Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

High-Tech Foosball Mod Project

Posted by chrisd on from the thirty-dollar-magstripe-readers dept.

JakeBullet writes: "Project: Take a standard foosball table and make it a little bit smarter. 1. The table should be aware of who's playing, the score and the status of the game. 2. Take the data from the game and use it to create a stats engine and player ranking system. 3. Project all relevant information about gameplay onto a flat screen. 4. Spend under $50.

12 of 193 comments (clear)

  1. Spinning by assaultriflesforfree · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Second post... fantastic. I have a question (poll I guess) for foosball players out there. Spinning or no spinning? Personally, I don't like spinning - especially since it can damage a table - but I've found that depending on where I play, house rules seem to change. What do you think? This leads me to an idea for a neat feature for a high-tech table - a spin detector that doles out appropriate punishment (i.e. not counting points scored from spins, or whatever).

    1. Re:Spinning by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting
      Any person that has played more than the occasional casual game of foosball knows that spinning is a quick way to lose. The keys to winning are:
      • Ball control - By far the most important, as the opponent cannot score if they don't have the ball;
      • Shot speed - Important, but not as much as most people think (a well placed angle shot scores the same value point as the burner to that dents the back of the goal);
      • Deception - Disguising your shot so that the opponent doesn't see it coming;
      • Anticipation - Being able to anticipate the opponent's shot (particularly easy when they are bad at deception);
      • Exploiting Weakness - Find a shot in your arsensal that the opponent can't block and you're home free;
      • Playing - Like most things in life, the more you do it the better you get at it.

      • With spinning, you gain a broken table and a high total in the "L" column (to match the L on your forehead ;-). When I play against "spinners", I know that it's going to be a short, uninteresting game. But watching their frustration when you *always* have the ball is funny. :-)

  2. Lingo and Serial Port Listining.. by g00z · · Score: 5, Interesting

    First, I found it sorta wierd that he decided to use director as a front end -- Personaly I would have used flash since actionscript is less archaic than lingo is and for doing dynamic vector stuff flash cant be beat. But hey, more power too him.

    I am, however, curious as to how he is getting this data (1's and 0's) from the serial port to director? I wasn't aware that lingo had any hardware level control (besides the keybord and mouse) -- unless he's got it wired up so the bx board is actualy simulating a mouse click, but he doesn't say. I find myself wanting more details.

    And by the way, the article is a little misleading. $50 for the sensors, breadboard and card reader. Flat screen LCD, foozball table and computer not included. See store for details.

    --
    "The Wright brothers were the first to fly with a heavier-than-air machine, but boy did they have a lousy plane"
  3. And he got *credit* for this project? by kbs · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'd be curious to know what the original statement of the project parameters were.

    Also, it seems that the encoding on the student card may be the same as what we use; apparently the encoding of the social security number in my student card is the same as the encoding of the social security number at a local supermarket.

    --
    yours,
    kbs
  4. The goal problem by Kajakske · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Well, he doesn't detect goals for 100%, right ?
    Couldn't he combine the two systems ?

    Like, detect when the ball hits the back plate + when it goes thhrough the vending machine censor. That way, if the ball just rolls in, the vending machine sensor will detect it, when it bounces the plate will detect it, and when they do bot (bounce but roll in anyway) they'll both detect it ...

    It might get him over the $50 when adding extra sensors ofcourse ...

    --

    Linux hosting for $2.50/mo

  5. Of course it cost less than $50... by pwagland · · Score: 5, Interesting
    He just happened to have:
    1. A large flat screen plasma TV "lieing around"
    2. A spare box running W2K
    3. Licences for MSQL (it was legal, right?)
    4. Licences for macromedia (that control app was made legally, right?)
    5. A Foosball table...
    If I had all that lying around I am sure that I could of done it for $50 as well.... If not... well the licence for W2K alone would break that budget. And that is the cheapest item on the list!

    Not trying to take anything away from the hack, it was very cool, but saying that it cost $50 strikes me as a bit rich....

    1. Re:Of course it cost less than $50... by 91degrees · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It's quite feasable that the screen was already there.

      I think he used MySQL which sorts out one of the licencing costs. as for the computer - He must have had a couple of spares lieing around. What sort of a geek would he be if he didn't?

    2. Re:Of course it cost less than $50... by bdash · · Score: 3, Interesting

      think he used MySQL which sorts out one of the licencing costs. as for the computer - He must have had a couple of spares lieing around. What sort of a geek would he be if he didn't?

      It seems to me that the author of the page is slightly confused:

      4. Database: IIS/SQL/MS Access

      In my opinion, the most interesting part of the project is the database that ties everything together. When the user swipes his or her NYU card, Director takes this information and sends it to a ASP script (running on an Windows 2000 box that is tied to an Access database). This ASP script runs a MySQL query through Access and spits back XML that contains information on the player (wins, loss, average points per game, number of games played, etc) . This XML is passed back into Director via getNetText and put into global variables which are then fed to the screen at the appropriate time.
      (emphasis mine)

      How you run a MySQL query through Access is beyond me. Heck, does that even make the slightest sense?

  6. Not a troll, or an Anti-American post but.... by caluml · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'd love to know how it came to be called foosball?
    Is it to do with the German way of spelling it, with that crazy B letter they have?
    I've only ever known it as table football. In fact I couldn't work out what you were talking about at first :)

    --
    Get your own free personal location tracker
    1. Re:Not a troll, or an Anti-American post but.... by larien · · Score: 3, Interesting
      I wondered that myself, and thought it was a type (on Slashdot? Never!). However, from here:
      The original game we know as table soccer probably originated in Germany during the late 20's. early 30's

      ....

      The German word for field soccer is ''football'' spelled FuBball .

      The funny-looking ''B'' is pronounced like two S's. hence the many corruptions of that word still used in many sections to describe the game.

  7. You should see a foosball tournament some day by idletask · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I was in Nantes when the AFBF held the national foosball (called "baby foot" here) tournament. Balls were litterally flying around the table. I considered myself a pretty good player until I saw real champions play...

    Also, the foosball table that the guy used is really gross... He should have used a real foosball table instead. Those plasticky tables just suck, no way to lock a ball.

  8. Where Can I Get... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    That plasma TV for under $50 bucks?