2021. The Simpsons Colonoscopy Party is an interactive electromechanical experience built by me and Jeffrey Larson. It is a one-of-a-kind machine in a stand-up arcade game format. The player acts as doctor giving Homer Simpson a colonoscopy. It’s better to think of it more as a ride than a game. Like a real colonoscopy, it’s disorienting and there is no way to win.
Homer’s colon is a physical model built inside the cabinet of the machine. When the player steers the colonoscope, an actual camera moves around on a trolley inside the model colon, with live video fed to the screen.
I was the primary artist on this project, responsible for the concept, engineering, fabric models, and software. Jeffrey was responsible for the graphics for the cabinet art and on-screen elements, the doctor’s office diorama, and other clay sculptural pieces. Cabinet art printing by arcademarquee.com. Additional software by Phineas Kibbey.
Exhibited at Electric Sky 2021, Vermillion Art Gallery, NW Pinball and Arcade Show 2022, & Time Warp.
The Simpsons Colonoscopy Party was selected as The Stranger Suggests item of the day on Jan 9 2023. The Stranger later published a full length article about the machine, with the headline “A Cartoon Colon Pathway to Seattle’s Future – Seattle’s Weirdest Arcade Game Is a Butt-Shaped Iceberg of a Larger Tech-Arts Movement“. It was also the subject of a popular TikTok.
The Simpsons Colonoscopy Party is available for public viewing and interaction at Time Warp Bar on Capitol Hill, Seattle.