Tissot Buzzer Beater

NBA All-Star Game · Public sports activation · Game developer

For Tissot, The Endless Co was tapped to create an interactive basketball experience for the NBA All-Star Game. I built the game. I specified the hardware, designed and built the interactions, and designed and implemented the game play that ran on the kiosk. Their team created the visuals, which I turned into something people lined up to play.

The format: step up to a 100-inch 4K display and a depth sensor reads your shooting motion. An announcer calls your race against the shot clock. Make as many shots as you can before the buzzer and climb the leaderboard.

The shooting motion had to read reliably and players had to feel like they were shooting accurately, whether they were a seven-year-old or a professional athlete, on the first try, every time, while a crowd watched.

During the All-Star Game itself I was on call remotely, working with The Endless Co.’s on-site technical lead. After the first day demonstrated the system was stable, they didn’t need me.

The Buzzer Beater ran at two NBA All-Star Games and found a second life in Tissot’s brick-and-mortar boutiques. The sensor-driven kiosk had to survive daily retail operation without a technician nearby. Activations are usually built to last a weekend. This one became a fixture.