There’s no formula for success when it comes to Kickstarter. We’ve seen genuinely great products with insightful design fall flat on their faces. And at the same time other projects have flourished, despite being playful gimmicks and gadgets.

The latest success story – achieving nearly 700% of its funding goal within days of going live – is PowerUp 3.0, a new kind of flying toy. For just $30 (around R300) you get a power module that’ll bring powered flight to any paper plane. It’s rechargeable and, most importantly, has wireless capabilities. This means you can pair it to your smartphone (Android 4.3 and iOS are supported) and play pilot with an app.

The Bluetooth radio in the PowerUp 3.0 will work up to 60 metres away from your phone, so you won’t be too limited in your flight. Although, the 10 minute flight time for a single charge might seem limiting to some – then again, when’s the last time any one of your paper planes flew for that long?

Everything’s packed into an ultralight carbon fibre frame which is also crash resistant. You just know you’ll inevitably fly it into a tree.

The beauty of it all is that the planes are supplied by the user. The PowerUp module is removable, and you fold your own plane designs. Backing the project will get you a few sheets with designs that are proven to work. And if you really want to be the hacky, hands-on type, the Kickstarter page has a $99 (around R1 000) option where you’ll get all the components to build your own circuit board and planes from scratch.