Hey! Keep your eyes ON my chest, buddy!

January 26, 2010 7:40 AM

On the one hand, it ensures slow dancin' teens keep a safe distance apart. On the other, well, there's the sightline issue. Will it give geeks the nerve to dance with a partner? Covert Athletics presents Pong Prom. Can literally gettin' it on like Donkey Kong be next?
posted by GhostintheMachine (12 comments total)

An accelerometer attached at the back of the neck allows each player to control their game paddle by rocking their partner back and forth.

Why does it suddenly feel like I'm watching the edited-for-tv version of a hardcore porn shoot?
posted by Durn Bronzefist at 7:43 AM on January 26, 2010

If the game is displayed on the hoodie, I think what it ensures is that boobies are gonna get stared at.
posted by Never teh Bride at 7:44 AM on January 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

Pong Prom is an art project designed to produce an experience which is at once competitive and collaborative.

I think it works better as a cynical statement about how even the most human interactions can no longer be had without the mediation of electronics. In the form of a videogame! And they don't even look at each other's faces!
posted by DU at 7:45 AM on January 26, 2010

Next up: a Texting Harness. The couple dons a modified straight-jacket for two that brings them into a full body press but leaves their arms free behind each other in embrace. A pouch in the sleeve on either side houses a mobile phone. The couple is so close to one another that they can not pull their heads back to look at each other, but instead communicate soley via SMS.
posted by Burhanistan at 7:54 AM on January 26, 2010 [6 favorites]

I think you could actually sell that, Burhanistan.
posted by Talanvor at 8:09 AM on January 26, 2010

DU: And they don't even look at each other's faces!

As a caterer who every prom season puts on his Shirley Templetron 3000 hat to dispense grenadine & HFCS solution to the children, I can assure you these days the kids don't look each other in the eye when the gals are waxing their dance partners laps with their butts, or as I like to call it, "dancing doggy-style".

Must say, It is rather fun to clue the parents into which songs are about ecstasy, how the Skeet, skeet, skeet references aren't about shotgun sports, and what the Superman line is referring to. Gives them something to think about while they watch their kids dance. ;-)
posted by Pirate-Bartender-Zombie-Monkey at 8:24 AM on January 26, 2010

The couple ... communicate soley via SMS.

"BABY UR SO FINE."
"You're standing on my foot."
"SRY."
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 8:25 AM on January 26, 2010

I'm mortified by the lack of freak dancing and fun this might encourage proto-sexuals to enjoy. Respect to the follow through but a bit of physical contact is most of the fun of the pre-majority dances. I may just be a nostalgic perv who would rather play New Super Mario Bros than Pong Prom, though.
posted by christhelongtimelurker at 8:30 AM on January 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

Finally, someone has figured out how to make dancing fun.
posted by pracowity at 8:32 AM on January 26, 2010 [6 favorites]

Uncanny. I ran into the creator of this project in front of an electronics hobbyist store less than a week ago. I very nearly sent him this link before realizing it was his. Initially, I was dismayed that someone else had just finished almost exactly what I knew he had been working on.
posted by fearofcorners at 9:00 AM on January 26, 2010

Heh. I recall being in the exact same pose at my first preteen dance. The locked arms and partner at a distance being due to nerves, not anything showing on her sweater.

Come to think, the sweater may have had something to do with the pose.
posted by Hardcore Poser at 2:13 PM on January 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

Am I the only one who thinks this looks kind of fun? And would have appreciated a distraction from my absolute terror at school dances?
posted by emilyd22222 at 6:53 PM on January 26, 2010