‘Husband Pods’ In China: While Wife Shops, Husband Can Play 90s Retro Games
China has introduced so-called “husband pods” as a means to keep a wife’s spouse, boyfriend, or partner occupied while they go shopping. Of course, these pods aren’t necessarily exclusive to husbands alone, but the moniker does play off the joke that goes way back before this kind of technology existed to accommodate an unoccupied husband/spouse, according to Geek.com.
In fact, chances are anyone would enjoy checking out this unique piece of technology as a resting spot for weary shoppers or energetic geeks eager to do some retro-gaming. It looks similar to those wind-tunnel booths that are also installed at malls here in America, and apparently, it looks like a display case for human beings.
More specifically, these “husband storage pods” were installed at a Shanghai World Bank mall. The equipment appears to be similar to a coin-op arcade game but with comfortable seating accommodations.
A couple of gentlemen gave their testimonial regarding these rest areas, stating how they don’t care for going shopping with their girlfriends/partners and how these facilities do well at occupying their spare time.
However, Mr. Wu did mention a drawback. Apparently, after so much time spent inside of them, it has a tendency to get sweltering, according to BBC News. So it would seem it would need some kind of climate control for optimal comfort.
“There’s no ventilation or air conditioning, I sat playing for five minutes and was drenched in sweat.”
If this is the case, why contain the chairs in an non-ventilated glass pod? Of course, there’s a matter of keeping these expensive units safe from vandals.
Mall Installs Pods Where Wives Can Park Their Husbands While They Shop https://t.co/TOn9qPX6LR pic.twitter.com/bXyENgJnbj
— Geek.com (@geekdotcom) July 17, 2017
There are currently four of these husband storage pods installed at World Bank shopping malls and is currently in trial use, according to The Paper, and is free to use. The staffers mentioned they will be trying to get units installed in Shanghai and a perfected version completed as well. They likened it to that of a paid public restroom facility. According to BBC News, it revealed that there will be a fee via a smartphone, QR scan-in service in the future.
The games library has been touted to be 90s classic games like Robocop and Tekken 3. From the outside appearance, do these look to be aesthetically appealing? Would you use them when taking a break from a long shopping spree as opposed to reading a book?
Do you think these husband pods will catch on in the United States?
[Featured Image by Sean Gallup/Getty Images]
