It’s the year 2026 and the hottest game in my living room is Fruit Ninja. No, I’m not in the midst of an ill-advised retro mobile gaming kick. Instead, my family and I were jumping around and slicing the flying fruit in our living room with the Nex Playground. It is a small gaming system built around Kinect-like games. With its camera and onboard computer vision processing, the $249 Nex Playground can track up to four players as effectively as Microsoft’s clunky old Xbox motion tracker. Simply put, the dream of Kinect, as well Nintendo’s Wiilives in Nex Playground.

I’ll admit, I was skeptical about the Nex making a dent in the console arena. It’s hard for new companies with no hardware experience to steal any limelight from entrenched competitors like Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft. But Nex Playground’s simplicity, precise motion tracking and library of kid-friendly titles (including the likes of Peppa pig and Bluey) it became a hit with families. the the company says it has sold 650,000 units last year, which may not sound like much, but it was enough beating the beaten Xbox last November.

Nex

Nex Playground brings motion-tracked games to the whole family. Think of it as the best of Xbox Kinect in a tiny box.

Pros

• Fun core titles
• Solid motion-tracking
• Well designed hardware and UI
• Huge library of games
• Works offline

Cons

• Requires ongoing subscription to access most games
• Needs a large open space for play

Honestly, I was just happy to get my kids off the couch. I do my best to limit screen time with them, but as someone with fond memories planted in front of my TV playing endless hours of SNES games, I also leave some room for my kids to explore technology and media on their own. I like the way in Minecraft The almost limitless creative potential unleashes my daughter’s imagination, but I also want her to move more, especially in these winter months when we don’t get outside as easily.

Even though Nex Playground is another screen-based activity, the variety of games to play kept my kids entertained. and it helps them to dry the sweat. The console version of the Fruit Ninja similar to the game’s VR forays, where you have to stand and try to swipe your arms. You don’t just drag your fingers across the screen. Go Keeper emphasized the role of a soccer goalkeeper, which led to my children jumping across our family room to block and retrieve balls. And we all love to have mini-dance parties Starthat you raise your arms and avoid obstacles, similar to VR titles such as Defeated Saber and Synth Riders.

In addition to the three games, Nex Playground comes together Party Fowla collection of mini games, as well as its own spin on Hit-a-mole. If you want more games, you need to subscribe to Nex Play Pass for $89 a year or $49 for three months. The company also offers a $29 Sports Pack at Target stores, which includes tennis, basketball and bowling games. Other than those options, however, there is no other way to add new titles to the Playground. You can’t buy anything individually, and since the entire platform is digital, there’s also no market for cheap used games like you’d find for consoles.

Nex’s subscription model is undoubtedly Playground’s biggest flaw, especially given the system’s $249 price tag. Instead of an expensive console that you buy once (like an Xbox), and then occasionally buy new titles, the Playground is an ongoing commitment that always calls to your wallet. To the company’s credit, the device doesn’t feature any ads or in-app purchases.

“Ultimately, we want to establish a long-term relationship … we want to serve your family consistently with new content, and new updates throughout the year,” said Nex CEO David Lee in an Engadget Podcast interview. He noted that the company has added twenty new games to its subscription in the past two years, as well as 40 game updates in the past year. Like Game Pass on Xbox, the goal is to maintain the value of Nex Play Pass over time.

You could argue that the high price of the Nex Play Pass isn’t as bad as the $15 to $30 per child that indoor activity centers charge. Those god-forsaken places only distract children for a few hours at a time, and visiting one also carries the risk of contracting childhood diseases. In theory, Nex Playground could be something you go to when you need to exercise restless energy from your kids. And if that means parents can get a little sleep in on the weekend, or just a few minutes to themselves for a cup of coffee, suddenly $89 a year doesn’t seem so bad.

I’m also impressed with Nex Playground’s hardware and software, both of which are more polished than I’d expect from a new hardware company. The device itself is a pastel-colored plastic box with a front-facing camera (and a beautiful lens cover). You just need to plug it into power and an HDMI port, slap some batteries in the remote (which looks like a long Roku remote) and connect to Wi-Fi. It took a few minutes to update the Playground the first time I turned it on, and I also had to create a Nex account with my phone.

Once the first stage of setup was over, it took another five minutes to download the first batch of five Playground games over my gigabit connection. That timing depends entirely on your internet setup — I’ve seen reports of it taking up to 30 minutes to install core Nex games. I was also able to download the entire Play Pass library of titles in 35 minutes, but it could take a few hours on a slow connection. Fortunately, those downloads happen in the background, so you can play other titles while waiting for the new ones to install.

Another plus? Once you have downloaded the games, you can play them completely offline. That makes it easier to grab the Playground and take it on vacation, or to a friend’s house, than to travel with other consoles. As long as you can reach the TV inputs, have nearby power and clear about six feet of space, you can play Playground.

Nex’s long experience in developing motion-tracked games and experiences is a big reason why Playground is so successful. The company was previously created courtan app for tracking your basketball skills, as well Active Arcadea collection of Playground-like minigames for iOS devices. Lee admits it’s hard to get parents to use their phones for things like Active Arcade. That led him to develop Playground as a closed ecosystem, where the company can build a set of games around a device where it can control every aspect of the hardware.

Now that Nex Playground has games from well-known children’s brands like Peppa pigLee’s intuition clearly paid off. While I have some concerns about the company’s subscription model, Nex has done something amazing: It’s created a simple box that makes it easy for your whole family to jump into truly new games and experiences. You don’t need to install a clunky console or any additional accessories. Just plug in the Nex Playground, and you’ll be hand-slicing virtual fruit on your TV in no time.