Activate Games set us the brief to develop an in-facility trophy that would not only catch the eye of visitors and potential Tournament of Champions (TOC) competitors, but leave them eager to compete.

‘How do I get my name on that’ is the question Activate wanted their customers to be asking when commissioning us to create one of our biggest, and most intricately detailed, trophy designs to date.

The world’s first active gaming facility, Activate allows participants to become the player and compete inside dynamic game rooms with interactive technology.

Stretching across North America at Activate’s participating locations, The Tournament of Champions provides top players the chance to compete for the ultimate champion title, cash prizes and their name on our standout awards.

Acting as a display piece, we designed 30” light up trophies by integrating LEDs for emphatic effect. The inclusion of lights in the design helped with cohesion between product and real-life activity, as lights play a large role in Activate’s game modes and the TOC.

We opted for meganite as the structural base for the trophies with matte anodized aluminum on each side to make up the unique shape. The dark metal provides the perfect contrast to the shine of the LED lighting and enabled us to apply detailed UV flatbed printing to add a large TOC logo.

Intertwined with the meganite and aluminum is clear acrylic with frosted edges. This is where the LEDs are applied to brighten the Activate text and logos that have been laser engraved onto the material.

Activate’s brief stated that they plan to open a large quantity of locations over the next 10 years, requiring more awards. Therefore, the whole creation process involved future proofing the design — including a removable panel enabling the LEDs to be easily replaced. The panel features 10 place spots for future winners with the removable element allowing new winners to be updated after 10 years.

It was crucial to consider how to power the LEDs. After plenty of trial and error, we decided to use a regular power outlet with a plug point located on the rear side of the awards.

We created 20 of these striking and elaborate trophies, which now stand proudly in every Activate facility, eagerly awaiting the engraving of the next champion’s name.