What if you could gamify that magical moment when you are listening to a melody and then something clicks and you suddenly recognise the song? Imagine the sense of pleasure when you can breathe out: "I recognised it!" Inspired by this epiphany, Ilkka Räsänen invented the musical innovation he calls Mubik. It is much more than just a musical game: it is a rehabilitation platform, teaching equipment, quiz, modern day jukebox and electronic board game. The aim of Mubik is to help everyone experience the world of music in a completely new way.

"My dad was diagnosed with dementia and eventually he lost the ability to speak. I tried to come up with different kinds of activities for the visits: audio books, videos, guitar and songbook. Finally my dad started to sing enthusiastically. After going through literature on the subject I had an epiphany that I wanted to make into a game. That's how Mubik started."

Mubik is a revolutionary musical jigsaw puzzle for mobile devices. It has several features such as points awards, song backgrounds and videos and the possibility for the player to play the song themselves. Conventional musical games either play the song or ask quiz-type questions. In Mubik, you do things differently: the player plays the song and then tries to guess what he or she just played. Räsänen is trying to get his innovation patented in the United States and in Europe, because games focusing on the cognitive side are rare.

Mubik can be used in many different ways: it can be used to create the experience of playing music for school children or even mount large-scale orchestras like they have done in the Soukka school in Espoo. The rehabilitative features of Mubik bring competitive edge to care homes, and experiences among seniors have been encouraging.

"We are especially aiming to the care home market in 2016. We have piloted the product in several places in Southern Finland and Mubik is already being used in Puolarmetsä hospital, for example. We will extend its use with the City of Espoo as a trial in the Kauklahti Senior Centre and Aurorakoti care home in 2016."

Mubik Senior for elderly people is now being developed. In Mubik Senior, the gaming elements are slightly reduced whereas the story-telling features are highlighted. Imagination is the only limit to its possibilities: Mubik offers great support in the interaction between a nurse and a care home resident, in quizzes in group activity hours and in sing-alongs, for example. 

"There is great potential in its use in therapy following a cerebral infarction. We are currently negotiating with the Finnish Brain Foundation and The Alzheimer Society of Finland. The University of Helsinki has also expressed interest in researching aphasia therapy using Mubik within their EU application."

Räsänen developed the game together with his business partner Juha Ranta in Spinno Enterprise Center where they received a lot of advice regarding public funding applications, for example.

"It would have been a difficult road without Finnish organisations supporting start-ups," says Räsänen.

Ilkka Räsänen founded Mubik Entertainment Oy in 2012. Räsänen is an experienced IT professional who has worked in several large American corporations (such as Digital and Microsoft) and has always been an avid guitar player. He has also worked with many growth companies and start-ups. Finally, the time was ripe for him to get his bits and pieces together and start his own business: Mubik Entertainment Ltd.

www.mubik.net