Two things: 1. Doing laundry isn’t necessarily the most exciting activity in the world. 2. Don’t you wish you could apply all your online and video game bad-assery into the real world?
That’s the overall idea and inspiration for Lee Wei Chen, a master of design student at London’s Kingston University. Seeking to take advantage of his “wasted but enjoyable time” playing video games. Chen explains that he wanted to harness the skills he developed in the virtual world and apply them to the real world, making them useful.
Looking to take laundry to the next level with the ‘Amusement Washing Machine’ Chen’s design merges a washing machine with an arcade video console whereby players are required to put money into the unit which turns on the machine and dispenses three lives. If a player fails to progress to the next level and loses all their lives, the washing machine responds by not moving onto the next stage of its cycle, requiring the player to enter more money and re-attempt the level.
And while the concept for the young design student probably wont bring back the comatose arcade scene, it certainly is a neat and intriguing idea.
