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Real-World Pong Created by Amateur Builders (geeky-gadgets.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the ready-player-one? dept.

sproketboy shares this article about a computer graphic designer who spent two years building a real-world version of the classic videogame Pong, played on a full-sized coffee table using only mechanical parts. The project's team apparently used a hard drive platter for the real-world scroll wheels controlling the paddles, aided by some large Arduinos and other homemade electronics (along with rainbow LED lights to create the pixels for the score).

"We don't have any electronics, product design, or manufacturing background," Daniel Perdomo told one technology site. "All we knew for this was thanks to the Internet (Google, YouTube, forums). Today you can grab all the knowledge you want just a few clicks away!" He's now looking for a hardware incubator to transform his "Atari Pong Project" into a real consumer product. (Interestingly, another group of hobbyists built a similar electromechanical version of Pong back In 2004.)

8 of 39 comments (clear)

  1. Old idea by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Been there
    https://youtu.be/vGOGOxtN2lM

  2. All mechanical you say? by narcc · · Score: 2

    played on a full-sized coffee table using only mechanical parts.

    Sounds super neat.

    aided by some large Arduinos and other homemade electronics (along with rainbow LED lights to create the pixels for the score).

    Oh... well... so much for that.

    --
    Required reading for internet skeptics
    1. Re:All mechanical you say? by Atomic+Fro · · Score: 4, Informative

      I wasn't much impressed, either. Plus I remembered a much better attempt from more than a decade ago, slashdot coverage here.

      --

      ==================
      Hippie Logger Jock
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    2. Re:All mechanical you say? by Bearhouse · · Score: 2

      Well, I think they were trying for the most authentic look rather than a full-on electromechanical streampunk score.
      Still, I get you - a mechanical flip display would have been cool; something like this
      http://www.ebay.com/itm/Signal...

  3. And by real life Pong... by Edis+Krad · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... you mean this?

    1. Re:And by real life Pong... by Opportunist · · Score: 2

      So I wasn't the only one wondering how making a real world version of a game that was modeled after a real world game is news?

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    2. Re:And by real life Pong... by yes-but-no · · Score: 2

      I guess here you can adjust the laws of physics if you wish. You can even game the system by making the ball go slow to you. Kinda play God if you wish; can't do this in table-tennis.

  4. A bigger Blip? by c10 · · Score: 2

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blip_(game)
    Still got mine, I think.