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Huupe Mini 2 Review: More Game Than It Can Handle
If your mom was one of those who always said, “Don’t play ball in the house,” well, she’s going to absolutely hate the Huupe Mini 2.
Huupe manufactures smart basketball hoops and add-on kits for existing setups that track shots, light up the board when a point is registered, and include social features like global challenges and leaderboards. The Huupe Mini 2 is the pint-sized, indoor version of that idea, clipping over the top of a door so you can shoot hoops without ever having to leave the room.
I’ve been testing one out for weeks, and while it’s a fun diversion, some of its features overreach beyond its core functionality, resulting in an experience that bricks as much as it dunks.
The Huupe Mini 2 is, effectively, a smart television with a basketball hoop mounted to it. Or rather, a smart TV that comes with a basketball hoop that you have to mount yourself, courtesy of four screws and a little elbow grease. The LCD screen measures 19 inches diagonally, plus a hefty border that includes stereo speakers and a camera used to track you and your b-ball prowess. (Total size of the backboard is 25 inches diagonally, which fits comfortably within a door frame.)
A 5-inch inflatable rubber basketball is included, along with a small hand pump and needle. Also in the box are a small but otherwise traditional remote control—required to do anything with the Huupe—and a USB-C charger and lengthy cable so you can top up the battery without removing it from the door.
After a quick charge, the unit is ready to set up. I was surprised to discover there’s no app for the device; while larger Huupe hardware works with one, the Mini 2 is completely self-contained and web-based. Just connect the backboard to your Wi-Fi network through a process that you step through with the remote, just like you would on any modern television.
What’s new vs. the original Huupe Mini? According to the company, most of the upgrades are behind the scenes: a faster CPU, a larger battery (rated lifespan is now four hours), better display quality, and “significantly” better shot tracking. New games are also included, which I’ll cover in the sections to come.
Once connected to the web, the Huupe Mini 2 opens up a world of entertainment to you, and, to my great surprise, not all of it is basketball-related. At first blush, the options available are actually quite daunting. It’s all arranged into traditional tiles on the home screen, which you scroll through with the remote.
Just Huupe is the board’s most basic scoring system, tracking shots and recording your shooting percentage in an untimed session. If you want to get competitive, Huupe Live and the Daily Prize Challenge are social games where you challenge players worldwide to score the most points in a given time frame. The winner gets a nominal prize—10 bucks for the daily challenge, a “cozy sweatsuit” for a monthlong challenge. Other games are fairly self-explanatory, like Most 3 Pointers in 90 Seconds and Family Mode (basically Horse).
Many of the games require online friends to play against; if you don’t have pals with their own Huupe Minis, you’ll probably be locked out of these modes—not that they add much beyond their multiplayer features.