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The Hoverboard is (Finally Almost) Real

Kickstarter campaign makes ‘Back to the Future’ toy a real thing

On October 21, 2014—a year to the day before Marty McFly and Doc Brown arrive in “the future”; don’t let the memes fool you—a Kickstarter campaign was launched that aims to make one of the most sought-after fictional toys a reality.

Greg and Jill Henderson, founders of Hendo, have developed a real hoverboard. Yes, the flying skateboard that millions of moviegoers have wished were real since Back to the Future Part II premiered back in 1989 may become the must-have Christmas gift for 2015. Using “hover engines” that create frictionless magnetic fields, the hoverboard only appears to hover an inch or two off a metallic floor. It’s not exactly ready for, or usable on, concrete but everything has to start somewhere.

Hendo looks on track to meet their Kickstarter goal of $250,000 sometime Wednesday afternoon, just one day after their launch. Unfortunately, the package that would give you a hoverboard of your own has already sold out, so put that $10,000 away—yes, that’s what it cost—but less expensive packages are still available until December 15. Hey, if we can’t have cold-fusion-powered flying time machines at our disposal, this is the next best thing, isn’t it?

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