13 Years On, Japanese Investigation Finds Sega's Toylet Still Attracts A "Stream" Of Users 1
Image: Sega

Back in 2011, Sega released one of its oddest pieces of hardware yet – the Toylet.

Developed by Sega R&D1, it effectively turned going for a piss into an interactive entertainment experience; it comprised of an LCD screen, a motion-tracking sensor (to detect the player) and a downwards-facing sensor which tracks both the speed of the player's urine stream and the amount of water passed.

The object was to focus the person's attention and thereby avoid urine ending up on the floor – which would hopefully result in cleaner restrooms. High scores achieved in the one of the available games could be saved to a USB drive, giving the whole thing a competitive edge.

You might recognise this system from its appearance in Yakuza Kiwami 2:

Eight games were released for the Toylets system:

  • Bukkake Battle! Hana Kara Gyuunyuu / Milk Jet Battle (2011)
  • Bukkake Battle! Hana Kara Gyuunyuu: Banchou Battle (2011)
  • Dokitsu! Boufuu Keihou Hatsurei (2011)
  • Graffiti Eraser (2011)
  • Panel Quiz Chou Nyo-ryoku (2011)
  • Nyounai Checker (2011)
  • Tamero! Shoubengozou (2011)
  • Tamero! Shoubengozou Deluxe (2011)

While the concept is certainly original, Sega discontinued the Toylets line in 2016 and ceased offering aftersales support in 2021 – which begs the question: How many of these units are still in active use? That's what BEEP Shop decided to find out.

"What will the stores that have it installed and how well it's working in 2024?" says the reporter. "That's what got me interested in the first place. I looked online and found a list of stores that had it installed at the time of release, but I couldn't find any information on whether it still exists there or whether it's still playable. The internet is full of information about game centers and restaurants, but while people may upload photos of games and food, there's no way there are people who like to take photos of store toilets and post them."

This search was obviously not exhaustive, as it was limited to Tokyo and Kanagawa. However, what's surprising is that many stores still have their Toylet units installed. While some are out of order (and likely never to be repaired, given that Sega no longer offers support for them), a great many remain in action.

Have you been lucky enough to try out one of these unique machines? Let us know with a comment.

[source beep-shop.com, via x.com]