Nexus: Welcome To The Future

Gel Blaster Debuts Nexus™ Spatial Gaming Console For Experiential Entertainment Centers

Orlando, Florida.  Today, at the IAAPA Expo, Gel Blaster, the market leader in water ball blasters, and fastest-growing toy company of 2022 (via Circana) announced the launch of Nexus, an innovative digital and physical gameplay system that revolutionizes the landscape of interactive gaming. 

Dubbed the “Spatial Gaming Console,” Nexus™ is a novel blend of paintball, laser tag, and video games, delivering a unique physical and digital gaming experience for team-based blaster play. Set to launch with select partners in location-based entertainment centers across the USA starting in summer 2024, Nexus is poised to become a flagship family entertainment center experience, leveraging Gel Blaster's expansive user base to drive traffic to partner venues.

The Nexus system introduces a triumvirate of sophisticated gaming components: the Nexus Blaster, the wearable Nexus Vest, and the Nexus Portal Smart Target. All three utilize ESP32 system-on-chips with a bespoke networking and communications protocol, enabling edge computing for dynamic first-person shooter game modes intertwined with a physical projectile shooting experience.

The Nexus Smart Blaster is a marvel of engineering, propelling water balls at velocities between 170-240 feet per second, with speed adjustments made in real-time by the game's logic. Enhanced with infrared emitters, ultrasonic sensors, and a comprehensive display screen, the blaster offers a fully immersive gaming experience, keeping players informed of their in-game status and load-out.

Complementing the blaster is the Nexus Vest, outfitted with piezoelectric hit detection panels and surrounded by over 600 programmable RGB LEDs. The vest not only detects hits with precision but also provides visual, auditory and haptic cues through animations and the Nexus AI Voice Assistant, enhancing the player's tactical awareness.

The Nexus Portal Smart Target stands as the strategic point within the gaming arena. Equipped with technology parallel to the Nexus Vest, these portals can represent dynamic objectives or resources, transforming the environment according to the game's narrative.

All of this is controlled via a state-of-the-art software program that both controls gameplay and monitors hardware usage for customer support. Teams are able to compete in multiple game modes while the system can calculate scores and attribute hits to users and user profiles. The Nexus system offers exhilarating, video-game-inspired entertainment for its users, and sophisticated, easy-to-use operational tools for its operators.

Gel Blaster has been running trial gaming with entertainment center beta partner Main Event in Texas, and has had traditional Gel Blaster® gameplay experiences without the connected technology active in over 100 locations worldwide.  Now the company plans to radically expand its experiential footprint with the launch of Nexus, which will be available inside select partner entertainment centers beginning in mid-late 2024.

Join us in shaping the future of interactive gaming with Nexus by Gel Blaster. Go Play.