First Ever Pong Pedestrian Walk Sign Installed In Germany

An arcade classic gets reintroduced as a novel way to entertain and help keep pedestrians safe at one German crosswalk.

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Pong was one of the first arcade games to popularize the coin-operated entertainment industry and help make the likes of all arcade machines a common sight at every pizza parlor, movie theater lobby, and shopping mall across the country.

Perhaps the famed electronic table-tennis game can do the same for an invention just newly installed for official public use.

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It’s called ActiWait, an interactive walk sign that allows pedestrians on either side of the crosswalk to happily partake in a round of Pong while waiting for the signal to change. Sandro Engel, Amelie Künzler and Holger Michel, three design students from Hawk University in Göttingen, Germany, Sandro Engel, unveiled the idea for the ActiWait in 2012, and were on hand to witness their invention being formally introduced in the city of Hildesheim, Germany.

Two ActiWaits were set up in Hildesheim two weeks ago, and the trio behind the invention have turned to Indiegogo to help further its development. The inventors want to improve the ActiWait to include new ways to help pedestrians from inadvertently entering the crosswalk, including other games, a news feed, or a navigation helper.

Source: Colossal

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