Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Random direction chooser

Get help when feeling like getting lost
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A simple device with three lightable arrows (right, straight, left) that attaches to the dashboard of your car. If you feel like taking a joy ride but don't want to go to the familiar places, press a button on the device and it will randomly light up the direction you should go in. Preferably for use at intersections only. (GPS link optional if you feel like getting home eventually)
fleasting, Jun 29 2000

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       Who needs help getting lost?
RobEC, Jul 24 2000
  

       Back In The Day my old girlfriend and I used to do this with dice. It would have been useful to have a Palm program or device to do it instead (rolling dice in a car is hard, and its easy to loose them).
amadeus, Jul 25 2000
  

       It'd be nice if it kept a log of the directions taken, so you could backtrack...
bookworm, Jul 25 2000
  

       I've seen several GPS navigation systems that give you the oppurtunity to choose between the fastest route, the most economic route and the most joyable route. The most enjoyable route has more than 20 different routes. So if you'll choose a random town/city/village at home and let your GPS system find some route, you'll be able to do this 20 times each destination.. that'll be enough joyriding I guess ;).   

       Ofcource this is slightly different than your halfbakery, the GPS system wouldn't choose realtime, rolling a dice will and will probably be alot cheaper hehe!
enveekaa, Jul 25 2000
  

       All too much bother. Just give the map to your mother and let the fun begin. Works best when hurrying to weddings and other far-flung engagements.
ajt, Oct 17 2000
  

       I like it! I actually used this method several times in the college/post-college era to choose where to go to eat when nobody could decide. I think we had the passengers doing paper rock and scissors to choose the directions. The first restaurant we happened across won.   

       Another time when I was very bored (when on extended travel for work but over a holiday), I decided that I would drive (I started out west on a road I hand no idea where it went) until I had to turn (ie a T intersection) and then I would always turn right. It served its purpose as I ended up killing about two hours driving in a 30 mile square. It just so happened that I ended up at the same intersection I started at.   

       I've got an old RadioShack "Executive Descision Maker" which would serve this purpose. Its one of the little woodgrained cube with lights and buttons family of "Executive Toy" products that they used to sell. You press the button and it comes up with a random executive descision (I think these are standard issue for CEOs nowadays, or at least it seems that way...). Just re-label the lights and you are all set. Not as nifty as a custom arrow setup but it will do the job.   

       While we're on it, the "Executive Stress Eliminator" (Cat. # 60-2214) which has various lazer, bomb, and blaster sound effects could be adapted for the car as well. Sure would be fun to nuke that guy who just cut you off...   

       [more]   

       I just thought of another thing the device should do... It should have a random time delay. Instead of making a decision at every intersection (or every Nth intersection depending on how you are playing), when you hit the button a random timer of say 0 sec to 10 minutes starts and at the end of the time the arrow lights up. You then make the turn at the next applicable intersection. Alternatively a number generator could be added to tell you how many intersections (1-9 to keep it simple) to go in the direction specified before playing again.
bjt, Nov 01 2000
  

       Has this been done already? A reality tv show based on the randomised adventures of a busload of randomly chosen people?
rayfo, Dec 02 2000
  

       No, unless by "random" you mean "planned by the show's producers" (then this is a fairly good description of MTV Road Rules.)
jutta, Dec 02 2000
  
      
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