Blood Sport is the latest gaming system that revolutionizes the way we donate blood. While usually the hospitals use the traditional method of draining, the makers of Blood Sport have designed a process that includes gaming along with donating. The user is said to be so involved in the game that they won’t notice the blood taken from them every time they lose a life.
Blood Sport is the brainchild of Canadian inventors Taran Chadha and Jamie Umpherson, known for the gaming related projects like Shoot the Banker, Surrogaid and Prank house. With Blood Sport they’re “taking the consequences of the gaming world and having them affect you in real life. So every time you get hit in the game, blood will be intravenously drawn from your arm.”
According to the developers, their new idea is stupidly simple. “Nowadays, most video game controllers rumble when you get shot in the game,” as stated on their Kickstarter page, through which they’re trying to reach the goal funding of $250,000 CAD (US $222,700). “That rumbling means that an electrical signal is being sent to the controller to let you know you’ve been hit. All we’re doing is re-routing that same electrical signal and using it to turn on the blood collection system.”
So before you start playing, a medical professional will insert a needle into your veins that will connect you to the blood flow controller. The controller is connected to the blood machine via Arduino Board, using two wires for connections. The board does two jobs; one is to send the signals to blood collection system, and the other is to keep track of the amount of blood drawn.
The limit is set according to your age, weight and medical conditions; the board calculates how much blood needs to be drawn. As the limit is reached, the machine stops drawing blood. During all this time, a medical professional is to be standing by to make sure everything goes correctly. Taran and Jamie said that they aren’t actually reinventing the wheel – all they’re doing is hacking a pre-existing blood collection machine that will allow them to take the gaming experience to the next level. “Our goal is to develop a refined, multi-player unit that can be taken across the country for blood donation gaming events. We are not a charity and we are not a game manufacturer. We are simply creating the gaming hardware that will allow us to get gamers thinking about more important issues while still doing what they love,” the developers said. 
Blood Sport is designed to be compatible with all gaming consoles and all types of video games. If the duo is able to raise the target funding, they plan to partner with appropriate medical and gaming organizations. The launch is to be held on March 17th 2015 in Toronto, where the pledgers will have to sign an injury waiver before donating.
You can show your support by pledging as little as $5 CAD on KickStarter. If you contribute any amount greater than $10 CAD, you get to try the system.
