Toylets

From Sega Retro

To do

  • Find a proper Toylet logo.
  • Fix ReleasesToylet so it shows US releases.
  • Clean up Toylet template icon.
  • Create section about cost, Free Play mode, and the 10 yen coin box.
  • Create section about hardware design, how it mostly conceals the downward-facing sensor, why that's important for this kind of product. And how they undid a lot of that concealment with the front-facing infrared "user detector" sensor.
  • Consider removing list of games, leaving MainArticle and that brief summary, but regardless write a unique summary for the dedicated List of Toylet games page (basically a brief big-picture look at the average takeaway from their playstyles, why there were only 8 games, and why 2 were essentially just v2 updates.)
  • Once we nail down the specifics of how many of these games were localized and exported, rewrite any relevant articles to correct mentions of exclusivity/etc.
  • Make a decision on and later standardize if Toylet gets an s when pluralized.
  • Create section about interactive urinals, brief history of the idea, and that while virtually all previous attempts were art projects/very limited release, the Toylet was really the first that was an actual sold product for installation anywhere, and with customer support for over a decade.
  • Research game distribution method (USB sticks?) and what OS the system actually runs and is most equivalent to for comparison.
  • Research the degree of balance which Toylet's games actually have. Many appear to be simple "push harder for bigger number" games, but I'm curious as to whether AM1 went in and gave significant consideration to the intricacies of the gameplay balance... does it get harder in "higher levels"?
  • Research how many games could be played on a Toylet at once, and if the system even offered the ability to change between games.
  • Tag all Toylet-related images with relevant tags.
  • Games were about $125, system was about $1750.
  • Looks like there was a 10 yen coin box attachment.
  • There was an additional piece of the system I'm seeing, just a variation on the screen that houses it in a clean frosted-glass enclosure (see here and here for examples).
  • Sales ended in May 2016 (both main unit and software), maintenance ended in March 2021. ref.
  • So the DX version of Manneken Pis appeared at the trade show in those photos. If those photos are from the launch/first appearance/late 2011, then it would be safe all Toylet software was released alongside the system, and no additional games were developed post-launch.
  • The official website lists a total of 180 installed locations in Japan. The real count is likely much higher than that, both depending on when they stopped updating that page and the amount of non-listed, private, or second-hand installations.
  • So I'm seeing NOTHING for Graffiti Eraser. No promos, no ads, no press releases. We have- almost one screenshot (its cropped), some off-camera footage, and a few mentions from news articles around its trade show appearances/launch. Which is curious, because its easily the most interactive and game-like experience, but even I ended up writing a thing about how its the game which could cause the most "spills". Is there any correlation here? Did Sega have this great idea on paper (and its a honkin great idea imo), but then in implementation realized people were whipping their- "handheld interfaces" back and forth and getting urine outside of the basin? And then reeled it out of most promotional material? I don't know, maybe it's just not popping up much, but there really needs to be verification of any correlation between gameplay and decreased bathroom cleanliness here.
  • The stand likely doubled as a wall mount in some way, but get that verified.
  • A dedicated section on Toylet less as an upgrade to an existing installed toilet and more as an investment in a promotable attraction. I touched on this previously but the more I do research, people were installing Toylets left and right for their notoriety. To such an extent that the official website lists a section of reviews/thoughts from venue owners post-installation, and the majority are saying that their customers are specifically coming in to experience the Toylets. One even called it a "show/event in the bathroom". Which isn't too far off honestly.
  • Owners are saying it reduces both maintenance AND mischief/vandalism/etc in bathrooms. Which I can totally see. Most bathrooms are solid concrete indestructible things, but then you walk into a Toylet-equipped restroom and its suddenly like oh there's a dedicated system here and there are wires and electronics everywhere, and I feel like all of that kinda contributes to a slight "no broken windows" thing.
  • Just a thought: how do you actually activate a Toylet game? Is there just one always running per urinal, ready to go, and you just walk up and it starts "detecting" and starts the game? I suppose this ties into the whole "could a system run more than one game at a time" question. And this FURTHER brings up the question of how the whole "save your high scores to a USB drive" thing works: There aren't any user-accessible buttons otherwise, so presumably you'd just plug your drive in and the Toylet would just- force your scores onto your USB? which- brings up yet ANOTHER question of interface: at first sight, I thought the Toylet had a touchscreen. I know that's dumb in retrospect (a touchscreen. in a bathroom.) but hey. No touchscreen, no buttons the player can access... I really can't see any way Toylets could have run more that one game at a time (outside of maybe some time-based revolving system to switch the game from an internal selection of a few more, jukebox style?)
  • SoJ maintained a list of common non-compatible urinals for buyers to look through before purchasing, to ensure theirs wasnt on the list.
  • The stand/mounting bracket comes in three types according to the urinal shape.
  • The sensor is waterproof ("equivalent" to IPX5). The main body and coin box are not.
  • Toylet's 100V power supply was was not specific to the system or included with purchase.
  • "Designed for male urinals only." (and this is totally for down the road, but something I want to eventually address: is this the first commercially-produced gender-specific video game system? Or to be more accurate, genitalia-specific? On a design and intention level, yes, but tbh... in the right type of urinal, with some recalibration/etc, this could absolutely be gender-neutral right?
  • States Toylets are limited to Japan. "Currently limited", but I doubt they made any big show of that English release of Milk from the Nose/others.
  • The "notification screen" (advertising screens?) can only display .jpg/.bmp, and not videos.
  • Venue owners updated advertising/"notification" screens with a "dedicated" USB. They probably just mean any USB stick, but it might have to be specifically-formatted?

CartridgeCulture (talk) 01:52, 3 November 2021 (EDT)

Product codes

Researching "pressure-sensitive" Toylets?

Hello! If you're researching a pressure-sensitive element to the Toylet, just a heads-up: It appears the term 'pressure-sensitive' was used a few times in promotional material to describe the way the system's sensor works. The Toylet doesn't actually have a pressure sensor, or what we would know in the West as like, a dedicated pad or device in the rear of the urinal which physically detects liquid being hit against it. They were really saying "the fancy camera sensor is calibrated so it knows when you're pushing out more." Basically it just Wii sensorbars what's going on down there, and when it sees the width and/or splash radius of the stream increase in relation to the bulls-eye, the Toylet knows when you're urinating with more "pressure".

To further elaborate, the system was specifically-designed to not require such a sensor, and to be used with virtually any urinal produced. Which was one of its big selling points, and one of the features Sega hoped would carry their interactive toilet past novelty to a commercially-viable product. Which still didn't happen, but Sega more or less did everything correctly on this one, and it was just the fact that the interactive urinal market doesn't really exist in any meaningful way. CartridgeCulture (talk) 22:52, 7 November 2021 (EST)

woah woah what

  • Toylet MilkfromtheNose US SouthKoreainstall.png

What is this. What. Okay, okay so. These games were localized, maybe. At least this one was, I couldn't imagine it was the only one. I did read one article hinting it was available outside Japan, but it was phrased in such a way that wasn't really definitive... And this is entirely disregarding it being installed in South Korea (they're basically handheld systems, they're everywhere in the aftermarket). But seriously okay wow, this is going to change some things. At this point I wouldn't be surprised if we start discovering new games too.

EDIT: Another link with a South Korean installation of an English Milk from the Nose. Probably the same one, but the article fairly confidently mentions that it's being installed in other places around South Korea. Hm....

CartridgeCulture (talk) 01:19, 8 November 2021 (EST)

Images for eventual incorporation

  • Toylet USBpromoimage.png

    Once the Advertising section gets filled out, work this into and expand the USB section.

CartridgeCulture (talk) 05:38, 9 November 2021 (EST)

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