Kalimba Go is a modern-day combination of wood thumb piano and Guitar Hero

Rarely do smart ‘gamified’ instruments stray from the usual suspects: guitar and piano. But it’s fun when they do – as evidenced by videogames like Samba de Amigo and Donkey Konga. Kalimba Go (from CA$59; shipping June 2021) tries something we’ve never seen before, fusing a kalimba and a touchscreen smart assistant. Kalimba thumb pianos – a 1920s reinterpretation of the far older African mbria – are easy to mess around with – but hard to master. That’s where the smart assistant comes in. You pick a song and respond to dots that scroll down the screen, like a tine-twanging take on Guitar Hero. If your favourite track’s not in the cloud library, a web app lets you make your own musical tabs, so you can twang out to everything from Led Zeppelin to Beyoncé. Not got your own compatible 17-tine kalimba to play? Add CA$29 to your pledge and you’ll be shipped one of those too.

Craig Grannell Contributor

About

I’m a regular contributor to Stuff magazine and Stuff.tv, covering apps, games, Apple kit, Android, Lego, retro gaming and other interesting oddities. I also pen opinion pieces when the editor lets me, getting all serious about accessibility and predicting when sentient AI smart cookware will take over the world, in a terrifying mix of Bake Off and Terminator.

Areas of expertise

Mobile apps and games, Macs, iOS and tvOS devices, Android, retro games, crowdfunding, design, how to fight off an enraged smart saucepan with a massive stick.