Here's a picture of the Pour Your Own Beer station now set up at Minnesota's Target Field pic.twitter.com/fGDYgvFK8L — darren rovell (@darrenrovell) July 7, 2014

Target Field is giving baseball fans total control over their own beers with a new self-serve beer machine.

The machine, which is the first of its kind at ballparks, debuted on Sunday with a mix of Bud, Bud Light, Shock Top Lemon Shandy and Goose Island 312 Urban Pale Ale.

The new attraction will also be available to fans at the All-Star Game.

To use the machines, customers have to buy a card from a concession worker (who checks ID) and then can be used at the vending machine to tap 48 ounces every 15 minutes.

While this is a great idea in theory, it also poses a few dangers.

This sort of reminds us of the self-serve frozen yogurt stores that keep popping up around the country. It’s a great idea in theory: You choose your own toppings and don’t have to be make the quick decision of small, medium or large.

However, it’s also the greatest test of self control (though unlike frozen yogurt shops, 48 ounces is the limit).

Once you go to the line to put your ice cream on the scale and find out it weighs three pounds and you get a disapproving look from the frozen yogurt cashier you can’t put it back. Because once the beer or frozen yogurt is out of the machine, it is not socially acceptable to put it back in there.

Also beer in that large of amounts is potentially a lot more dangerous than too much frozen yogurt (though employees will be there to stop service if a customer appears too intoxicated.

“It’s always a concern,” said Jeremy Jacobs Jr., the Principal at Delaware North Cos., which manages concessions for 10 MLB ballparks. “We’re vigilant about watching for people that are becoming inebriated and trying to restrict their consumption.”

Slurpees might be a better comparison for the self-serve machine though, meaning the second real danger will come in people trying to too creatively mix flavors — a Bud Light and Goose Island mix is just a curious customer’s pull of the lever away — something Jacobs acknowledges is likely to happen.

“That’s part of the fun,” he said. The positive of this is, as Jacobs points out, that customers have control over how much beer they want — meaning if they want to try a new beer without investing a whole cup in it, they can test out an ounce or two and then come back.

So will we see more of these? Depending on the response from consumers, Jacobs said that it may expand to other ballparks. On Sunday, before the news had spread about the machine, ballpark patrons bought 100 cards of $10-20 each. But after the media fury on Monday, Jacobs said they’re expecting many more customers.

“It’s just something we are testing to get a sense of what the customer wants,” he said. “Is it something they enjoy and something that is going to create a level of loyalty to the ballpark and the stadium.”