BarSlot

Michael (Admin) | Dec 9, 2008 Navigation

User rating: (2 votes, average: 4.50 out of 5)
Loading ... Loading ...

The entire planet knows about Urbanspoon since Apple recently featured it in an iPhone commercial, but what if you’ve already eaten and just want to get wasted? Enter BarSlot… it’s Urbanspoon for boozers!

Just like its food-oriented counterpart, BarSlot lets you shake your iPhone to get a surprise watering hole suggestion. You can also browse local bars by distance or search by name, and most results will provide you with the establishment’s phone number, address, nearby public transit lines or intersections, and business hours. A quick tap will launch the iPhone’s default map application and there’s also tap-to-call.

I wish I could say there’s more to BarSlot, but right now that’s about it. No customer reviews, no sorting by category, and no way to confine your search to an area where you’re not physically located. Hopefully this will all change with some future updates, but for now this app is limited in a lot of ways.

On the plus side, BarSlot does have info on a LOT of places to get bombed. It doesn’t have absolutely everything… there’s a preppy sports bar down the street from me that isn’t listed (aww boohoo)… but thanks to BarSlot I’m just now realizing that there are tons of places within a mile of my apartment that I haven’t been kicked out of yet! If I were living in the suburbs I’m sure it would be a slightly different story, but I could see this app opening up new possibilities for city-dwelling drunks all over America.

Due to its limitations I’m not quite ready to dub BarSlot “the drinker’s best friend”, but right now I think it would qualify as a “good friend” if your plans include vomiting on a very nearby sidewalk (my signature move, btw), and in that sense it’s worth paying a buck to get. If Whatever Software could let us post our own reviews, give us ways to find crappy dive bars that don’t require shoes or class, and let us manipulate the location services, it would be a pretty complete app.

I like the [BAR] slot machine metaphor
I like the [BAR] slot machine metaphor
Search always happens near your current location which is cool, but not always what you want
Search always happens near your current location which is cool, but not always what you want
I hate
I hate "lounges", they always make me wear a shirt while I'm drinking

iphone_barslot_price


Tags: ,

  • http://monkeysuncletavern.com Beth Davis

    To whom It May Concern,

    How do I get my bar listed on BarSlot? We have been here for 22 years but for some reason we do not come up on this application. Also, a few of the bars that do come up in my area are no longer in business.

    Thank You,
    Beth Davis
    Monkeys Uncle Tavern
    1850 South 3rd Street
    Jacksonville Beach, FL 32250
    904-246-1070

  • Jeff

    This app does not seem to work on the new iPhone 3G S. Shaking the phone while in the app just brings you back to list of apps.

  • http://barslot.net BarSlot App

    BarSlot now works on 3.0 (including 3G and 3G S).