Soccer ball raises cash for charities when it is played with

The Ludo ball monitors how often it is used and racks up points – transferable into donations – to enable players to give to charity.

Many people know that giving to charity is a good thing, but still avoid street fundraisers or never get round to dipping their hand in their pocket. Making giving easy is an imperative in these cases, which may explain why we’ve seen organizations such as Ark translate internet browsing into cash for charities, and why Ludo is now doing the same for sports. Developed by Uncharted Play, a ball contains a sensor that monitors when it is in use. Every time the user plays with it, points are tallied up, which can be transferred wirelessly to the individual’s Uncharted Play account by entering the serial number of the ball online. The points make up the user’s Play Fund, which they can then spend on social and charitable projects hosted on the site. When the ball has been played with enough, the points can be put towards new lightbulbs for a poor community or tools for environmental projects, funded by Uncharted Play. Users can also compare their scores and contributions with contacts, fostering some friendly competition. The following video shows how the concept works: Uncharted Play aims to bring the Ludo to market in 2013, although there is currently no word on its retail cost. The company has already helped make sports more socially conscious with its SOCCKET ball – which stores the energy from games to power appliances later on – so this may well be a startup worth keeping an eye on. Spotted by: Smith Alan