Ever heard of Streetpong? Probably not, unless you’ve recently made a trip to Germany. They’ve come up with a way of keeping pedestrians queuing at crosswalks busy and entertained while they wait for their turn and it’s called, you guessed it, Streetpong.

They way it works is there is a small touchscreen above the the button that trigger’s the traffic lights to change. Once someone presses it, the game starts up. But perhaps even cooler than that is, if there is someone waiting to cross on the other side of the street, then you can actually play against them.

The idea not only curbs boredom while waiting, but it also discourages jaywalking and makes for a friendlier community. Just think about how awesome it would be to gloat to strangers as you pass each other when the pedestrian signal finally changes!

The idea was developed by German design students about three years ago and the idea has finally hit the streets in Hildesheim, Germany.

Check out the video below to see Streetpong in action!

What do you think of the idea? Would something like this work in Canada? Weigh in in the comments!