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UpTheBeat

An interactive floor game built for Q&R Media Services as the centrepiece of Heinz's "Up the Taste" activation in Kuwait: step on the right circle in time.

Built for Q&R Media Services as the interactive centrepiece of Heinz's "Up the Taste" campaign — now live in Kuwait.

StatusLive in Kuwait
EngineNext.js + ESP32
PlatformOn-site installation

Mission Briefing

Overview

Up The Beat is an interactive floor game our studio designed and built as client work for Q&R Media Services, the agency behind Heinz's "Up the Taste" retail activation in Kuwait. The brief: turn a brand stand into something children genuinely queue for. The result is a ring of seven lit, pressure-sensing floor circles — each carrying a Heinz sauce flavour identity like Up the Kick, Up the Spice, Up the Yum and Up the Creaminess — arranged in front of a screen built into a giant Heinz keystone wearing headphones. A host invites shoppers in, the screen calls out flavours in Arabic and English, and quick feet score points before the round clock runs out. It is equal parts game, brand theatre, and crowd magnet — and it shows how our game development studio applies the same craft it puts into digital titles to physical, on-site experiences across Kuwait and the GCC.

7
Lit Floor Circles
2
Languages On Screen
100%
Runs On Site
Game Visual

How to Play

Stepping on any circle starts a round. The big screen then calls a flavour — "STEP ON · KICK" — in Arabic and English at once, and the player has to land on the matching circle before the next call. A correct step flashes the entire ring green and immediately calls the next flavour; a wrong step flashes it red, costs nothing but the moment, and the round keeps going — nothing ends and nothing resets, so young players never get knocked out mid-turn. When the round clock runs out, the screen shows the score in both languages and the floor settles back into its attract glow, ready for the next player. The verdict deliberately lights the whole ring rather than a single pad, so an answer reads clearly from across the mall — and from directly on top of a circle.

Platforms & Where to Play

Up The Beat is not a download — it is a physical installation, delivered to Q&R Media Services and now live in Kuwait as part of Heinz's "Up the Taste" retail activation. If you find the stand in-store, walk up and play: it takes one step to start and one round to learn. For brands and agencies across the GCC, this is also a working example of what we build to order — interactive floor games and branded installations that pull a crowd.

Development Story

This project runs on two crafts at once. The screen is a real-time web game — the same Next.js and React stack behind our digital titles — driving the calls, the countdowns, and the bilingual interface as a kiosk display. The floor is our own hardware: pressure-sensing pads with addressable LED rings, driven by an ESP32 microcontroller running our firmware. The two halves deliberately split the work — the game engine sends states while the controller renders the light animations locally, so the floor keeps behaving smoothly no matter what. Each pad registers only a fresh step, a called flavour never repeats twice in a row, and the whole system is self-contained on-site with no dependence on venue Wi-Fi. Building Up The Beat for Q&R Media Services and the Heinz brand pushed our studio somewhere new: game feel you can literally stand on.

Features

Intel & Features

Key operational capabilities and game mechanics.

Pressure-Sensing Lit Floor

Seven custom-built floor circles with addressable LED rings that answer every step with light.

Host-Led Group Rounds

A walk-up format built for mall crowds — one step starts a round, one round teaches the game.

Arabic & English On Screen

Every call, score, and prompt renders in both languages at once — no player left guessing.

Self-Contained On Site

The whole installation runs without depending on venue Wi-Fi — the game cannot drop mid-round.

Watch it run

From a breadboard on a workshop bench to a lit floor in-store.

Visual Database

The finished unit installed on the shop floor, seven flavour circles lit
The lit floor ring and game screen during final assembly
The stand in place, flavour units flanking the game
Flavour circle faces stacked before fitting to the pads
The Up The Beat unit: headphone arch, screen, and seven flavour circles
Attract screen inviting players in Arabic and English
A live call: step on KICK, with the Heinz Score and round clock
End of round: Heinz Score, bilingual tier, and the day's leaderboard
Full Up the Taste stand render by Q&R Media Services
The neon Heinz keystone on the back of the unit