While Pong has traditionally been a game played between two individuals, Instructables user [Brad] has put together a variation that doubles the fun. His Pong coffee table has the ability to support up to four users at once, and makes for quite the living room centerpiece.
The table is made from sheets of MDF and incorporates a grid of 900 LEDs, all controlled by a PIC18 micro controller. The MCU is installed on a control board he designed, along with the other additional bits required to drive the LED array. A set of old Atari paddle controllers were disassembled and installed around the table, making this a true retro Pong experience.
As you can see in the video, the action is pretty frantic. It’s hard to tell who is winning until the game is over, but [Brad] says that a scoreboard will come in a future revision.
4-way Pong is a really cool idea! , but it looks like there are no open source schematics or code for the control board. We’re hoping someone sees this project and puts together a version for all to use, free of charge.
We were mistaken about the status of this project in relation to whether or not it was open source. [Brad] wrote to us letting us know that his code was not originally included with the Instructable as a result of a late night omission. As always, his projects are open source, and you can now download all of the source code and schematics at the page linked above (and in the first step of the Instructable, no less). Mea culpas all around, thanks for the update, [Brad]!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jdxOdGvJJw&&w=470]
Dude.
Cool project, but share the love!
Ideal?
/nitpick
This would be awesome with a touchscreen!
Apologies everyone.
I submitted this instructable late last night and forgot to include the download links to the schematic, PCB layout and sourcecode. I woke up in the morning to some not so happy comments saying that it is all a way to make money.
For those who know me around the electronics community, I am sure you would realise that this is not the case.
All my projects have always been open source, not only that but I am always willing to help people along when they attempt my projects.
I wanted to make it easier for people to make this project so I decided to offer a board with all associated PCB components for what I consider to be a reasonable cost of $30 – this includes myself soldering on the microcontroller and programming it.
So once again, I apologise for offending people but I have now updated the instructable to include the download links.
Ok… so I can purchase blank FR4, the materials to etch and make my own PCB using the schematic and other files, then purchase the microcontroller and have to do it all myself, or simply order it from Brad for a BARGIN price of $30.00?
DUH, let me think about that one!
Sorry Hack-A-Day but your “FREE OF CHARGE” doesn’t add up! Even if I was proficient at making my own PCB’s, it would cost me MORE than that in my time alone.
it’s kinda like Warlords. great job
If your time is too valuable to accept somebodies volunteered information to make a hack for yourself,
Or, if you can’t respect the time or energy added value of assembling and shipping a kit,
Where’d you find the time to waste reading about other
peoples crazy time wasters, and waste the time making such a damn ignorant wasteful comment?
Consider Day Trading. it’ll keep you busy, and you won’t notice the time waste.
Let me restate my “damn ignorant wasteful comment”…
Brad is willing to sell a PCB with a microcontroller mounted and pre-programmed for an EXTREMELY generous offer of $30.00.
The statement in the original write up (now crossed out) does not add up.
“We’re hoping someone see’s this project and puts together a version for all of us to use, free of charge”.
I disagree with that statement. It will cost less money (for most people) to purchase the PCB and microcontroller from Brad than it will be if they try and make the PCB on their own.
If that is a “damn ignorant wasteful comment” then forgive my ignorance!