OCT. 8, 2018, EINDHOVEN, NETHERLANDS – As many of you know, we launched the first app version of Stall Catchers on Android right before World Alzheimer’s Day, with the help of Games for Health Europe and Game Solutions Lab.

Today, we at the Human Computation Institute announced some big news that’ll have a huge impact on Stall Catchers.

During the 8th Games for Health Europe Congress (GFHEU), the Human Computation Institute and Games for Health Europe/Game Solutions Lab officially announced a formal partnership. Dr. Pietro Michelucci, executive director and founder of HCI, explained in his keynote how large groups of people contribute to the fight against Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia in the online game Stall Catchers.

With Games for Health Europe and Game Solutions Lab’s expertise in game design, we hope Stall Catchers will reach many more people and get to a potential cure for Alzheimer’s that much faster.

######Playing together against dementia

To encourage participation in Stall Catchers, GFHEU's game development and design lab, Game Solutions Lab (GSL), will develop a new version of the game to make participation in Stall Catchers even more fun and attractive for everyone. Everyone, from young to old, can join.

Jurriaan van Rijswijk, the founder of GFHEU, says:

If I can explain it to my grandmother, everyone can understand it, and I can do that.
Jurriaan van Rijswijk, Games for Health Europe

In addition to the development of the Stall Catchers games, the global network of Games for Health Europe will be used for distribution and for stimulating further research. Games for Health Europe is a leader in the field of serious games and has a global network of more than 35,000 scientists, game developers, and other professionals. In the near future, GFHEU/GSL will also develop versions of Stall Catchers for iOS and later, for Xbox One.

As Pietro Michelucci expressed in his keynote talk at GFHEU’s 8th Congress:

Our goal is to increase the analytic throughput of Stall Catchers so that we are analyzing data at least ten times faster than the lab – which would allow us to answer at least one research question per month.

The most straightforward way to do this is to get more people playing Stall Catchers. Which means making it more fun to play and reaching new audiences.

For these reasons, we are very excited to enter into a formal partnership with Games for Health Europe and their Dutch subsidiary, Game Solutions Lab, to develop native app versions of Stall Catchers for Android and iOS.
Pietro Michelucci, Human Computation Institute