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History
Development of the Toylets began in 2006. The idea was born during a discussion about how to incorporate games into daily life so that people would feel closer to games. Arata Jumonji, the creator and chief director of the development team, explained:
“When you were a child, you would draw pictures on snow with your urine, or aim for the ball-shaped disinfectant in the urinal. Maybe you were playing games unconsciously. This may not be understood by women, but I’ve always thought of it as the first controller that boys hold in their hands.”
With that concept in mind, the team decided to build a game that would detect the flow of urine to control the action. While this might sound simple, the sensor needed to distinguish the flow of urine from the flow of water when the toilet was flushed, as well as from any movement of body parts in front of the sensor. To achieve this, Sega collected urination data from more than 1,000 people.
In 2008, the first prototype was installed in the men’s restroom at Sega headquarters (Ota Ward, Tokyo). The initial reaction was very positive, but the team quickly realized there was no clear market for the device. At that point, Sega had been out of the home video game console business for some time and therefore had no sales channels outside its arcade network. Because the Toylets were aimed at commercial facilities to entertain customers, they did not fit Sega’s existing distribution model. This was a serious issue that the team needed to solve for the product to become a commercial success. The team nearly gave up multiple times; without clients, there was little reason to continue developing the technology. However, Sega has never shied away from a challenge. They had previously taken the karaoke parlor market by storm with the release of the Prologue 21 in 1999, and they believed they could do it again with the Toylets. They simply needed the right angle. It did not take long for the team to realize that the screen could also be used to display advertisements—an extremely attractive feature for commercial users.
In August 2010, Sega demonstrated the game at the prestigious FOOD STYLE Japan Exhibition (formerly known as the Izakaya Industry Exhibition) in Tokyo. To showcase the product, Sega modified a garden fountain of the Manneken Pis (a cherub peeing) so that the cherub would start peeing when a button was pressed. The team named the statue Shonta, and he became the star of the event. Public interest was piqued, but no serious inquiries followed. Still, a few companies showed interest. The question then became how Sega could convince them to buy. The development team came up with a plan: they installed screens similar to those used in the Sega Toylets in pachinko parlors in Tokyo and conducted surveys at the toilet exits. They displayed four types of food products both on the Toylets screen and on paper advertisements to measure differences in recognition. The results were favorable: 51% of people who saw the Toylets remembered all four products, compared with only 15% of those who saw the paper advertisement.
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| Toylets early prototype | The development of Toilets | Machida Hirotaka, development team producer |
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| Toylets being display at the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in 2014 |
The test proved to the development team that their product could have a real impact on advertising, so they decided to put it to the test in an izakaya (an informal Japanese bar that serves alcoholic drinks and snacks) in Tokyo during the New Year period. Before the test, the store had been resistant to displaying menus in the restrooms, but the owners were pleased with the results, which also attracted more young customers who came to play the games. The test delivered quick results: advertised menu items were ordered 2.2 times more frequently during the two-
week trial.
The results were presented to Sega executives, who finally gave the go-ahead. Just when everything was finally taking shape, the Great East Japan Earthquake occurred on March 11. With the need to conserve electricity, selling a product that was essentially a video game console for the toilet no longer seemed like the right move. The project was once again on the verge of being canceled, but the izakaya industry began supporting the disaster-stricken areas by selling sake from the Tohoku region. This convinced Sega to continue with the project, with one small change: the addition of a “power-saving mode.”
With final approval from Sega, the team began the considerable task of creating a commercially viable version of the product. Up to that point, the prototype had been too expensive (priced at ¥300,000) and too heavy. The weight needed to be under 3 kg so that restroom walls could support it. Eventually, the weight was reduced to 2.9 kg. The final model featured a speed sensor and dual sensors that functioned as both a motion sensor and an infrared reflective sensor.
Release
The Sega Toylets were first pre-released in the Yoronotaki izakaya chain in October 2011, which generated buzz around the product. On November 21, 2011, the console was officially released alongside eight games (each costing ¥10,000). While the product created significant media attention, its adoption was very slow, largely due to the high cost. Although Sega claimed that installing the Toylets offered benefits such as increased sales and cleaner bathrooms (since peeing outside the toilet would not count toward a player’s score), the return on investment was difficult to achieve—especially for establishments with many urinals.
By the end of May 2014, only 420 Toylets consoles had been installed in 250 locations. While the main market remained restaurants and amusement facilities, Sega also saw some success in hospitals and medical facilities and was aiming to expand into other business types. Sega also tried to reach home users by making the Toylets available for residential use.
There were also inquiries from overseas that Sega would have liked to accommodate. However, expanding internationally would have required localizing the games, which was too large an investment given the low sales figures at the time. That said, at least one game (Bukkake Battle! Hana Kara Gyuunyuu) was localized into English and displayed in South Korea. In addition, other companies such as Captive Media were already developing interactive urinal games for the UK market, which may have been another reason Sega preferred to grow the domestic market before venturing overseas.
DemiseBy 2016, sales of the Toylets had not improved significantly, and Sega decided to discontinue the product. Sales ended permanently in May 2016, while customer support remained available until March 2021.
Even after the Toylets were discontinued, Sega featured them in Yakuza Kiwami 2 (released December 7, 2017). Starting in Chapter 3, players can access the Toylets from the restroom door in Club SEGA and play either Milky Nose or The North Wind and the Sun… And Me.
GamesEight games were developed for the Sega Toylets. Each came on a USB stick and cost ¥10,000.
- Milky nose: Battle of the bosses is similar as Milky nose, but instead of “fighting” the CPU, you are playing against the previous Toylets user.
- The same seems to apply to Save it! Manneken Pis, although this haven’t been confirmed.
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| Hana Kara Gyuunyuu 鼻から牛乳 (Milky nose) [VIDEO] |
Hana Kara Gyuunyuu: Banchou Battle 鼻から牛乳: 番長バトル (Milky nose: Battle of the bosses) [VIDEO] |
Dokitsu! Boufuu Keihou Hatsurei ドキッ！暴風警報発令 (The North Wind and the Sun… And Me) Box #: XKT-1979-0003 USB #: MDA-U0030 |
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| Graffiti Eraser | Panel Quiz Chou Nyo-ryoku パネルクイズ超ニョ〜力 (Panel Quiz Super Nyo~ryoku) [VIDEO] |
Nyounai Checker 尿内チェッカー (Urine Checker) [VIDEO] Box #: XKT-1979-0005 USB #: MDA-U0032 |
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| Tamero! Shoubengozou 溜めろ！小便小僧 (Save it! Manneken Pis) [VIDEO] Box #: XKT-1979-0001 USB #: MDA-U0028A |
Tamero! Shoubengozou Deluxe 溜めろ！小便小僧 デラックス版 (Save it! Manneken Pis Deluxe Edition) [VIDEO] |
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