A chilled vending machine / gambling device hybrid. Put 20p into the slot, pull the handle and who knows what you'll get for lunch? A watermelon, and two cherries? Three oranges? Nothing?
I think this is a winner for two reasons. Firstly, like it or not, fruit does not capture the emotion of a large number of our population, whereas gambling, generally, does. This makes fruit, erm, sexy.
Secondly, no staff are needed, and so many public places would be happy to install a real fruit machine as a money maker. This would make healthy snacking a much more widespread option than currently.-- Fishrat, Jan 07 2004 Random Soda http://www.halfbake.../idea/Random_20Sodanon-healthy version by [pnewp] [krelnik, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004] When life gives you lemons, double or quits.-- English Bob, Jan 07 2004 dont they also have those bell thingies on the slot machine? what happens if i get that? +-- nomadic_wonderer, Jan 07 2004 Two reasons i like this, i was going to post this along time ago and i would love to see what the jackpot would be..the winner smashed on the floor covered in apples,melons, pineapples, grapefruits, cherries, bananas, passionfruit, kiwifruits, and grapes to name a few...groaning under the weight of it all.-- skinflaps, Jan 07 2004 Great healthy idea. Similar other ideas are possible. Replacement required almost daily. I am sure people aorund me would love it. How do We implement that.?-- artist, Jan 07 2004 important question: how do you stop the bananas from getting jammed in the mechanism, and badly bruised?-- rbl, Jan 07 2004 Cleanliness and rotting are two very important issues. Fruit flies, no matter how they're dressed, are never sexy.-- k_sra, Jan 07 2004 I keep mashing my croissant release button, but all I meen to get are cherries. Very very nice, [Fishrat]! Perhaps include a fruit smoothie maker in the device. Play for grapes and end-up with oranges ... just make your shake and move on ...-- Letsbuildafort, Jan 07 2004 //fruit smoothie//
Avoid the spoilage problem if the machine has pictures of the fruit, and mixes a drink for you. "A plum, an orange, and a jalapeno. Do I roll again? I've already lost 700 bucks in this thing..."-- Amos Kito, Jan 07 2004 <crossing fingers> No jalapeno no jalapeno no jalapeno ... </cf>-- Letsbuildafort, Jan 07 2004 =BAR=
chocolate?-- po, Jan 07 2004 Tofu. damn.-- Letsbuildafort, Jan 07 2004 Well, the machine would be refrigerated, and I guess the programme could be set to ensure that any fruit within 2 days of it's "best before" date were added to a jackpot accumulator and splurged out all at once. Also, internal marshmallow padding could prevent bruising? The kids would never know...-- Fishrat, Jan 07 2004 Oh, it's for kids? I didn't catch that.-- k_sra, Jan 07 2004 pesky kids..-- po, Jan 07 2004 No, it's not just for kids. I just think the kids are more likely to want to steal the marshmallow than eat the friut, because of the way they're conditioned. But the Real Fruit Machine is for everyone, k_sra. even you. Fancy two pineapples and a cumquat?-- Fishrat, Jan 08 2004 i'm sure the fruit industry would appreciate this.-- Space-Pope, Jan 08 2004 //Fancy two pineapples and a cumquat?//
Fresh! *slap*-- k_sra, Jan 08 2004 Beats my cherries and banana, but way to score with the ladies, Fishy!-- Letsbuildafort, Jan 08 2004 //Fresh! *slap*// Sorry, I must have been feeling a bit fruity.
Another thought though - some fruit will stay fresh longer than others, so you'd have to program the Real Fruit Machine to give away certain fruits more quickly/frequently than others.-- Fishrat, Jan 08 2004 And this takes us all the way back to those fumes fruit give off that cause nearby fruit to ripen even faster. I don't think the whole-fruit idea will work, [Fr], but maybe there's a niche for the smoothies.
Slot machine smoothies. LottoSmoothie. You would not choose your beverage size either. Jackpot is the gallon, I bet.-- k_sra, Jan 08 2004 <jingle> Cup your hands, and close your eyes, get ready for the LottoSmoothie suprise! </j>-- Letsbuildafort, Jan 08 2004 (Oh help!) LOL-- k_sra, Jan 08 2004 This started out as such a wholesome idea. <sigh>-- Fishrat, Jan 10 2004 // those bell thingies ..... what happens if i get that? //
Bell peppers ?
+-- 8th of 7, Jan 10 2004 random, halfbakery