Patent: Electrostatically Enhanced Game

Patent Number/filing date: 4553748, filed in 1983

Ignoring the fact that ‘electrostatically’ isn’t a real word, the concept itself is strange. Are you tired of winning games and getting a cute graphic or some music? Would you prefer to get some ‘charge’ from your game? Well, this patent, had it gone through, would have allowed for the creation of games that give low level static jolts to winners that are enough to make your hair stand on end, but not so much as to cause damage. The idea stemmed from a game in which you would be rabbit hunting and if you missed, the rabbit fired on you which would result in a electric jolt. (This game is for real!) Unfortunately, this jolt could actually be dangerous, go figure, so some inventor decided to tweak it so that you only get a safe jolt which makes your hair stand on end. Unsurprisingly, you won’t find anything like this on the shelves. Who wants to get jolted as a reward?