fur
«Painstation»

The painstation is an arcade cabinet. The opponents stand facing each other. The duel is based on pong, the well known game of console tennis from the early days.
The instructions are easily explained: The player’s right hand uses a knob to control his pad. The left hand has to remain on the PEU (Pain-Execution-Unit), so it creates an electric circuit. The game can start. Moving the paddle vertically the ball must be subtly returned into the opponent’s direction. If a player misses the ball, it’s not only annoying but also painful. This slip causes massive anguish. How massive depends on which PIS (Pain- Inflictor-Symbol) the lost ball hits: heat, lashes or electric shocks all of different duration and combination torment the left hand (the new name of «pang» comes to the authors’ minds). In case one of the competitors lifts his hand off the PEU –either out of painoverload or he blacks out- he loses the duel.
And sorry to say, he has to bear the «loser’s brunt.» The winner gets it all: the respect, the booze and the sexual attention. The next time someone urges you politely to choose the weapon, choose the painstation.

The PainStation is a custom-made two player table console, driven by an Apple PowerPC. The analog/mechanical parts of the interface are controlled via an analog/digital converter and hand-crafted electronics. The game itself is a beefed-up version of the classic Pong written in Macromedia Director.

(Source: Volker Morawe/Tilman Reiff: www.painstation.de)