14 DAY TRIAL // Bart Geraets, engineer, and Werner Dupont, game programmer, have created something that might become the future of gaming. While drinking in a Belgian pub one night, the two decided that emptying one's bladder is not as fun as it could be, so they drank a few more pints of Belgium beer, of which some say is the best in the world, and they came up with an idea designed to make the time spent in the bathroom much, much more interesting.
The two Belgians designed and then built a little contraption called Place to Pee. Their product is both a gaming device and the game in itself. It's basically one big mobile toilet, designed mainly for use by men, which incorporates a lot of technology. There are two booths in the mobile toilet, so that all of the action supports two players. Each of the toilets looks rather normal, except for two sensors, one placed somewhat to the right and another one placed to the left, that are designed to gather data. Built into the mobile toilet are two screens, one for each of the booths, and all the bits needed to process information and generally deliver a videogame experience on the screens.
As the occupant of the booth relieves himself from the pressure induced by Belgian beer, his jet will hit one of the two sensors. The motion is turned into digital movement and the game on the screen can be controlled through pissing. At the moment, there are two games available in the mobile toilet/game center designed by Bart Geraets and Werner Dupont, Space Invaders and a skiing game. Both of them can be paused after each man uses the toilet, so that the next person can pick up where the other left off. Because of the Presidential elections in the United States, the two designers have adapted their toilets to also allow the picking of one presidential candidate. And, apparently, they plan to adapt and add other games in further updates to their system.
The game definitely has potential. Apart from the obvious humor value, it might just lead to more interesting break rooms in the headquarters of videogame developers all over the world.
Watch the Reuters video to see the device in action.