Tesla vs. Edison! The Serbian Scientist vs. the American Inventor! The Shocker vs. The Talker! AC vs. DC-ya later! It’s a legendary fight between two mega minds that’s thrilled the masses, and instigated debate amongst nerds, since the early 20th century. But who changed the world most, and who had the greatest ideas? And, most importantly, who would win in an all out bare-knuckle brawl inside of an arcade video game that shocks its players?

In the above video, The War of Currents arcade game, which is a Mortal Kombat-style brawler, pits two of the greatest inventors of all time against each other. But like the voltage of Tesla’s alternating current, the stakes are high, as losing players will be shocked via a custom metal joystick.

The game is the brainchild of Real Art, which is a design and advertising company that unveiled the arcade system at this year’s SXSW. Unfortunately for anybody who’s ready to shut up and have their money taken however, this shocking delight has already found a home with Ohio-based ProtoBuildBar—the world’s first 3D printing lab that’s also part electronic maker space and part café.

The basis for the game is, of course, the timeless feud between Nikola Tesla’s promotion of alternating current and Thomas Edison’s promotion of direct current. Edison famously didn’t want to use Tesla’s alternating current because he didn’t believe it could work, and thought it was too dangerous. Tesla proved him wrong however, showing that his alternating current was the only way to deliver electricity over long distances without “line loss” (or loss of electrical energy due to heat loss), and that transformers could be used to exchange high-voltage, low-current electricity into low-voltage high-current electricity for use in homes.

We can put all of that aside though, because this game really is just about a couple of scientists beating the crap out of each other, and a couple of players sending stings of voltage through each other’s nervous systems. But then again, isn’t that what friendship, video games, and science are all about?

What do you think about The War of Currents video game? Are you ready have your brain electrically tickled by an old-school arcade game starring even older-school inventors? Let us know in the comments section below!

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HT: Smithsonian

Images: Real Art