Culture: Amusement Park: Ride: Dodgem
Zorbital Dodgem   (+1, -1)  [vote for, against]
When two dimensions are just not enough, you need...

...3D bumper cars.

Basically round padded roll cages, each with a gimbaled seat inside. The cages rest at the ends of high tension cables which connect to the base of a central, tapering tower, and the tower sits atop a circular, sloping floor.

The winch mechanisms, which control how far out the zorbitals can travel away from the tower, are connected to the tower on motorized grapples that follow a series of circular tracks at intervals up to the top.
Which track the grapple follows is dependant upon how fast it is moving, because each track has derail sections allowing the grapple to climb or descend.
The person in each zorbital has control of the grapples' speed and winch.
The tower will not be free standing, but connected to the ceiling of an enormous room because if all of the zorbitals happen to synchronize the strain on the tower would probably topple it.
If two of the zorbitals become entangled they will orbit each other, and will not be able to be controlled until they counter spin and go flying apart in different directions.
This is easier to picture with... a picture. [Link]
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Oct 19 2003

Sketch. http://s68.photobuc...umpercarscopy-1.jpg
Look out. I've grasped the rudiments of my daugters' Crayola Art program. [2 fries shy of a happy meal, Oct 04 2004, last modified Jun 24 2008]

Gets my YES, YES, YES! vote. But then again, I always loved Descent.
-- RayfordSteele, Oct 19 2003


Mighty descent of you.
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Oct 20 2003


Descent always brings me down. + anyway.
-- lintkeeper2, Oct 20 2003


Very cool, [two fries]. I like the glowing zorbitals. +
-- k_sra, Oct 20 2003


I was just thinking that this would be a lot more fun if each zorbital had full auto paintball capabilities, and if the occupant could also control the gimbaled seats' position so you can shoot at the person coming up behind you while zipping around backwards. he he
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Oct 21 2003


I'll let you know as soon as I find out what a tesselated floor is.
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Oct 22 2003


You'd think that I would have known what that was, but I honestly thought it had something to do with Tesla. Tell you what, if you cough up the money to build this I'll do a tessellated mosaic mural on the floor that’ll put anything done by the Romans to shame.
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Oct 22 2003


Now that we've got that one figured out, which way is the floor?
-- RayfordSteele, Oct 22 2003


I think [UnaBubba] was referring to the pictures of my latest slate job that are in the linked folder. My helper set up some web space for me to post sketches for the HB as I am still too computer illiterate to make a sight of my own (yet). He uploads digital pictures of my tile work to this space so I can copy and paste them into my portfolio.
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Oct 23 2003


Wonderful idea and illustration, fry fry. Puh-lussss!
-- waugsqueke, Oct 23 2003



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