No Technology Can Improve On An ASCII Photobooth

No Technology Can Improve On An ASCII Photobooth


If you thought the novelty photobooth idea was just a recent trend, think again. Back in 1976 — the year before Atari released its ground-breaking 2600 console — the company was hawking these fantastic Compugraph Foto booths that created retroriffic ASCII portraits of people.

The subject was photographed in front of a stark-white background with a live video preview monitor. 90 seconds later, a built-in dot-matrix printer spat out an 11×14-inch portrait with the likeness converted into ASCII art. The 430kg wheeled cabinet could easily be reduced to a simple app these days, but there’s something still oddly appealing about having the results as an actual dot-matrix printout. So forgot the hackneyed Instagram booth at your wedding. See if you can dig up one of these contraptions — and maybe some awesome checkered pants.


[The Arcade Flyer Archive via BoingBoing]


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