Domecq tries pub video link chat-up game

Allied Domecq is putting videophone technology into its pubs to allow customers to chat to each other up while they are miles apart.

Xchange, a new system employing cameras, video screens and microphones, is being put into Allied Domecq Leisure’s Firkin and Scruffy Murphy’s pubs this week.

A dating game, Lust In Space, will allow members of the opposite sex to match up characteristics, flirt and eye each other up – down ISDN lines. Customers pay for the game using a smartcard that can be cashed-up at the bar. The game is being sponsored by Allied Domecq brands Tia Maria and Beefeaters.

Other services include a videophone service, a message-sending system and a talent competition.

The product is an extension of Allied Domecq’s Pubnet system which was tested last year with a football game called Fantasy Park.

It has been created by new media company CHBi. It launches in seven pubs in the South-east this week and if successful, will be rolled out across the country.

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