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Equipped with Thrill Technology MkIV, Thrill Laboratory set out on the next stage of their quest to find the perfect formula for thrill. Their mission: to monitor riders on as many rides as possible to uncover similarities and patterns in their thrilling experience. But their experiments needed Guinea Pigs...
Supported by BBC Radio Nottingham, Thrill Laboratory launched an online competition to search for 16 riders with very specific Psychological Thrill Profiles to become Laboratory Guinea Pigs. From 200 applicants, 16 winners plus friends were chosen to ride 12 rides over 4 days at Alton Towers Resort. Rides included Nemesis, Air, Rita Queen of Speed, Duel, Congo River Rapids, Corkscrew, using the Runaway Minetrain as an experiment control...
Each day began with an introduction to the theories behind the Walker Thrill Factor - (i) the assessment of Emotions in terms of arousal and pleasure, (ii) how to identify thrill by monitoring arousal and pleasure, and (iii)the challenges facing the Laboratory in analysing even a 'simple' 3 minute ride.
During the day riders were handled by a Senior Thrill Technician, who prepared them for experiments conducted by a team of Thrill Technologists, led by Thrill Engineer Brendan Walker (who achieved the highest score on Duel)
Each day concluded with a screening of riders' face-cam videos of the day. These were used to produce souvenir videos along with physiological data and Psychological Thrill Profile results.
The event was covered by the Daily Mirror. |
