Jai Intensity

Reigniting interest in a dying sport is no easy task. Much less one that is highly inaccessible.

With expensive game equipment and a limited number of courts (frontons) around the world, Jai Alai’s popularity has diminished over the years. Once described as ballet with bullets, Jai Alai needed to be resurrected.

Enter Jai intensity, an app that consists of AR-gamified workouts that make the sport accessible. Players (pelotaris) are taught the basics of the game, play in “real time” and track their progress any time and anywhere, all with the help of AR technology.

Year
→ 2021

Art Director
→ Goh Reika

Copywriter
→ Sarah Marie Goh

Young Shits
→ Winners, Professional Shit Category

UI/UX
Activation

Challenge

With expensive game equipment, a limited number of frontons (courts) around the world, and a history entangled with gambling, Jai Alai’s popularity has diminished over the years. Once described as “ballet with bullets”, the thrilling world of Jai Alai needed to be resurrected.

Approach

To bring the sport back to life by making it accessible to all, through a series of AR-gamified workouts. The app, “Jai Alai” will recruit new pelotaris (players) worldwide where they’ll have the opportunity, to learn about the sport and experience exhilarating gameplay all while working out.

Learn

Get familiar with Jai Alai through a series of light training sessions to learn game terms, rules, and basic moves.

The following is an example of what you may find under the “Learn” section.

Learn the lines on the cancha

Watch a short video of pelotaris making use of the court in real life.

Find out what the cancha lines signify in the game.

Get your phone all set up and ready.

Get moving! Tap and go as you recall what you’ve learnt.

Play

After training, it’s time to get playing. Play Jai Alai in real-time matches through a series of AR-led workouts, inspired by classic Jai Alai moves. This is where you'll get tested on your speed, stamina, and agility.

The following is an example of one of the challenges available under “Play”.

Are you ready, pelotari ?

Learn the rules of the challenge.

Get your phone all set up and ready.

Get moving! Bote Proto, an ‘Underhand Catch’ move, will get you down low to hit the pelota ball!

Nice, personal best!

Progress

Track your progress as a pelotari. Levels achieved are marked by the colour of your faja sash.

Browse

Browse for ways to improve your gameplay or search for workouts to target specific muscle groups.

Activation

To raise awareness about Jai Intensity, we create our own mascot to recruit new pelotaris by crashing already popular sport matches. In particular, our mascot would crash sports similar to Jai Alai, such as Racquetball and Baseball.

Dressed in a Jai Intensity jersey, our mascot would don a QR code on his jersey for people to scan and download the app.