World's largest Etch A Sketch unveiled

In an apparent offering to the retro gadget gods, the world's largest Etch A Sketch was unveiled at the SIGGRAPH conference this week in Boston. And, as if a giant Etch A Sketch wasn't cool enough, it actually works. At the conference, some 3,000 people in the audience were able to control the monolith simultaneously by using two-sided paddles that signaled sensor cameras, letting one side of the audience control the right knob and the other side control the left knob. Things took a tragic turn, however, when the audience tried to shake the Etch A Sketch to erase their drawing, causing the entire structure to come crashing down on top of them, injuring dozens. Ok, just kidding about that last part, but the audience could actually shake the Etch A Sketch.

[Claudiu Spulber @ Aug 4th 2006 5:04AM]

"...causing the entire structure to come crashing down on top of them, injuring dozens"
Admit it, you wanted to say "killing". Say what games did you play lately (bet it's not Barbie)?

[Quins @ Aug 4th 2006 5:11AM]

interesting.. Click on the dials and spin them to draw either horizontal or vertical lines. You can also use the "i" "j" "k" and "l" keys to do the same. http://www.babygrand.com/games/etc.htm

[Pedro @ Aug 4th 2006 6:45AM]

I tell you what, if I'd invented it, there would have been more giant, square boobs involved.

[calebc @ Aug 4th 2006 7:19AM]

I will finally make Weird Al jealous.

[Hal @ Aug 4th 2006 9:14AM]

They should let this guy loose on it:

http://www.gvetchedintime.com

[Jason @ Aug 4th 2006 10:13AM]

Cool! and thanks for the link, Hal. GV's site is amazing.

So was anyone else surprised by the one factoid missing from the announcement of "the world's largest Etch-A-Sketch"? Namely, how large? No mention of size in the Engadget piece, the Gizmag piece, or the original press release at the Siggraph site. Maybe they just found someone really tiny to emcee the event, and they put him 200 feet away, so the etch-a-sketch is only 14 inches by 10 inches. :-)

[Scabrous Vermicelli @ Aug 4th 2006 10:23AM]

They've done the 3000-people-with-paddles thing before at SIGGRAPH...Las Vegas, 1991...15 years ago! They used it as input for the SGI 'flight' game, and the audience collective was able to maneuver the plane fairly competently.

[james @ Aug 4th 2006 2:22PM]

This is all they can come up with? They did something similar in 91 (!) with an audience controlling a flight simulator - which I think is a bit cooler than this... though they are tracing a teapot, so there that's a little redemption.