I was flying back from my vacation yesterday (it was great, thanks for asking) and had a long layover in the Denver airport. It wasn't supposed to be a long layover, but thanks to bad weather on the east coast, it ended up being pretty lengthy. Now, usually airport delays stink, but a few extra hours in Denver doesn't have to be a bad thing thanks to the numerous Zoox stations spread across the terminals.

What is Zoox? Yep, that was my question, too. It's a PC rig with a 23" widescreen monitor, gaming mouse, headphones, and controller that lets you kill time playing games like World of Warcraft, Team Fortress 2, Portal, Battlefield 2, Halo and more for 25 cents a minute (you can also browse the Internet for 10 cents a minute). That might seem like a hefty price, but it pummels sitting on the floor next to a bathroom while reading the business section from a newspaper that you found on the ground next to a trashcan.

I didn't spend any quality time playing on a Zoox machine (I had a nice dinner with my girlfriend), but the kiosks seemed busy and the folks who were grinding away in WoW seemed completely oblivious to the fact that they were surrounded by harried travelers and screaming babies. If that's not worth 25 cents a minute, I don't know what is.