Take aim and fire in the boys' zone
The men's loos aren't normally somewhere you'd want to linger but a pee-powered video game is rewriting the rule book.
At The Exhibit bar in Balham, above, every urinal is a 12in LCD screen that's hooked up to a (hands-free) console which has a new game, Off the Piste. Drinkers masterfully steer their pee from left to right, under the watch of infra-red sensors, to navigate a skier down the slope, gaining points for taking out penguins.
At the end of their attempt, they receive a code to enter online which reveals their score. This is then ranked and tweeted and one lucky loo-goer is crowned "Peer of the Realm".
Mark Melford, 44, who ditched his well-paid job after dreaming up the idea on a golf course in France, with his business partner Gordon MacSween, says: "Men come out of the toilet and swap scores with their friends, who then rush into the loo to top it."
Since it launched at the end of last month, Captive Media, which makes the product, has received 20 enquiries from other London bars wanting to install the games console. Orders have flooded in from Australia, Russia, the US and even Romania.
It's not surprising that bars want in: the volume needed means users drink more, stay for longer and a quarter of the advertising slots on the consoles are allocated to promoting the venue's own products.
More games are now in the pipeline, including a multiple-choice quiz, Clever Dick, and an app called Artsplash, which sees budding artists create Jackson Pollock-esque pictures.
"We're hoping to release that one for Valentine's Day," says Melford. "Once your picture is done we can email it to your loved one. What could be more romantic?"
As gents' gaming permeates the capital's bathrooms, Melford plans to sync up leader boards between bars and even allow women to send flirty messages to the men's urinals.
And to make all things equal, the ladies' loos will have screens, too, where men can message them in between broadcasts from the aptly named PTV, which shows celebrity gossip, "ultimate fail" videos and make-up tips. But, essentially, this is a boy thing. "We're reclaiming the washroom for men," says Melford.
