Sega's 'pee for points' videogames
Leave it to Japan to come up with a way to make public urination into a game. But is Sega's Toirettsu technology a good idea?
![Bored at the urinal? Sega wants to help with mini videogames that have you hose off graffiti and earn points for peeing accurately.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/JP9eA4PisFrs3MSAw3ZcnJ-415-80.jpg)
The video: Japanese electronics firm Sega is taking videogames to a captive new audience: Bar and restaurant patrons taking care of business at the urinal. Its still-experimental Toirettsu technology measures the accuracy, volume, and force of urine hitting a target inside the urinal. (Watch a clip of the set-up below.) The "pee for points" system so far includes unsophisticated mini-games that let men "hose" off graffiti and spurt milk out of a character's nose. "You're able to game with pee!" Sega explains, none too soberly.
The reaction: "This may seem completely out there," but it does make sense "on a number of levels," says Matthew Humphries in Geek.com. Restaurants and bars have a way to encourage men to keep bathroom floors cleaner, and if the games are any good, they'll sell more drinks. "Do not expect this to make it outside of Japan," but be honest, if you ever run across one, "you are going to use it, aren't you?" It does sound kind of fun, assuming you can "go standing up," says Clay Dillow in Popular Science. "(Sorry ladies.)" But given the inherent controller-hurling frustration in videogames, "it's not difficult to imagine [Toirettsu] making floors dirtier." Here's a glimpse of the system:
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