My initial thoughts were of this being a spoof. A machine specifically designed for IF (works solely with twine afaict) that prints off info on a shopping bill receipt. Or that's what it looks like to me. The name evokes memories of the coyote in Roadrunner being delivered his ACME Explosive Bird Seed, or similar (Roadrunner wouldn't be my initial specialist subject choice on Mastermind). Its product page would fit perfectly on Brass Eye, or any Chris Morris satire for that matter. Maybe not Jam (that's Morris off the specialist subject nominees too then).

http://choosatron.com

But there is a page taking pre-orders and a kick starter that has long since reached its targets. Which made me think that the is-it-isn't-it a spoof aesthetic is all part of some clever marketing technique to get you to investigate further. I did, despite my adamant position that advertising and marketing never works on me.

Any of you heard of it? Could be an interesting development. Or is it a very well done spoof?

I've seen it before in a Nuts and Volts magazine, a while ago. I guess they're trying to get a kick starter going to sell it. It seemed like a novelty to me, not something I'd want to buy. But that's me.

I like gadgets. Anything from portable tablets to USB avionics for flight sims. I'd probably be daft enough to.

Definitely real, I met Jerry about 18 months ago and he showed me a prototype - there was even a sarcastic quote by me on the Kickstarter page for a while.

I don't really get the point to be honest, but having a physical "thing" is a useful trick - good for publicity and it seems to inspire people.

I envisage it as perhaps being popular with young kids who might prefer a physical IF gadget rather than staring at a PC screen where they'd sooner be playing minecraft. I might even buy it for mine if it isn't a white elephant.

I do not get it... it looks like a small credit card machine that prints out a receipt and costs $150... no thank you.

For me as well, it's the paper output. The trees, the trees!

It's the kind of thing people will play with a few times and will then spend the rest of its life at the back of a cupboard - I can't honestly see anybody getting through a significant amount of paper with one before the novelty wears off.

A bit like the Soda Stream which was the best thing EVER for about a week until you remembered that bottled lemonade was less hassle.

Why is the Quest logo shown on their page? Will it be possible to use quest gamebooks with it?

I don't know - the logo was there on the Kickstarter page next to a quote from me (I said "It has a legitimate reason to exist"), and I've mentioned it before on the textadventures blog, so maybe that's why. I also see the inkle logo on that page, so who knows.

And this years winner at the IF competition is... ___________. And here is your prize. A Chooseatron! Enjoy!

Is that one of the prizes? lol It makes sense from a marketing pov.

Yes it would, but I would be like, "No thank you. Can I have the $155 it costs in cash?"