different gameplay mechanics at work at the same time and how the players manage to handle it.

A simple game was raised from this objective: “Hungry Snail”, bringing  gamification in sports further and including the player itself participating in the game.In this case, the player directly represents a snail that moves around to feed with the food that pops up when hitting the wall with a squash ball.

On the first stages of the prototype, we found out that hitting the ball, and moving targets while the player is in action, resulted exhausting for most of the players, specially for solo gaming.

As a result, the game is very efficient for all ages since it is visualised as a joyful game with colours, sounds, music and cute illustration plus offers the possibility of a very intense training session.

Other latest games released is focused on accuracy and movement. “Bombs” is the perfect combination between fun and training and it is easy to learn but hard to master.

It’s score is your survival time, down to the second digit. The Player has to hit the ever faster appearing bombs to avoid gameover as long as he can. Always motivating you to match the highest scores, it makes the game highly competitive and engaging.

Future features will be incorporated in this game, like a rank of levels. Moreover, the game also brings the opportunity to be played on the multiBALL system.

Still not convinced? Then this is for you.

Although summer and squash don’t typically go together, squash die-hards don’t mind taking a break from the heat in a club’s air-conditioned court. Summer is a time for vacations but also ambitious projects. We wanted to share a few of the benefits of an interactiveSQUASH upgrade, to give you an idea of how it could drastically improve your court. 

This summer why not consider an interactiveSQUASH upgrade?

Digital Functionality

If you’re familiar with the interactiveSQUASH system, you’ll know that the main modification is equipping the court with a projector and series of sensors and cameras that transform it into an immersive technological training environment.

With 20 games and training modules, it’s great for beginners, with tons of fun games for kids such as Monster Match and Ocean. It’s also equally beneficial for experienced players and professionals with tailored training modules such as Drive and Area Focus that improve both accuracy and consistency of shots.

Easily switch between games and training modules by simply placing your hand on the front wall, or you can download the interactiveSQUASH app to easily navigate the system and get up-to-date statistics and leaderboard scores.

For more of a technical overview, check out some more in-depth details here.

Playing a round of Darts. One of 20 interactiveSQUASH games and training modules.

Court Admin

The benefits of the interactiveSQUASH system aren’t simply on the court, but off the court as well. Court owners and operators have access to ‘Court Admin’ which allows them to easily control the system. You can manage games and training modules, access in-depth user statistics over time, and keep track of all hours played on the system.

Court Admin is designed to be user-friendly, so don’t worry if you aren’t the most tech-savvy person out there! 

Court Admin puts you in the captain’s chair when it comes to managing your court.

Built-in Surprises

We understand that some people might be a little apprehensive to upgrading their squash courts because they are unsure what interactiveSQUASH can do for them. The beauty of the system is that it combines the traditional sport with an innovative and futuristic twist.

However, the best is yet to come as we’ve hidden some great features in the system. For instance, the 4 cameras installed on each court will provide extensive video tracking and analysis, a feature that will prove indispensable for professionals.

In addition, we’re in the process of adapting the system to support soccer squash. Yes, you read that right, soccer + squash. Using a specially designed indoor soccer ball, players will be able to take part in this high-calibre workout that brings an extra twist to the traditional squash court.

We’re constantly working on new features for the system, so stay tuned for more news and updates!

Follow us on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, or send us an email (address below).

If you are interested in learning more about interactiveSQUASH, click here or contact us by phone or by email at mail@funwithballs.com

Ready for interactiveRACQUETBALL?

The sport of racquetball is about to undergo a technological transformation.

Munich based tech-start up Fun With Balls GmbH has already revolutionised the sport of squash with the development of interactiveSQUASH, a platform that upgrades existing squash courts into technologically-advanced training facilities.

The concept is simple. Equip the court with a projector, sensors and series of cameras, and transform the front wall into an interactive screen much like a handheld device. Now the time has come for interactiveRACQUETBALL, a system specially designed for existing racquetball courts that will increase the popularity of the sport and introduce it to a whole new generation of players.

In order to fully grasp what an interactiveRACQUETBALL system would entail, it’s useful to know how the interactiveSQUASH system operates. interactiveSQUASH is a game-changing fusion of sports and technology. Immersive projection graphics combine exciting video-game-style gameplay to transform the classic game of squash into a decidedly 21st century experience. The patented hard and software is distributed internationally in partnership with ASB SquashCourts – the leading sports court builders.

Now players can learn squash with digital coaching and get into shape with exciting games. With over 20 games and training modules available already and more to come, developers will also be able to create and play their own games through our open platform. For the first time ever players can compete, play together, challenge the computer, or go solo. For more check out interactivesquash.com

With the first interactiveSQUASH courts installed and operating, we are now expanding to racquetball. Although, similar, racquetball is clearly an altogether different sport than squash. As such, we are currently adapting the system to meet the needs of existing racquetball courts. The first interactiveRACQUETBALL court will be installed this year and will offer a wide range of games and training modules specifically designed for the sport of racquetball.

The system itself presents a great opportunity to help grow the sport on the international scale. Already, interactiveSQUASH has increased the numbers of hours played on existing courts and has attracted a new younger audience. The interactiveRACQUETBALL system could be extremely useful for existing racquetball court owners and court admins in order to increase court use and could also initiate the sport to a whole new generation. We are intent on increasing the popularity of the sport, especially for a 21st century audience.

We are in the process of partnering with some of the leading experts and organisations of the sport to help develop the best possible product for racquetball players and court owners.

If you are interested in learning more about interactiveRACQUETBALL, click here or contact us by phone or by email at sales@lymb.io