🏆 The Choosatron

The Choosatron is an interactive fiction storytelling machine that comes as an easy to build kit; great for social reading, playing, and creating! As you play, you make decisions that affect the outcome of the story, and your journey is printed on a keepsake paper scroll. It also allows you to write your own stories and share them with others!

I originally designed the Choosatron in 2012 as an initial exploration into hobbyist electronics. After the prototype was complete, built into an old cardboard box, I shared it with friends and colleagues, which snowballed into the device being invited to a number of local events, and quickly international ones. A year later I decided to run a kickstarter in order to create a more refined kit that was easy for kids and adults to put together while piquing their curiosity in how it worked. The goal was a STEAM kit that could also be used in education to help teach making, encourage reading, serve as a platform for creative writing, and an exploration of game design through branding narratives and logic.

The kickstarter was wildly successful, raising $75k of the $22k requested. For me it turned out to be a crash course for end-to-end product development, designing and working with a manufacturer in Shenzhen as well as content creators all over the world to build a library of interactive stories. That of course was on top of managing the bill of materials to keep down costs and complex accounting to calculate projections for total costs given various possible outcomes for the kickstarter rewards themselves. Needless to say, I gained an incredible amount of experience by the time I shipped 600+ units to backers worldwide.

Since the kickstarter the Choosatron has won multiple awards, been used for education, and has been exhibited in dozens of events around the world, including conferences, festivals, entertainment venues, and museums (with multiple permanent exhibitions such as Berlin's Game Science Center).

Interactive Fiction for The Choosatron

Try out some of the stories available on the Choosatron online! The experience certainly isn't the same but there are still some amazing adventures to be had...

• Another Day at the MIA

• The Chandos

• Escape from Pompeii (Kid Friendly)

• Everything's Coming Up Space Pirates (Kid Friendly)

• Finding Your Shadow (Kid Friendly)

• Keekee's Big Adventure (Kid Friendly)

• The Librarian's Apprentice (Kid Friendly)

• The Mustache Rangers and the Planet of Moods (Kid Friendly)

• My (Super) Hero! (Kid Friendly)

• No Brakes Valet

• On a Dark and Stormy Night (Kid Friendly)

• Operation Brain-Drain (Kid Friendly)

• Slugfest (Kid Friendly)

• The Spy Who Killed Me

• Starwhal: Just the Tip

• Thanksgiving of Despair

• A Very Very VERY Scary House (Kid Friendly)

• Wormsign (Kid Friendly)

• Wrestlefest (Kid Friendly)

• The Zombie Always Wins (Kid Friendly)

Credits

• Jerry Belich – Inventor, Game Designer
• Megan Dowd – Project Manager

Recognition

1. Future of StorytellingOfficial SelectionNew York, NY — October 7 to 10, 2016
2. Children's Media ConferenceOfficial SelectionSheffield, UK — July 5 to 10, 2016
3. TIFF.net | digiPlaySpaceOfficial SelectionToronto, Canada — March 5 to April 24, 2016
4. Smithsonian Indie ArcadeOfficial SelectionWashington, DC — January 19, 2016
5. WordPlayOfficial SelectionToronto, Canada — November 7, 2015
6. Future of StorytellingOfficial SelectionNew York, NY — October 7, 2015
7. Bit BashOfficial SelectionChicago, IL — September 6, 2014 & August 22, 2015
8. Solid ConferenceOfficial SelectionSan Francisco, CA — June 23, 2015
9. IndieCade @ E3Official SelectionLos Angeles, CA — June 10, 2014
10. A MAZEAudience Choice Award WinnerBerlin, Germany — April 11, 2014
11. A MAZEWTF! Award NomineeBerlin, Germany — April 11, 2014
12. Game Science CenterPermanent ExhibitBerlin, Germany — April 4, 2014
13. Alt.Ctrl.GDCOfficial SelectionSan Francisco, CA — March 17 to 21, 2014
14. GameConnectionNominee in Console & PC Hardcore CategoryParis, France — December 3, 2013
15. Fantastic ArcadeOfficial SelectionAustin, TX — September 19, 2013

Gallery