A new gaming app created by a team of UNL college students for GROW Nebraska Member Mystic Rhoads Productions will help boost awareness of the Lincoln-based non-profit and further its mission of education, healthy living and community service.
Students from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s College of Computer Science & Engineering created a gaming app that turned Mystic Road Productions baldorf game into a virtual experience.
“They did awesome,” Adam Rhoads said of the UNL students. “The game is exactly how you play the game in real life. It works, and people seem to like it, and it helps to build our brand. I was very happy with the final product.”
Mystic Rhoads Productions
The baldorf gaming app is designed to build awareness of Mystic Rhoads Productions (MRP) and its charitable work. It features a virtual version of a game that Adam invented while serving in the Peace Corps in Jamaica in 2004. The goal of baldorf is to earn points by bouncing or throwing a ball at different sections of a court. Adam teaches kids in after-school programs and clubs how to play the game to encourage physical activity, and the virtual version of the game is designed to further even more interest in the game and MRP and its work.
MRP is a non-profit organization that earns funds through donations but also through sales of Jamaican-inspired products that Adam created including Dirt Nap Dip Original Blend hot sauce, DND Jamaican Jerk Seasoning, Jamaican Jerk Spicy Toffee and the baldorf game. Adam is the main volunteer employee for the non-profit, and 100 percent of the donations and funds earned go to charity.
You can buy the products here.
MRP has purchased wrestling uniforms for underprivileged kids in Lincoln, supported playground renovations and community gardens and purchased school supplies for Jamaican children, among many other projects.
Working with UNL Students
Adam received a grant to work with the UNL students after hearing about the opportunity through the Lincoln Community Foundation.
Over the course of a year, Adam met weekly with the team of five students who worked on the app as part of their senior project.
Adam said the goal was to create an app that could be played on a desktop or smartphone and that could be incorporated into the after-school programming that he does with kids in Lincoln.
The baldorf game is a free app right now, but Adam is hoping to add a donation button or a small fee to help raise funds for MRP’s charitable causes.
The team that Adam worked with ended up winning the platinum award, which was the highest award among the 26 teams participating.
“We put a lot of work into it, but it was fun working with college kids and creating a game,” Adam said. “We got a good product out of it, and they got recognized for their efforts.”
GROW Nebraska
Adam has been a member of GROW Nebraska for six years.
He said he first joined GROW because of the organization’s expertise in marketing and helping launch small businesses.
Throughout the years, Adam has participated in GROW’s online trainings, sells his products on GROW’s online stores and retail store and has sold and sampled products at GROW’s Nebraska State Fair store.
“The services GROW offers for small businesses to get set up and help with marketing is why we joined originally,” Adam said. “We are still with them because they still provide those services for us.”
Adam said he likes to support Nebraska businesses, and that is another reason he continues his GROW Nebraska membership.
“GROW Nebraska is a good place to find and support local businesses because they have all these Nebraska-based businesses all in one stop,” Adam said.
For more information about Mystic Rhoads Productions, its products and the baldorf app, visit the non-profit’s GROW Nebraska page.
For information about how to download and play the baldorf gaming app, please visit MRP’s website at http://mysticrhoads.org/.
