Straight shooters

A U.K. tech company has made going to a public urinal uniquely interactive (don’t worry, it’s not what you’re thinking). Bored by the usual male bathroom experience of staring at the wall ahead, Captive Media decided to develop “a urinal-mounted, urine-controlled games console for men.” This is how it works: a man stands in front of a urinal and points his “joystick” (their pun, not ours) at one of three target stickers placed inside the bowl. A screen mounted on the wall above the urinal measures the speed and accuracy of the player’s stream using infrared lights and displays it, along with other players’ rankings, on a virtual score board. Players can upload their scores to social media websites through their cellphones.Venues that have the gaming consoles—the company has sold the service to two English pubs so far—say their urinals have never been cleaner; supposedly a direct result of the game’s focus on “shooting” accuracy.