Yes, it’s real, we rode it, and how it works is much simpler than a flux capacitor.

Late last month tech company Arx Pax announced that they had created an honest-to-goodness hoverboard. From what we could tell, the science was sound and the board looked promising. Apparently, many felt the same, as the company’s Kickstarter has 38 days to go and has almost doubled its funding goal (at the time of this writing). But to make sure this wasn’t another Tony Hawk hoax, we traveled to Arx Pax’s San Jose warehouse to try it ourselves.

The Hendo hoverboard is definitely real, if not a bit short on battery life.

In this Nerdist Special Report, I get my hands on the tech that can lift a pair of self-lacing sneakers. My best guess is that rotating motors are spinning magnets within the board — creating the flux and therefore opposing magnetic fields — but we will all find out for sure when Arx Pax distributes its developer kits later this year.

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Kyle Hill is the Science Editor of Nerdist Industries. Follow on Twitter @Sci_Phile.