Phone app that keeps an i on your boozing

They are questions that dimly flash through anyone's mind who has suffered the morning after the night before: How much did I drink? How much did I spend? Surely this can't be good for me? Previously a throbbing headache and an empty wallet were the only real answers, but a new iPhone application (app) developed in Scotland and supported by the government promises to make tracking the effects of drinking a lot more sobering. You Booze, You Lose uses a series of games to help punters keep track of how much alcohol they consume, how many calories they take in and how much they spend at the bar. The app features a series of sobriety tests, such as using the iPhone's motion sensor to detect whether you are walking in a straight line and measuring how much alcohol has dulled your reflexes. The most startling section will estimate how your current level of drinking will affect your body, using images of the future state of your brain, liver and stomach. "How dead is your liver?' was one of the catchlines," said David Hamilton, 25, the managing director of Digital Goldfish, the Dundee company that has developed You Booze, You Lose. It's fun but serious at the same time. "The overall aim is to make people think about how much they are drinking, but also bring in the gaming aspect so people aren't just putting in numbers." Digital Goldfish is one of Scotland's most successful new gaming companies. Established in 2005 by Hamilton and fellow University of Abertay graduate Barry Petrie, their first release for the iPhone, Bloons, is currently the number one game in the US. You Booze, You Lose is funded by 4iP, Channel 4's multi-million pound project to encourage digital media innovation. It is also partly funded in Scotland by Scottish Screen and Scottish Enterprise. Ewan McIntosh, 4iP's digital media manager for Scotland, Northern Ireland and the North East, said: "We think the gameplay, the fun and the quite shocking results for people could go as far as changing people's behaviour." You Booze, You Lose is released in July and will be free to download in the UK.