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Archive: Toys and Games

July 3, 2009

Hardware chess sets

The tradition of improvising a chess set from whatever's on hand is probably as venerable as chess itself. Chess culture is chock-full of sets put together from odds and ends of every description, but here I'm only focusing on sets built from mechanical and electrical bits--mostly nuts, bolts, and washers of various flavors. If you've got a good one I missed, please do link it in the comments.

If you're interested in making your own and want some guidance, Mother Earth News has a nice tutorial.

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July 2, 2009

The Walnut Creek model railroad

Now this is a train layout, 1,800 sqaure feet of it. It's the pride and joy of the Walnut Creek Model Railroad Society, Walnut Creek, CA, who've been at it since 1975. I like how the piece on Wired.com opens:

Before SimCity -- even before Dungeons and Dragons -- back when "computer" was a job title, people still found ways to vaporize countless hours of free time designing and maintaining private universes. In the analog world, such parallel realities were built with tweezers, glue and a spouse's permission to cover the basement with papier-mâché massifs and plywood plains.

And this, on the system that runs the layout:

The society's control systems are a steampunk fantasy: a roomful of vintage 1930s magnetic relays once used to route phone calls, clacking like mechanical dominoes with every move the amateur engineers make. A full complement of 30 members can run 10 individual trains simultaneously on the layout, though only a dozen or so are required for basic operation.

Giant Model Railroad Is an Analog SimCity [via Boing Boing]

More:
Rod Stewart in Model Railroader Magazine

June 29, 2009

Vacuum tube chess

Not sure how it is to play on this board, but it sure looks cool.

Paul Fryer - Chess Set for Telsa

June 27, 2009

Future death machine nose art

I'm pretty sure this TrueType font designed in 1998 by the now-apparently-defunct "Dragon's Den Type Foundry" was intended for players of Games Workshop's Warhammer: 40K tabletop wargame.

But c'mon, seriously: what project wouldn't be improved by a little faux-fascist heraldry? Perhaps a flying skull transfixed by a dagger and with lightning shooting from its eyes?

I can't think of one either.

June 26, 2009

Make: Projects - Shrinky-dink gaming minis

Even as we approach the cultural apocalypse of ubiquitous, fully immersive, photo-real multiplayer video game environments, there are still those of us who like to play board or tabletop games. The communal wargaming experience, for instance, is very different from playing a networked MMORPG or turn-based strategy game. Whereas WarCraft or Xbox Live is kind of like hanging out with your buds watching TV, actually getting together and playing a board game is more like a real party. There's usually music and snacks and beverages and lots of gregarious BS-ing of a type that just isn't as practical over a network line. Manipulating the physical game pieces is also satisfying in a way that virtual objects have yet to achieve, and probably won't for some time to come.

A lot of folks who are into tabletop gaming eventually end up making their own pieces, for one reason or another. They may be making a custom army to compete in a wargame with established rules, or they may be making up their own game for which no commercial pieces are available. For these folks there's an array of techniques available. The simplest, as in wargaming days of yore, is to use illustrated paper or cardboard "chits" that lay flat on the gaming surface. A step up from that involves buying or making bases so your cardboard heroes can stand upright, which not only makes them look better but makes them much easier to manipulate. If the cardboard approach is too wimpy for you, you can always purchase commercial 3D miniature figures and paint and/or customize them to suit your taste.

Polyolefin shrink film presents an intermediate approach to original miniature design, midway between cheap paper or cardboard cutouts and fully dimensional figurines. Shrinky-dinks are much more durable than card stock, and unlike store-bought figurines, they are completely customizable. Best of all, you can make all your artistic mistakes at the software level, where they're easy to fix.

Materials:

Inkjet ink
Inkjet friendly shrink film
Small binder clips, one for each mini you intend to make

Tools:

Computer with color inkjet printer and appropriate software (if you're designing your own art)
Oven
Cookie sheet with cardboard insert to fit
Paint pen
Scissors/pen knife/paper cutter to cut out dinks

Step 1: Design your dinks

The best way to determine the expected shrinkage of your film is by experiment. Print a square of known dimension, cut it out, shrink it, and measure the new size. The ratio of the "after" dimensions to the "before" dimensions gives the expected shrink percentage. Every film I've ever seen also includes an approximate shrink ratio in the directions, and if you're not an accuracy freak it's probably safe to assume it's correct. The clear film I used shrinks by about 50%, meaning that the designs as printed need to be about twice as big, in each dimension, as the desired miniature size. Note that if you intend to use bases you need to be sure to leave an empty "tab" at the bottom of each image so the base can be attached without obscuring the art. If you're using binder-clip bases (see below), I recommend the small (3/4") size. These have a real "footprint" of 3/4" x 1/2", so scaling up for 50% shrink film gives a 1.5" x 1" pre-shrink area to allow for during the design of each piece.

If you don't want to design your own minis, or you just want to experiment with the technique, I've put together a set of markers for the deluxe edition of Steve Jackson's famously awesome future war-game, OGRE. You can download a .PDF of my OGRE marker designs here, ready to print onto five 8.5" x 11" sheets of 50% shrink film.

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June 23, 2009

"Cause I'm a Rocket Fan..."

Ryan Bavetta, of Crazy Builders, bolted a 3.7 HP model airplane engine onto the back of a skateboard to create this rocket board.

Propeller Powered Skateboard [via PopSci]

June 20, 2009

Kidlaunching!

kidlauncher from connors934 on Vimeo.

Kidlaunching is a variation on the slip and slide model of backyard/park fun. What we did this day was lay out a hundred feet or so of plastic sheet on the grass, tied a gigantic elastic band to a tree and poured water from a park fountain over the plastic to reduce friction. Once the kid is on a pool toy or other suitable vehicle, hold by the ankles, pull, count and...RELEASE!

This was an activity at Camp Kaleidoscope a few years ago.

June 17, 2009

Flashback: Head-Mounted Water Cannon

When the fabulous Pontani Sisters engage in their covert after-hours life of fighting crime, they use a select arsenal of weaponry. Seen above are the sisters in action with the Head-Mounted Water Cannon from MAKE Volume 07. John Young shared this lively DIY with us in 2006, along with this hilarious intro:

Let's face it: at some point this summer, you're going to be in a water fight. Whether it's at a family barbecue or an office picnic, some 12-year old is going to leer at you from behind 25 bucks worth of store-bought plastic, and that little punk is going to think that the orange and blue Mega Awesome Hydrolator 9000 they're clutching is the last word, the ultima ratio regnum, in neighborhood water warfare.

Think again, punk. With about two hours of effort with the parts listed below, you can hack together a water weapon of such power, such style, such extraordinary and exuberant overkill, that you'll be out of the store-bought leagues forever. Lock yourself in the garage, play the A-Team theme, and emerge at the end of your build montage with a pressurized, stainless steel, head-mounted water cannon that packs five gallons of icy-cold water at 100psi.

The main components in this project are a standard stainless water extinguisher, a plastic scuba backplate, and a helmet, plus a bike brake lever assembly, brake cable, and cable housing, garden hose repair fittings, a quick-coupler set for a standard garden hose, and some hardware.

Here are images of the front and back of the helmet and the backplate attached to the extinguisher:

And here is the full article in our Digital Edition just for you.

Back issue of Volume 07, our Backyard Biology issue, are sold out, but you can have digital access to all of our volumes if you subscribe! Right now we have an awesome deal running where you get $5 off the normal year sub price plus an extra issue for free, all for just $29.95. Can't really beat that with a stick!

June 16, 2009

WoooOOSH! - Arduino space cruiser! ... sorta

Technology ... the electronic frontier.

These are the voltages of Arduino microcontroller.

It's 54 I/O pins ... to explore new circuitry, to bring forth new devices and experimentation.

To totally make tons of LEDs blink! -- WOOooosh - PEW! PEW! - BZzZTtT!

*ahem* (Arduino Mega via MakerShed, ScrewShield by Wingshield Industries)

June 15, 2009

LEGO tank has full interior detailing

There's so much amazing work coming out of the AFOL* community these days that it can be hard to single out any particular work as outstanding. Nonetheless, mad_a0's mini-fig scale tank, with full interior detail, is, well... outstanding. Bravo! Via The Brothers Brick.

*That's "Adult Fans of LEGO" for you non-blockheads out there.

June 10, 2009

Playing card polyhedron

From the MAKE Flickr pool

Fdecomite created this paper puzzle using tips from George Hart's 'slide together' instructions - looks to be quite a simple and fun project.

June 4, 2009

Paper Yachts book contest

I've always been fascinated by origami, but never had the patience for learning it. If you think you do have what it takes to model the world in folded paper, here's an opportunity to get a free copy of a unique origami book. Our pals over at Potter Craft have given us three copies of their new Paper Yachts book to give away to MAKE readers. Created by origami masters Nic Compton and Nick Robinson, the book has origami models of four famous racing yachts. You get sixteen water-resistant templates of the four models that you can use in the tub, in a puddle in your backyard, or other miniature waterway.

If you'd like a copy of one of these books, tell us why in the comments, tell us some of your origami experiences, making paper boats, or related tales. Link to pics if you have them. Next Tuesday, we'll choose three winners.

Scale model of Makino V33i CNC machine

Francesco Fondi writes:

While in Japan, I spotted this 1/20 scale replica of the famous Makino V33i CNC machine. This model kit is going to be released later this month from FineMolds for about $40.

These kits have been produced using a real-sized Makino V33i, so a machine made (small) copies of itself... the only thing missing is that the model kits can't replicate themselves!

These new model kits are aimed to industrial designers and hardcore DIY geeks who want to have a replica of one of the most diffused CNC machines on their desks. Info about REAL makino machines is here

Model kit of Makino V33i CNC machine

May 27, 2009

Replica steam engine built from cardboard

Using Mr. McGroovy's Box Rivets, these enterprising builders built a cardboard scale replica steam engine.

Cardboard Scale Replica Steam Engine

More:
Mr. McGroovy's cardboard box rivets

May 21, 2009

Etch A Sketch, automated, wireless

From the MAKE Flickr pool

Pixl8ed's auto Etch A Sketch is wireless and hands-free - built using a stepper motors, SparkFun EasyDriver boards, XBee wireless module, and custom CNCed support hardware. Check it out on Flickr.

More:

Computerized Etch A Sketch @ Maker Faire

May 19, 2009

Interactive Punch-Out arcade dummy

This guy modified his Slam Man Boxing Dummy, adding arcade buttons, so he can throw punches in NES Mike Tyson's Punch-Out by punching buttons of the dummy. His Instructable shows you how he did it.

The Punchout Interactive Interface Improved

At last … the infinite slinky

Ah yes - the long awaited solution to a sad and uniquely frustrating childhood enigma. The fine folks at StupidInventions finally teach young Slinky Jr. to walk (at least on a belt sander). I will sleep well tonight!

May 18, 2009

Snoozy sloth, the breathing plushie

Justin Blinder, a student at Parsons, created this plushie doll that clings to you and snoozes, like a living critter:

Snoozy the Sloth is a plush toy with a respiratory system. He sleeps while clinging onto a user, allowing them to feel both the contraction and expansion of his chest, as well exhaling of air from his mouth. The main concept behind snoozy is to create an intimate, yet passive, toy interaction that relaxes and comforts a user, through the tactile experience of steady breathing patterns.

Snoozy the Sloth

May 13, 2009

Giant net-enabled Etch A Sketch

Does this hacker ever sleep? The prolific Jeri Ellsworth is at it again. Here, she builds a 52" Etch a Sketch with the screen from a rear-projection TV, some tent poles, screen door pulleys, some cheap Harbor Freight drill motors, a golf tee (for the stylus), and some aluminum powder. They also designed a web interface for their USTREAM live chatroom and are working on hooking up the device so that people in chat can operate the Etch a Sketch. Let me guess how many naughty grade-school squiggles and "bad words" are going to show up on that screen?

Fat Man and Circuit Girl

May 12, 2009

Tabletop pinball from scrap

Seamster put his collection of scrap wood to good use in the form of the above-seen DIY pinball machine, even reusing the ball from an old computer mouse -

With some parental help, this can be a kid-friendly project. Building a solid table with a functioning paddle assembly requires some basic woodworking skills, and may be fairly difficult without proper guidance and appropriate tools. But once the paddle assemblies are in place, just about anyone can build ramps and jumps or anything else they can imagine for the upper part of the table. To me that's where the real fun lies--creating various obstacles and then seeing a ball bounce around all over and through them, somewhat under your power.

This is a great project for parents and kids to take on together!

Certainly looks to be a fun project for a family team to take on - adding a nice theme/paintjob could be quite awesome as well. Hit up the project's instructable for more of the build process.

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