The consoles at Coca-Cola Park are sponsored by Lehigh Valley Health Network and feature the game, 'On the Piste.' (Photo by Coca-Cola Park)
Fans at Coca-Cola Park in Allentown, Pa., home to Minor League Baseball’s Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs, are taking longer than usual in the restrooms these days. The stadium has enhanced the way that male fans take a bathroom break with the installation of four Urinal Gaming Systems.
The system, installed at eye level above a urinal, is the first of its kind in the United States, and provides a hands-free, sanitary way to play games in the men’s restroom.
“It shows up to four, 10-second ads intermixed with video clips, then a sensor detects a person approaching the device and shifts it into gaming mode,” said Ed Gundrum from Captive Media, the United Kingdom-based company that makes the system.
So far, there is one device in each of the four men’s restrooms as Coca-Cola Park.
The idea to bring urinal entertainment to the park started a few years ago. Facility GM Kurt Landes said that he had an idea for a carnival, water-pistol-type game, but turning the idea into a reality became too much of an undertaking.
“In the process, we found Captive Media in the U.K., which was doing a different type of game with urinals,” said Landes. The company wasn’t quite ready to expand to the U.S., but stayed in touch over the years and, this past fall, it all came together.
“For a minor league facility which focuses on everything we can but the game itself, because the players are sent to us by (Major League Baseball’s) Philadelphia Phillies, we focus on controlling the experience and the atmosphere,” added Landes. “Now, you hear cheering in restrooms where you’ve never heard cheering before.”
There are seven games that a venue can choose for the device, including trivia, action-adventure games, and drawing. Currently, the units at Coca-Cola Park offer one game: On the Piste. Sensors detect the direction and speed of the user’s urine, which controls a toboggan on a snowy mountain. There are penguins on the mountain, which the user maneuvers to try to avoid.
After playing the game, the user receives a password so that they can log in later that night and see where their score landed on the leaderboard. A couple of times each night, the leaderboard is actually displayed in real time on the LED screen at Coca-Cola Park.
Captive Media offers customizations of the games in order to personalize them to a venue or tie in with a sponsorship.
“It’s fairly reasonable to do if it’s just an adjustment,” said Gundum. “Right now we have a tobogganing game where you hit penguins as you speed down the slope, so if you want to hit bottles of a brand of beer instead, that’s fairly inexpensive for us to do.”
An animation of how the system works, courtesy of Captive-Media.
Guests spend an average of 55 seconds at the device, and there is a sanitary benefit to bringing in the games.
“We have found that it keeps the washrooms clean because not only are people watching where they’re aiming, but they’re really enjoying their experience and tend to take better care of the entire washroom as a result,” said Gundrum.
Though the price of the system wasn’t released, there is both a leasing and a purchase option. Landes said the price wasn’t prohibitive even if he hadn’t found a sponsor to help cover the cost.
With the lease option, shipping, on-going support, access to the latest games and phone support to help with installation are included. Coca-Cola Park found a fitting sponsorship with Lehigh Valley Health Network and its Urology department. Not only do the games entertain, but now they also promote an important message about prostate cancer awareness.
According to The American Cancer Society, nearly 240,000 cases of prostate cancer will be diagnosed in 2013.
“The games have really created a dialogue between men, and with the health message that we have with the Lehigh Valley Health Network, they will hopefully create a dialogue between men and their doctors, too,” said Landes.
Coca-Cola Park bought the four machines outright, and Landes said installation was a slow-paced challenge.
“We’re the first in the U.S., so the process of turning a U.K. unit into an American unit is tricky” he said. “It’s different as far as plumbing valves, mechanics, internet, electric — we had to work really closely for six months to make the game work in an American facility.”
“There are things you don’t even think about,” he added. “For instance, the water pressure in an American toilet is different than the water pressure provided in the U.K., so we had to figure that out.”
Despite difficulties with the installation, the units have been functioning at the ballpark since the beginning of the season. When asked about his overall response to having the Urinal Gaming Systems in Coca-Cola Park, Landes said, “I’m as happy as an IronPig in mud.”
Interviewed for this story: Ed Gundrum, (978) 474-0187; Kurt Landes, (610) 841-1244