"Wear a gas mask and engage in a little breath play, with video tennis doubles…"
Thrill Laboratory have donned their whites and appropriated the classic arcade video tennis game, Pong. Rather than use joystick dexterity to control the position of the on-screen bat, players use their lung capacity.
A Ball Boy escorts two Opponents onto the court, into player seating situated either side of the Umpire's chair. He fits Gas Masks designed to monitor respiration and audibly amplify the sound of breathing. The Umpire instructs the Opponents: "breath in, and your bat goes up, breath out and your bat goes down. Breath quickly and your bat size increases. Hyperventilate, and the ball splits into two. Miss the ball and your opponent scores a point". Watched by an audience, Opponents grunt it out over a game of seven points.
A Tennis Ace is on hand for any singles requiring private tuition.
PerPing was first shown for 3 days at Cheltenham Science Festival 2011, where it excited over 200 players (from 8 to 92 years) and enthralled an audience of over a thousand.
PerPing features portable WiFi gas masks, developed for Horizon Digital Economy Research to explore the use of breathing to control fearsome entertainment experiences, including thrill rides, horror films, and computer games.
Disclaimer: The name PerPing is derived from the words HyPerventilation and Ping - a reference to Pong. It does not refer to a definition found in the Urban Dictionary.
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