Andie & Mike Sending bubbles since 2001

A real backyard in South Florida

The internet can still do nice things.

Press a button and make real bubbles appear in our backyard. Andie had the idea in 2001. Mike has been adding enthusiastically detailed statistics ever since.

Make some bubbles Explore 25 years

1,097,039 button clicks • 688,718 successful machine activations • one remarkably patient bubble machine

25+years online
1,097,039button clicks recorded
688,718machine activations
4,400+guestbook messages
The original Bubble Hut with its camera, machinery, and colorful bubble solution
The original “Bubble Hut”
Elegant? Debatable. Effective? Absolutely.

How did this happen?

A perfectly reasonable idea got slightly out of hand.

For Halloween 2000, Andie bought a bubble machine for trick-or-treaters. When she said it was a shame people couldn’t turn it on from the internet, Mike entered “tinker mode.”

On January 29, 2001, the BubbleCam went live. The cameras, computers, controllers, and bubble housing have changed many times since then. The basic idea hasn’t: someone, somewhere, presses a button—and bubbles happen here.

Read the occasionally bee-infested history
  1. 2000Andie has an idea
  2. 2001The BubbleCam goes live
  3. TodayOver a million clicks
  4. NextStill bubbling

New from the archive

Take the BubbleCam Time Machine for a spin.

Watch decades of button presses ripple across a world map. Scrub through the quiet days, the millionth activation, and the moments when some corner of the internet suddenly decided everyone needed bubbles.

Launch the Time Machine
Worldwide activity 2001 — today
2001
Today

Watch 25 years of bubbles travel the globe

Marixa from Altea, Alicante, España wrote on May 27, 2009

Hello friends. Many years ago, many in between your house and I could play with the bubbles. This fact I discovered what it really is the internet. Internet is able to make bubbles across the world ... and see the wonderful people there. I wish you well and many, thank you very much for so many years of pleasure. A kiss, Marixa Hola amigos. Hace muchos años, muchos, entre en vuestra casa y pude jugar con las burbujas. Este hecho me descubrio lo que en realidad es internet. Internet es poder hacer burbujas desde el otro lado del mundo...y ver las maravillosas personas que alli viven. Les deseo lo mejor y muchas, muchas gracias por tantos años de placer. Un beso, Marixa
(Original languages: English and Spanish)

Messages from the internet

People have been leaving notes from around the world since 2001. Some are funny. Some are touching. Many confirm that bubbles remain a sound use of the internet.

Visit the Guest Book

For the curious

There’s more beneath the bubbles.

The main attraction is delightfully simple. The machinery, data, history, cats, and occasional internet stampede are another matter.

01

Bubble statistics

Countries, continents, recent activations, and enough graphs to prove Mike means business.

Explore the numbers → 02

When bubbles go viral

Reddit, radio, television, and the mysterious days when thousands arrive without explanation.

See the viral history → 03

Cat Blot Tests

Like a Rorschach test, except the mysterious shape is definitely some kind of cat.

Find the cats → 04

How it works

From Windows 98 and X-10 controllers to Linux, WordPress, and a stubborn amount of plumbing.

Peek behind the curtain →

Your turn

The backyard is waiting.

Go make some bubbles. We’ll try to keep the machine filled.

Open the BubbleCam
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