I'm really more focused on the laser-tag thing.  I agree the arcade/family fun center seems to be more trouble than it's worth.

I'm thinking more 16+, 18+, or 21+ crowd.

Edit:  To me, the two hooks are 1) a gambling laser-tag model that isn't legally seen as gambling and 2) the ability to use Bitcoins/winnings to purchase better shit than a stuffed animal.

Sarcasm, or do you really think that's a reasonable solution?

See my edit above.

Yep, I agree.  That could potentially make room for a lot of extra profit if there was a rule such as, "All pre-loaded Bitcoin cards must be returned upon exiting the building.  You agree to forfeit all unspent balances on the card upon exiting the building."

Edit:  For a small fee, customers could create a permanent account at the building where they could have their BTC balances stored.  If they ever want to come back, they can access their unspent BTCs.  A rule for this might be "any account holdings that have been stored but unused for greater than a period of 6 months will be forfeited."

Yep, that's where I used to go   

But I don't live in Lombard.

Yes, as far as I know.  And those tokens have a manufacturing cost.  That was why I considered the Chuck 'E Cheese idea plausible.  It seems that using Bitcoins instead of tokens could be more profitable in the long run because of the costs associated with tokens. The difference between money and Bitcoins is not as great.  At least it might mitigate the cost of having to upgrade an entire venue to be Bitcoin interactive.

None taken.  I like the simplicity of the laser-tag idea more than a Chuck 'E Cheese, especially with the modifications necessary to turn all those games into BTC-accepting machines.  

And I was thinking that Bitcoin wouldn't be the promoting factor, it would simply be used as a token like any other token.  There is this place nearby called Enchanted Castle where I used to have all my birthday parties as a kid.  You needed tokens to play the games, and never once did I question "what's this token all about?"  I just accepted it as part of the routine, and so did everyone else -- no tokens, no games.

But with laser-tag, the tokens/Bitcoins would just be used at the arena to play laser tag, buy food/drinks, and purchase shit with your winnings.

My 5-second model:
1)  Customer walks in, hands $15 to employee at the door.
2)  In exchange for the $15, they get a $15 pre-loaded Bitcoin card.
3)  Bitcoin card can be used to play laser tag ($5 per game), buy food/drinks, or be used to purchase BTC products (like gold as I mentioned above) at an online kiosk.
4)  When a customer wants to play a laser tag game, $5 is deducted from each card and goes into a game-winnings pool.
5)  There are BTC payouts for ranking players (e.g. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place).  At the end of the game, BTC-winnings are distributed to each ranking player.  The pay-per-shot idea could also work with a house-fee taken out before the game starts.
6)  At the end of the game, ranking players spend their new BTC on more laser-tag games, buying food/drinks, or buying BTC products at the online kiosk.
7)  Profit.

My idea begins at laser-tag and ends at Chuck E' Cheese.

I already imagined the Six Flags idea, but I admit I have little interest in a Bitcoin rollercoaster.

The more I think about this, the more I might actually want to make this a reality.  I just called a buddy of mine to share the idea.  He's not directly involved with Bitcoins and has never used them, but he's exceptionally bright and is currently working on his MBA and is always thinking of potential business ideas.

Hm...

Within 6 months I'll be transitioning from grad school to making some nice $$$.  Nice $$$ = investment $$$.

In my area, I could easily see this catching on.  It seems that if BTC are legally defined as commodities rather than money, then it wouldn't have to be 'gambling.'  But I can think of a ton of people that wouldn't mind throwing down $5 (turned into BTC) to play some laser tag with a chance of winning their money back and then some.

Then, you could have an online kiosk linked to pre-selected BTC businesses.  Imagine someone on a laser-tag winning streak using their BTC winnings to purchase some Coinabul gold.

I like the idea of capitalizing on Bitcoins as "tokens" to help grow the BTC economy.  Anybody want to start a Bitcoin airline to give frequent flyer Bitcoins?

But seriously, I think these kinds of Bitcoin-token models have serious potential.

Interesting.

Lol.

I think this deserves another PM.

They fixed my withdrawal issue today.  Here is what they said in their email:


The part about email and irritation concerns was in response to something I said to them, that I didn't want them to mistake me emailing them 3 days in a row for me being irritated. 

I think they're just working through a few bugs.  After I withdrew my BTC, my BTC balance now shows -0.00050000  (a negative).  I wrote them back about it and assume that their trade engine code is simply tacking on a .0005 BTC transaction fee.

Either way, they had mentioned to me a week or so before this happened that they were implementing new things and updating the site, so I just think they're working out the kinks.

Hope it works out for you

I mean I'd make my own.

This is awesome.  

Edit:  Actually, come to think of it, wouldn't places like laser-tag arenas and Chuck E' Cheeses be the perfect place for a Bitcoin business?

Imagine if you walked into a Chuck E' Cheese-like venue and all the games required tokens to play (including laser tag).  What kind of tokens?  Bitcoins!  This would be a perfect place for a Bitcoin card -- just swipe it at all the games to play and the game automatically subtracts the Bitcoins from the card.  The kids can still win lousy tickets 

Business venture, anyone?

The thread title was meant to allude to the profundity of my idea.

Edit:  I backup my wallet on the john, too.

Because how annoying would it be for the merchant to individually move all those funds from each wallet?  How many sales does Amazon make a day?  How many transfers would that require?

Two words:  Bitcoin Lasertag.

Imagine it.  Whether playing as an individual or as part of a team, the whole premise is exactly the same as regular laser tag, but with much higher stakes. 

Shooting someone with your laser would initiate a Bitcoin transfer from the tagged to the tagger or the tagger's team (depending on whether it's a solo or team game). 

For example:
.1 BTC for shots in the stomach or back
.3 BTC for shots on the shoulders
.5 BTC for a barrel shot

How fucking cool would this be?  Obviously there'd need to be some regulations to make sure people can't tag others before or after the game starts.  But, I would totally own all of you   

I created the thread, I'll post in it what I please.

And yeah, I'll admit I only read the white paper once and I have limited-to-nil experience in computer programming.  But, I don't think I need to be a computer programmer when I'm talking about some Universal syntax that distributes to all conditional events contained therein.  That's what Universal laws do -- they distribute.  Truth is only established through ratio (the root word of rationale), and so if I can understand how the law operates in one set of conditional events, I can begin to imagine how it would operate in others.

While the thread of the title is meant to be specific to mining, it's really a thread about the relationship between mental and physical reality.

Same thing had been happening to me.  Yesterday I tried to withdraw 40 BTC and I was only able to withdraw about 39 of them.  Beyond 39, it said "insufficient funds."  Today, it gives me a new message trying to withdraw the remaining BTC, and it says simply, "Failed."

I emailed them about it yesterday and they responded, saying:


Emailed them today about it and no response yet.