Pretty simple really. a bartop with holes like an airhockey table that have air comming out so you can slide your beer old west style down to people at the other end of the bar when your at the beer taps up the other end. The bartop would need a bit of a lip on the outside to stop the drinks sliding off, and rubber coasters with channels to let the air out of the bottom would also need to be used to stop peoples drinks sliding away. For a really authentic old west feel you could give the beers huge heads so that the patrons can blow it in the face of their nearest foes.
-- Gulherme, Aug 18 2002

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-- thumbwax, Aug 18 2002


you could possibly turn this into a tabletop game (like snooker) the one with the most beer in their glasses at the end of the game wins. hand-propelled glasses of differing colours possibly pushing balls or little tot glasses of whiskey (chasers) down into pockets?
-- po, Aug 18 2002


Every now and again, the jets could switch from pressure to vacuum and remove any spilled beer. You could use this for plates of food, too. Crrroooiiiisss........... oops, missed it.
-- 8th of 7, Aug 18 2002


Not needed on a properly treated bar top. Multiple layers of lacquer produce a nice sliding surface.

I don't think sucking the liquids in would be a good idea, unless you collect them and sell it as the end of the night mystery shot. I suppose you could purge the system with a giant blast of air every hour and keep the patrons on their toes.
-- dag, Aug 18 2002


Also good for keeping the totaly plastered guys off the counter. Once the night gets long, and those damn people wont leave, seal yourself in your burgaler safe room, and turn it up full blast to literally push them out the door. No fuss, no muss.
-- El Hefe, Aug 18 2002


A really skilled barperson would be able to give a glass a gentle shove so that the drink slides slooowly down the bar, coming to a stop next to the freshly-emptied glass of the dipsomaniac at the far end. +
-- calum, Aug 18 2002


I'm thinking it's time for a game of "Beer Curling".. except without the brooms
-- Mr Burns, Aug 19 2002


You'd have to crank the air up a little to provide any real benefit to anything as heavy as a beer mug.
-- RayfordSteele, Aug 19 2002


If you stick with the old-fashioned varnished bartop, the solution might be to have thick drink coasters with a beermat on the top, and a cavity underneath into which is placed a pellet of dry ice, making the coaster slide like a puck. After a couple of minutes, the CO2 sublimes away, and the coaster settles gently onto the bar. No air jets, no compressors, no noise, no modifications. But tricky to slide a Bad Guy the whole length of the bar and head first into the piano ....
-- 8th of 7, Aug 19 2002


Anything involving a bar and the speedy delivery of beer to the thirsty patron gets my bread every time.
-- panamaxer, Aug 20 2002


There's always the jerk who'll point behind you before he tosses the beer...it's unavoidable...and he always wins
-- gniterobot, Aug 20 2002



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