Scroll less. Smile more.

That’s a joy machine – a wooden box in public space with glowing arcade buttons, a receipt printer, and a pixel art motif, handing out compliments, secret missions, trading cards, and conversation starters to anyone who presses. And 3D-printed pixel art. All free. No screen, no account, no catch. Receipts for things no store sells.

A few of the 60+ things one press can make. If you want, scan the QR code and the machine will write something just for you – it’ll even remember you next time. But you never have to.

The story

I spent most of my career in big tech at Meta, where orientation taught us the mission was connecting people. I worked about as far from the feed as you can get (in AR display hardware), but I had a front-row seat to the attention economy. Last year I was unceremoniously laid off. Then last fall, my daughter and I put out a cardboard box of 3D-printed hearts on the porch with a sign on the gate saying hearts for sale, and watched. The hearts gradually disappeared. So I kept feeding it. The cardboard box became a wooden little free library with my daughter’s sign “DADAY HEARTS SALE”, made to weather Seattle rain and curious hands alike. Then I thought: why not have a compliment machine using a receipt printer? Then, why stop at compliments?

In the months since then, thousands of strangers have pressed these buttons. People I’ve never met write to tell me it made their week. At least three first dates owe it a second date. I’ve met and joined a group of makers because I got to talking with a member when I went to re-stock the box on a Sunday morning.

That box taught me there’s an immense, unmet thirst out there for playfulness, positivity, and in-person connection – and that people will drive across the city because they saw my reddit post about it.

I’ve connected more people with a receipt printer than I ever did at the connection company.

Why it works

Social media promised connection and optimized for capture. A joy machine inverts every default: it wants nothing from you, and instead of content, it dispenses pro-social behavior. A secret mission changes your afternoon. A table topic changes your dinner. A trading card changes the playground. Screens hold you in place. Paper sends you out into the world.

Where it’s going

Every machine runs paperOS, software I wrote for this project and plan to open-source – so any household, café, classroom, library, or block can steward and curate a joy machine of its own. The machines are starting to find bigger homes, too – children’s museums, science centers, anywhere people could use one more reason to look up from their phones.

  • children’s museum
  • senior living
  • airport
  • cafe

What if your neighborhood had one?

Come say hi