I am not a religious person. But whenever I'm in a church, I can't help but notice those ubiquitous boxes of little fake candles that always seem to pop up in places of Christian worship. You drop a quarter into the slot, and a little candle lights up as an offering, so you can pray.
Prayers, blah. If I'm going to give the church my hard-earned coin, I'd better get more than that. In today's entertainment-craving culture, watching candles light up isn't enough to grab people anymore. Why not add a pinball machine to the votive display? Now putting in more money gets you more prayers *and* more rounds of pinball! High scorers get more prayers. Best scorer gets absolved! Anyone who scores more than a million points with one ball is immediately canonized as a saint. This would generate extra donations for the church.
As a second option, the coins could activate a mechanical Jesus that tells your fortune.-- DrWorm, Nov 10 2009 The pray-o-mat http://www.technove...ntent.asp?Bnum=1378Prior art by Roger Zelazny [normzone, Nov 10 2009] Interesting [+]-- kaz, Nov 10 2009 I love the circus/religion idea. This is a very rich vein.-- WcW, Nov 10 2009 I'm rather good at pinball, and I'm an atheist.
I like the idea of someone like me being canonized.
Well done [+]-- jtp, Nov 10 2009 // the circus/religion idea// tautology.-- MaxwellBuchanan, Nov 10 2009 I'm so glad you were here to tell us that 21Q. Please don't hesitate to share your rustic musings in the future.-- WcW, Nov 10 2009 I don't really like pinball but I think this is a great idea. [+] Also, more progressive churches could have video games installed - Grand Theft Auto, or Modern Combat might be cool. You could have a screen and controller installed in every pew space for full-on mass networked gaming instead of dull sermons. -Really- progressive churches might host paintball tournaments (dodging behind tombs, running from gothic pillar to medieval rood-screen...), or mud wrestling bouts, to bring in the faithful and their coin, and to see which of them the God(s) really favour.-- pocmloc, Nov 10 2009 TILTTILTTILT-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Nov 10 2009 (Suprisingly?) I am with [21Q] on this one.-- vincevincevince, Nov 11 2009 'Revelation' is singular, [zt].-- RayfordSteele, Nov 11 2009 random, halfbakery