[scrumper]

Clever and simple. I like it. There are all sorts of serious uses for this, some scary, some exciting. Here's a silly one: I saw a large group of people playing a game of Quiddich in Central Park earlier in the summer. A smaller, faster version of this would make a great snitch(sp?) for them.

[mistercow]

That would solve one of the many, many problems with "Muggle Quidditch". I have a lot of proposals for how they could turn that into a good game though.

First, ditch the brooms. You're riding unicycles from now on. Second, the bludgers need to be medicine balls and they need to be tethered to a fleet of quadrotors flying above using sophisticated algorithms to adjust their flight paths so that they attack players and veer off when hit with bats. And then yes, finally, the snitch needs to be a robot.

Then you'll have something I'd be willing to watch people play.

[xerophtye]

though unicycles? that sounds HARD :/ why not just run around? (or use those cool two-wheeled platform type bikes)

[mistercow]

Well, a few reasons. Broomstick riding is supposed to be hard, so unicycle riding seems like a reasonable analogue. Another reason is that it has the similar aspect of falling off, while still being extremely maneuverable.

And lastly, I have this mental image of a nerdy guy peddling a unicycle like hell away from a 20 lb flying medicine ball, while another player cruises over to smack it out of the way with a baseball bat. There is no way any alternative is going to live up to that vision.