Mumbai: The current pandemic amid the lockdown and quarantine measures has landed us in unchartered territory. Businesses have struggled and some have had to go through a paradigm shift. This was particularly a tough ride for startups, many had their projects stalled amidst the rising crisis situation.
Many startups thought of catering to this ‘new normal’ of social distancing, by enhancing the user experience through fresh ideas; ideas that have been well received as personal well-being takes priority. This can be showcased with ‘Square Off’ hitting the USD 1Million crowdfunding mark for their latest innovations. Their products offer connected gaming experiences of playing with anyone anywhere in the world as though they were sitting in front of each other.
This Indian startup too faced its set of challenges – travel restrictions, supply chains getting disrupted, difficulty in procuring raw materials, but they resolved to pull through the crunch stronger. Working on their vision to change the board gaming landscape, Square Off is dedicated to launching Neo and Swap, the revolutionary board games.
Square Off, the renowned makers of the world’s smartest automated chess boards, has raised over USD 1,000,000 on Kickstarter and Indiegogo for their latest products, Square Off Neo and Swap. They have raised more than 2000% of the crowdfunding goal during the COVID times.
Square Off Neo, at a starting price of USD 169, is a lighter, faster and affordable chess board meant for every household. Its adaptive AI, personalized chess coaching and 1.5x faster movements make it a-hard-to-resist for any chess lover out there. Square Off Swap, currently priced at USD 229, offers users the convenience of playing multiple board games on the same surface. To begin with, it supports four games – Chess, Draughts, Halma and Connect 4, making it a desirable board game for all age groups. Paired with the Square Off App, both these products are globally connected; so, whether the opponent is in a different room or a different continent, the game still goes on!
“The lockdowns have motivated people to rediscover their passion and connected gaming has seen tremendous growth.”, says the CEO, Bhavya Gohil. “Our vision is to enable connected automated gaming over a single platform. With Neo and Swap, we’ve attempted to revolutionize board gaming and thereby the experience altogether. Our next step is to get the boards in production and deliver at the earliest. Though the pandemic has affected our delivery timelines, we are committed to delivering quality products to our backers at the earliest.”
While this distanced living wouldn’t be a norm forever, the customer’s new adopted habits might stick around. It would be interesting to see how businesses evolve and what the recovery of the pandemic brings.
