Don't laugh, I have actually seen one in a club that played a crowd-cheering sound while you were hitting it! Wouldn't be surprised if there was a scoreboard version around somewhere...
For background: The ball actually moves when you hit it. It is attached to the main panel with a small plastic string. The one that made the sound probably had a simple "electronic greeting card"-like circuit board in it.
There is a Japanese toilet company, whose name escapes me, which previously included a red dot in toilets to capture this advantage. Then, after extensive testing, they realized that the red dot was suboptimal because it encouraged people to shoot for the wall, and the wall of a toilet bowl is very close to things you do not want to get wet.
So they tested a new version, which turned out to be MUCH better: include a laser in the toilet bowl, and PROJECT a red dot on the surface of the water at a particular point in the bowl. (I would assume the geometric center but, hey, they're the experts).
My Google-fu is not turning up the article I read this in, which (I hazily remember) was English and probably in the New York Times.
Anyhow, this is one of my stock anecdotes on why Japanese engineering holds so much appeal to me. (Obsessive, fanatical attempts to squeeze more performance out of things. Its like Apple decided to launch a line of toilets or ceiling fans... except with a little less of an iCult around them.)
[Edit: found a mention of this sort of toilet innovation by Panasonic but it wasn't the article I was talking about, which covered the R&D process in more detail.
Has anyone read the book they talk about in the article (http://www.amazon.com/Nudge-Improving-Decisions-Health-Happi... )? It has decent reviews and seems like it might be interesting, but I never seem to have as much reading time as I'd like, and I was hoping someone here could give me a heads up on if its any good.
Yeah, this is a great book. Evidently it is also on Obama's reading list.
The book talks about a few different ways to "nudge" people into the "best" behavior. One of the key points is that a default choice (for ANY consumer choice, whether health care, options on a car, or how to invest a 401k) is far and away the option most likely chosen. So the book's authors argue that it is the responsibility of politicians to help people make the right "default" choice.
One great example is a particularly nasty curve on a road -- Lake Shore Drive -- in Chicago. It's a major thoroughfare along Lake Michigan, and cars were always going too fast when they came up to a sharp curve in the road. After trying all sorts of "slow down" and "sharp curve" signs, city planners opted to paint lines on the road perpendicular to the flow of traffic. The lines were set at regular intervals, but near the curve the lines were painted closer together. This gave drivers the impression that they were going too fast, and caused them to subconsciously slow down. This dramatically improved the traffic flow on this particular stretch of Lake Shore Drive and reduced accidents and fatalities.
I won't comment on whether or not I agree with of all this book's theories, but it is well worth a read, and certainly shines some light on more subtle aspects of human decision making.
Now if only this worked for those people who miss the toilet when taking a crap.
I have a solution to the problem, however I don't think there's a fecal floor sensor yet and I doubt people would go into a stall with a shotgun aimed at their head so I fear it wouldn't solve the problem but shift it to the shotgun-free stalls.
This is a constructive use of, "choice architecture". I think these ideas have been around for awhile just in another form - as poor choice architecture in casinos.
