Ready? Set? Relax!

A video game designed to relax you? MindGames is using gaming technology to aid people suffering from depression or trauma. Gary McDarby came up with the idea a decade ago when he met a 12-year-old Liberian child soldier who suffered from nightmares after taking part in a firing squad. He found the boy was able to sleep better after listening to Enya on a walkman. This notion led to the design of Relax to Win, a two-player competitive racing game which is based on the players’ level of relaxation.

Sensors are attached to the player's fingers. Each player takes control of a dragon, which can walk, run, and fly. As a player relaxes, his dragon begins to walk, then run, and then fly. If the player stresses out at any point, the dragon will move back down through the cycles. The person who relaxes most wins the race.

The game features a virtual 3-D world which is designed to immerse the players, drawing their attention and making the feedback more effective. Also, Relax to Win gives constant feedback and rewards the players for achieving the correct “bio-state.”

Competitive games generally cause stress and tension. Therefore, the player must learn how to override this tendency and learn not only how to relax, but how to relax in a tense environment.