“Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak is known for bending technology to his will. In 1976 he cobbled together microprocessors and circuit boards to create one of the world’s first personal computers. Today he’s focused on using his Segway PT–a two-wheeled, self-balancing personal vehicle–to play polo,” Zack O’Malley Greenburg reports for Forbes.
“Wozniak, 59, a member of the Silicon Valley Aftershocks, isn’t the only one. Segway polo has captured the fancy of global technophiles; since 2003, 15 clubs in nine countries have formed, the latest this year in Sweden. In July, 7 squads descended on Cologne, Germany, where they clacked and whirred before 1,000 onlookers in the fourth annual Woz Challenge Cup, named for a 2006 duel between the Aftershocks and a team from New Zealand. This year’s cup went to the Barbados Flyin’ Fish, a motley bunch trained by a horse polo veteran,” Greenburg reports.
“The sport was given life by Bay Area mechanical engineer Alex Ko, now 38, and real estate investor Jonathan Van Clute, 36, both Segway owners. Two years after the Segway’s 2001 introduction they were spending their free time goofing atop their silicon steeds in a park. They fashioned makeshift mallets from PVC pipe and used them to hit a miniature beach ball,” Greenburg reports. “Three weeks later the second outing drew six players; soon a crowd of Silicon Valley elites,including Wozniak, began fortnightly pickup games. Now regional tournaments occur a few times a year. Many players have upgraded to the Segway X2, which boasts off-road wheels.”
Full article here.
Forbes’ Q&A with Steve Wozniak on Segway Polo, in which Woz lets slip that “on a national level, Segways come under consumer electronics code, not vehicle, [so] there’s no DUI for a Segway” [Thank God], is here.
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