Editor's Note: Today’s guest blogger is Brigham White who, together with Taran Chadha, created the new video reality game Prank House. The app is a live streaming reality show similar to Europe’s Big Brother, with one major twist: viewers can participate in pranks live via the Internet through robotically controlled devices like paintball guns and shockers.
Taran and I both wanted – as in really wanted – to take the internet’s virtual world and make it real, and we were just silly enough to try it. The result is Prank House. Blend Survivor and Halo, and you’re halfway there. On Prank House, you can shoot real people (including some of your favorite YouTube stars) with paintball guns, release angry goats, shock people, play foosball, drop water bombs, and drive remote control cars around a 200 square foot track.
It’s pretty simple: you download a free desktop app from our site, prankhouse.com, and choose a team to support. You then buy tokens to drive different types of pranks, controlled through robotic devices within the “prank house.” It’s your job to help your team through competition in scheduled events.
We officially started Season 1 on October 4 with an impressive lineup of YouTube celebrities. ShayCarl, Charles Trippy and Cory Williams are just a few of the YouTube stars actually living and competing for the title of Top Prankster in a reality show setting in a 10,000 square foot house in California. (Ask yourself – would you have the nerve?) So far, more than 65,000 viewers have tuned in.
We have 10 different rooms in the house that can be viewed 24/7 on 35 live cameras. You as the viewer can interact with – and influence – the outcome of the daily competitions. For example: one morning you might find Charles Trippy and ShayCarl suspended with ropes from the ceiling, swinging back and forth trying to grab the other’s flag. Using the Prank House desktop app, you can shoot the opposing team’s celebrity with a live paintball gun to help your team win. Basically, it’s all a matter of teamwork, and the people in the house are working with their fans and supporters on the Internet to prank the other team and win. It hurts (but only a little), and it’s hellaciously fun. See the trailer below.
Serena Satyasai, Marketing, recently watched “Swing time in the Prank House.”