How Do You Get To The Times Square Olive Garden? Geniuses Build ‘Smart’ Compass That Always Shows The Way

Times Square is often referred to as the ‘Center of the Universe’ or the ‘Crossroads of the World’ because it is one of the busiest and most iconic locations on planet earth. Tourist from every corner of the globe visit Times Square on trips to NYC and many of those tourists find their way into the Times Square Olive Garden, the restaurant chain’s flagship location.

I have eaten there more times than I would like to admit. A good friend years ago would drag us there once or twice every year because it was her ‘comfort food‘ location and we’d always agree so we could crush the unlimited bread sticks. Would we regret it every time? Sure. Would we always go back when she asked? Of course, we’re good friends. If it is good enough for Post Malone it is good enough for me.

‘Smart’ Compass Always Points To The Times Square Olive Garden

One of the more common phrases I see used on the Internet these days is ‘(insert adjective) use of free will.’ Someone might call it an ‘excellent use of free will’ when they like something or an ‘interesting use of free will’ when they find it dubious. I have to say, this is a SPECTACULAR use of free will.

In this TikTok video that now has over 360,000 views and counting, one of the gentlemen behind the ‘Olive Garden Compass’ account explains it all. Essentially, he and his friends went to extreme lengths to have a custom compass built that would always point to the Times Square Olive Garden.

This meant they first would need to contact someone in Asia who builds the casings for compasses. Pour over different compass designs, choose a favorite, and then tackle the technology inside.

Initially, one of the guys was doing all the coding himself but got accepted to Harvard in the midst of this side quest… Womp womp. They persevered though! Contacting a firm in Brooklyn, they were able to rebuild the underlying tech from the ground up and create the Times Square Olive Garden Compass, which they are calling simply the ‘Olive Garden Compass,’ and show it in action.

Here is the video of him breaking it all down:

Is this really real??

I know what you are thinking and the answer is yes, you can get one yourself. Or rather, you can hop on the waiting list if you visit their website at OliveGardenCompass.com where they claim they will be available to the rest of us once they build enough of them.

In the initial video they glossed over the navigation but this clip from five days ago shows the Times Square Olive Garden navigation in action. Do I still live in NYC? Nope, I haven’t for years. Do I desperately want this compass even still? Absolutely, I do.

In theory, given that they’ve programmed this compass to always point at the Times Square Olive Garden it could be reprogrammed to point to anything. Want to always know how to get home? It could do that. Need a compass that always points to Augusta National Golf Club so you can feel closer to The Masters? In theory, it could do that too.

Funnily, most of the comments on TikTok are all congratulating the engineer for getting into Harvard and not commenting on the magical compass itself.

One person (@hellsbansheeanjing) commented “I just hate when my engineer gets accepted into Harvard and I have to put my project on hold /h (good job josh).” Another person commented “ok but congratulations to Josh.”

I’ll echo that! Shout out to Josh for getting into Harvard. Maybe he will be able to put the Crimson’s considerable resources to good use and scale up the Times Square Olive Garden magic compass production!