Piano Stairs!

I was wary of this website link initially-it was sponsored by a car company (Volkswagen). The entire website is about exploring whether making mundane activities fun can change human behavior. One example was adding Mario sound effects to a hand sanitizer dispenser in a college dining hall. Seven times as many people used the dispenser with the fun new noises!

The example that really caught my attention, however, was the piano stairs. In a train station, they took video of how many people chose the escalator over the regular stairs. Overnight, the team installed sensors in all the stairs and white and black coverings that looked like piano keys. 66% more people chose the stairs when they had the piano sounds!

...wouldn't you?

The only downside? The black keys weren't independent notes. You can see several people throughout the video trying to add a little chromatic spice to their stepping. Perhaps piano stairs 2.0 can include all the black keys! (no, not The Black Keys)