Surprise Ball, Surprise! is a physical and interactive gift that uses technology to connect two people combining mail through the post and games that will create an experience throughout a longer duration of time than a current mode of  electronic communication. 

 

Using the Surprise Ball is like playing with a little personal “Piñata”, except you don’t smash it open, you unravel it. This idea comes from a party favor that was popularized in 1950’s America. 

 

I wanted to create an individual interactive and fun experience with reminiscence to old games that I grow up with. By using physical and online resources I hope to mediate a sensorial communication created for both users, sender and recipient. I am interested in how the recipients translates their physical experience to create a story that allows discovering the identity of the sender, something similar to “Secret Santa”. 

 

I also wanted to create a sensorial experience. Within the folds of the crepe paper that makes up the Surprise Ball are hidden little treats and trinkets that can produce sound and/or are tactile pleasing. As you unroll the ball, the trinkets fall out. In the very center is the best surprise and also the code to log in the website.

 

The size of the Surprise ball is about the size of a soft ball, approximately 4” in diameter, and contains roughly 10 prizes that are colorfully wrapped in multi-color bands of crepe paper streamers. The prices that are inside the surprise ball are mostly flat and small, and can be use to keep playing to win a bigger prize.

 

For a demo visit http://surpriseball.tumblr.com/