Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
Arts & Entertainment
I visited the huupe, NYC’s 1st public ‘smart basketball hoop,’ in the East Village
By
Ryan Kailath
Published Sep 9, 2024
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Photo by Ryan Kailath / Gothamist
By
Ryan Kailath
Published Sep 9, 2024
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
When the city unveiled its first-ever “smart basketball hoop” last month, a host of television crews and city officials crowded into Tompkins Square Park to herald its arrival.
A week later, the huupe, as the gadget is called, stood alone, quite literally on the sidelines of the court, while two friends went one-on-one at the newly refurbished “dumb” hoops a few feet away.
The huupe is meant to be an all-star player’s companion, combining elements of a personal coach with an internet-connected portal to another country, tracking shot accuracy, and mapping shot location. It can also stream music and television, and connect to other huupe players around the world.
It has a sticker price of around $10,000.
On Friday, the Tompkins huupe displayed a “no internet connection” alert and was restricted to counting shots made vs. shots missed.
“You can do that with your brain!” remarked a passerby.
The city's smart basketball hoop, or "huupe," is at Tompkins Square Park in the East Village.
Photo by Ryan Kailath / Gothamist
The company’s agreement with the city's parks department stipulated that the Tompkins huupe would remain disconnected from the internet to avoid the potential risk of people streaming inappropriate content to the public device, huupe CEO Paul Anton wrote in an email.
Anton, who is based in New York City, said the company’s employees are scattered “all over.” Huupe launched in 2015 and raised $11 million in venture funding, TechCrunch reported.
The company donated the huupe for a short pilot period at no cost to the city, Anton wrote.
A parks department spokesperson said that the Tompkins huupe would be up through early October, and confirmed that the city spent nothing on the digital hoop.
“It looks like an extra large iMac,” said Angelo Guifarro, a financial analyst who said he moved to the neighborhood a year ago and plays in the park every week.
Guifarro took three shots, sinking two of them. The shot tracker lit up: “50%.” He speculated that his first basket didn’t count, as perhaps it was just telling the machine to turn on.
A few hard bricks off the backboard to test its resilience bounced back easily with no apparent damage.
Guifarro found the huupe interesting, but would not want his tax dollars spent on it or further NYC huupes.
Although there was only scant human interaction with the huupe on Friday morning, online reactions to it have been more vocal.
“We want elevators in every subway station, not backboards with video cameras in them,” wrote one user on X. “No one asked for this.”
“Cops putting surveillance cameras on backboards,” wrote another.
The company stressed that the camera attached to the backboard does not stream or record video, and “does not output footage that humans can even decipher,” wrote Anton, the CEO. “The camera tracks ball movement only and is not used for surveillance.”
While Anton said he’d love for the city to pick up the huupe permanently, there are no metrics for success in this pilot phase beyond love of the game and “a few more smiling happy faces,” he wrote.
Tagged
manhattan
sports
Ryan Kailath
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE arts-entertainment
Ever wish you could get paid to walk through a stranger’s house? ‘The Scout’ is for you.
A new film focuses on the strange career of a location scout in New York City.
By
Sonia Rao
Published Sep 26, 2026
There are 100s of places to visit during Open House New York. Here's 5 of our favorites.
See the entire lineup for the weekend when the city opens its doors.
By
Hannah Frishberg
Arts & Entertainment
There are 100s of places to visit during Open House New York. Here's 5 of our favorites.
See the entire lineup for the weekend when the city opens its doors.
By
Hannah Frishberg
A massive MTA archive ended up in a Virginia warehouse. A Brooklyn man brought it home.
By
Hannah Frishberg
How a Harry Styles pop-up in the East Village led to a nearby bookstore owner's arrest
By
Sonia Rao
NYC’s creative workers are increasingly self-employed, report says
By
Hannah Frishberg
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .