Pindaloo was created during a Master’s Degree project in 2012 by two designers, Amir Zobel and Matan Shamir (AKA ZoSh). Both students had a passion for toys and had a deep knowledge and understanding of the plastic industry.
The motive had been to get children away from digital technology to have fun in the physical world. They researched play mechanisms as a starting point and obtained ongoing feedback from children.
The first prototype was rubbish to begin with. Not in terms of quality but actual material. Actual rubbish was used in the form of a tube, plastic bottles and a marble. Thus the initial Pindaloo concept was born.
With the right manipulation, the marble could be projected from one end of the tubing and caught the other end. At this moment Amir and Matan realised they had found what they were looking for.
After testing different prototypes themselves, ZoSh then submitted a promising mock-up for testing. The real judges – children – then gave their feedback, which was positive. In short – they LOVED it! See the clip below of the first ‘loop’.
ZoSh went in different directions after completing university before finishing the product. Two years later, something pushed them both back to the prototype and began further product development.
Eventually, the pair found the right partners to market and distribute Pindaloo to the masses. The rest is history.
Pindaloo is now distributed across 34 countries worldwide.