[Alan Parekh] and his daughter [Alexis] just premiered their entry in the Avnet Dog Days of Summer contest. It’s a game called Karate Chop that is basically an electronic Simon Says. The video after the break shows a demonstration of the device. When switched on it’ll play a little tune and start cycling the LEDs on the front of the case. Players interact by breaking the infrared beams in the two cutouts on either side of the case. You need to keep your hand flat to do this, which is where the name comes from. There are four different game modes which are selected at the start of the game. There are two difficulty levels of a Simon Says game which shows the player a pattern in light and sound, then watches for the user to repeat that pattern back. The other mode that [Alexis] demonstrates is a reflex game which requires the player to quickly react to randomly illuminated LEDs.
The circuit is built on a breadboard hiding behind the front bezel and uses a PIC 16F1827 microcontroller to drive the game. The case itself is made from laser cut MDF and plywood. We’re not sure how much time [Alan] spent on the case, but we think it looks wonderful. If you’re planning to participate in the contest you better get rolling, the entry deadline is tomorrow.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKPGgGRFhdk&w=470]
I want to see someone do this with actually hacking a Simon instead of from scratch…seems like it would be easier
Not a new concept, I’ve seen this in stores as a game called “Loopz” which is made by Mattel. http://www.playloopz.com/
HOWEVER, I applaud the homemade version as I’d rather have something I created myself instead of the store-bought version. First of all, it’s usually cheaper to make something than go buy it. Secondly, there is a huge sense of accomplishment here. BRAVO to Alan and Alexis!
They may not want to put on their project page that they came up with the game concept.
http://shop.mattel.com/product/index.jsp?productId=4379067
I was just thinking the same thing. I have to say though, I hope they made it a bit more fun than the original…
A more intense version was built many moons ago. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeKIjrFY1jg
I too, noticed it looked like the Loopz game from Mattel.
Daddy one of the wires came out.I plugged back it in but smoke came out.Now it doesnt work..
first thing i thought was loops too
although i admire the difficulty level it probably took to make their game, i feel it’s slightly unfair because the guy is from hackedgadgets.com (correct me if i’m wrong)
it’s easier for him to promote his vid and get views and likes which is worth 25% of judging
…that being said you can like my vid lol xD
(different category)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLwWvgWY5pg
Yeah, it’s a lot easier to get views when you’re featured on the front of hackaday.com. My video was a bit rushed, because I threw it together one day the weekend before the deadline. Just after that, I found out that they added another 2.5 weeks. Oh well. I guess that’s their choice, but I would have done something a bit more informative.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTkt11HlMa0
As anyone could have guessed, they won. Hard to beat the father/daughter cuteness factor. Guess that’s the next thing I need to make….
Not that I can really complain, I did recently win a Makerbot….