Tongue Kissing

A classic 1980s cocktail-style arcade cabinet that people once played Q*Bert on while eating pizza is reconfigured into a device for teaching the younger generation the finer points of tongue kissing.

Above the glass playfield sits an oversized sculpted mouth. The lips are soft silicone, the jaw is a simple mechanical hinge, and at the center are one or two articulated tongues that move in segmented, puppet-like motions. These elements rise above the glass so the interaction is fully exposed rather than hidden beneath it.

Players manipulate the mouth using joysticks and arcade buttons. One joystick controls tongue extension and curl, another guides side-to-side motion. Buttons produce small bursts of saliva, changes in lip pressure, or gentle jaw movements. The hardware moves with the stiffness and charm of old arcade mechs, so the user is always mediating between desire for graceful motion and the awkward reality of levers, cams, and plastic gears.

On the monitor, vintage pixel graphics give feedback through technique meters, combo scores, and humorous encouragement or disappointment. The sculpture functions as a parody of both intimacy training and retro gaming. It teaches nothing while revealing how culture tries to mechanize and gamify acts that resist simplification.