After a week off, I had to spend the morning catching up on email, which meant deleting 99% of the messages. “Use artificial intelligence to engage your website visitors!” Delete. “Which influencers made the most money in 2024?” Delete. “Vacation photos from mom and dad!” Delete. “Important information regarding your precarious employment status at PC Gamer, please read!” Delete.
But here’s one that caught my eye: “Limited edition ‘Trigger Mug’ combines gaming technology with tea culture.”
Okay, you got my attention. I like tea, I’m undecided about the culture, but man, I really like it when gaming technology is combined with other things. Tell me more about this unwanted “Trigger Mug” email!
“Research conducted in Saudi Arabia shows that tea is a favorite beverage of gamers, who enjoy its constant energizing and concentration-enhancing effects during long gaming sessions,” the email explains. “However, mobile gamers face a common challenge: having to remove one hand from the device to drink tea, which often leads to in-game elimination.”
I sink back into the chair, lacing my fingers under my chin. “Indeed,” I say, furrowing my brows in thought. “Sipping tea actually leads to elimination from games. Often. Often! But there is no solution to this age-old dilemma, so why talk about it? I’m a busy man.”
I hover over the delete button, but the email stops me with a shocking revelation.
“The Trigger Mug integrates existing mobile gaming technology into an elegantly designed tea mug, allowing gamers to maintain full control over their game while enjoying their favorite Rabea blend. The mug is equipped with precise triggers and an ergonomic shape optimized for popular mobile Battle Royale games.
And then I see it. Just the cup. The Drain cup. A cup… with a trigger.
“Rabea, the traditional Saudi tea brand, presents a breakthrough, limited-edition innovation that seamlessly combines gaming technology with the long-standing Saudi tea culture: the Rabea Trigger cup.”
My god. They did it. They finally did it. They did a gun I can drink from. Any cup I can shoot z. It has the practical black plastic look of a Helldivers 2 grenade, but I can put my humid mouth on it and slurp.
And so it is electronic. It keeps my tea sultry, but also allows me to play a mobile battle royale game using the built-in trigger. Although… how the hell does that work exactly?
“THE TRIGGER MUG HAS AN ACCELEROMETER, GYROSCOPE AND TRIGGER TO KEEP THE TEA HOT AND THE GAME EVEN HOT,” the site loudly explains.
I’m still a bit lost. So if the cup has a gyroscope, I aim the cup? When do I drink? Can you sip something that you move around to aim?
“REMOVABLE PHYSICAL SEAL TO PROTECT LEAKS,” the website insists. “WIRELESS ANATOMIC TRIGGER. ANTI-IMPACT POLYMER.”
The press kit includes a video with blaring electronic music and slow-motion close-ups of the cup spinning. The video makes me want to lick the cup and maybe even pet it, but it doesn’t show someone using it to play a mobile game and drinking from it. Next to the phone is another picture of a mug. Does this support?
This photo helps a bit. I see the phone. I see the game. I see a sexy mug with a gun.
“MUG WITH A BLUETOOTH-CONTROLLED MACHINE,” the website shouts.
OK, I sold it. Sure, there’s a slight chance that sipping tea while gaming isn’t a real problem that needs to be solved because you can just wait for the round to end and have a drink. Plus, you still have to look away from the game while pouring tea in your face. And there are straws.
But who am I kidding? It’s much more likely that the only solution to this very real problem is an electronic cup with a damn gun attached to it. More information about the Trigger mug can be found on the website official website.
