Hado St. Gallen in test / Part 1

If you want to mutate into a Pokémon yourself, the digital dodgeball game Hado is just right for you. We tested the Japanese e-sport in St. Gallen and learned a few exciting facts about the project in an interview.

My fireball shoots across to our opponent team in a flash: Zack! Another flower blossom is destroyed! We quickly raise another shield and continue! Our opponents do the same and so we have to destroy their wall first.

The Japanese dodgeball game Hado is about shooting the opponent with a ball and dodging the opponent's balls. The playing field and the human players are real, but the ball and the shields are purely digital. You can only see them if you either wear the augmented reality glasses yourself or look at the screen, which transmits the game in real time. Those who otherwise watch ignorantly would probably think: there are a few crazy Pokémon fans at work. Fortunately, there were no spectators during our test; except, of course, for the two game masters, who amused themselves a bit with us from time to time.

An e-sports competence centre in the making

In the so-called Lattichbau in the Güterbahnhofareal in the middle of St. Gallen, one of the many wooden modules was rented and transformed into a digital sports arena. Officially, the special playroom in the Güterbahnhof area is called "Digital Sports Dojo". We were allowed to use the location for the test with our group of four without being observed.

Currently, only Hado is played there. That may change in the near future. According to Remo Bügler, the location is to become a kind of competence centre and meeting place for the booming e-sport. More game stations are planned. Nerds who want to exchange ideas are just as welcome here as amateurs who want to get a taste of digital sports.

Remo, the 29-year-old is managing director of the St. Galler digital sports agency epikkwhich brings the Hado brand to the Swiss market. Together with his colleague Wilko Nuber, art director at epikk, who was also present at our test, he is in charge of the project. epikk has acquired the first licence for the virtual dodgeball game for Switzerland. In Europe, to his knowledge, they are even among the first three to make the Japanese action game available to the public. "E-sports are on the rise, also in Switzerland," says Remo.

How and if we literally did in the dojo, you will find out in our second report in exactly 2 days.