Got this in my favorites for quite a while, never had time to write about it though. The Unstabalizer is a cool application to be used in bars or on events (well any place where they sell drinks actually).
“The Unstabalizer is an interactive, social application system, to be used in bars, clubs or any other location or event which sells different types of alcohol. Unlike regular bars where the prices of drinks are static, the Unstabalizer can turn a bar into a dynamic, self-organizing system similar to a stock exchange – The price of a drink (a “stock”) is set based on demand – The more people buy a certain drink, its price will rise, causing the prices of other drinks in this alcoholic stock market to fall. The owners and organizers use the system to set the initial prices and can also set minimum prices, to avoid loss due to “market dynamics”. But it is during the bar’s activity period that the real drinking interaction occurs as prices fluctuate based on alcohol consumption – Sometimes beer will be low and Whiskey high, but then as people rush to buy beer, it’s price will rise, causing the price of Whiskey to drop. The Unstabalizer is an exciting alcoholic interactive experience, designed to spice up any social space.”
The application is built as a distributed Flash application, more of the technical stuff to be found on the creator’s website. Know a bar where they use this? Let me know, would love to check it out.
[Via we make money not art]
Maybe they don’t use the same piece of software but a couple of months ago I visited “The Flat”, a mansion in the Pippelingstraat in Brussels where you can have your after-work drinks in a room of your choice (we were in the bathroom!). And yes, the prices of several drinks depend on demand. I couldn’t help but feeling ripped off paying €4,50 for a Corona though..
I know for sure there is a bar in Paris that has this. I cannot for the life of me recall the name–I was actually trying to Google it and came across this site. But it’s definitely out there.
Thanks varun – I’ll be in Paris sometime mid June so it you were ever to come up with the name of that bar than I’m more than interested to find out :)
This is used at a bar called Dow Jones Bar in Barcelona, Spain. Do you know how to obtain the software though? I visited the creators website and it looks dated and has no contact info. I am actually trying to replicate this bar concept in Chicago, IL. Any help you can give would be apprecaited.
Please respond to my email…
Sorry Ryan – Found this on the web once and linked to what I found. I have no further information on this than what you can find in this post.