Tuesday 21 July 2015

Arcade Club



I joined Hack Oldham last week which is only 15 minutes drive from my house. After chatting to a few of the people there I found out about Arcade Club.

It's 40 minute drive away, and is a video arcade with 100+ video and pinball machines from 1979 ish onwards. There is a flat entrance fee of £10 (£5 for kids) and all games inside are free to play, with a drink and a cake are included in the price.



If you are in the north of the UK, definitely worth checking out the Arcade Club website. I dragged my kids along and exposed them to the games of my misspent youth. 'But there's no story!'. L1tt13 5h1t5.

Pyro Box



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Some weeks ago I completed the 'Pyro Box' for Steve at Operation Lasertag.



It's more like a 'defend the hill' than the normal DomTube 'king of the hill' style game.
The box is assigned to one team, whilst the opposing team needs to attack the box. A digital display shows the box 'health' and a clear, 3D printed light bar is used to indicate hits.

Each opposing team hit reduces the box health by the shot power, and when it reaches zero an explosion sound is played. In addition, there is a wired output to drive a squib so a pyro can be activated. This is connected via the push terminals at the front. Internally, a radio transmitter sends a signal to a remote receiver that can also drive a pyro, allowing a safe distance between players and effects where required.

In addition, the box can be configured so that the defending team can 'repair' the box by shooting it, which adds their shot power (or half their shot power as a switched option) back to the box health.

The control panel is formed from laser cut 6mm acrylic and is mounted in an IP65 box with a carry handle.

Don't have a video of the complete unit, but here is a proof of concept run on the bench: