Ok....
I have a game idea that requires the board to shake or rock.
If you remember, think about the old electronic football game, you turn on that switch and the gamefield vibrates and the little football guys would move.
I need to figure out "what" made the board shake/vibrate. I am trying to prototype the game and having this component would be great.
Now to increase the difficulty of find such an item, my idea also requires the shake/rock to randomly occur.
Sounds like you may need to get something like this built. The vibrators in the game controllers aren't that big and I figure that's probably enough power for you. They probably don't cost that much either.
On the other hand, you probably will need a chip installed to handle the random shakes. This probably wouldn't need to be all that high tech, but you may be able to get something that can do other things too, like keep score or track of any thing that needs to be tracked.
That's all I can think of. I know nothing of where you could get these things at, but the theory sounds good (at least to me.)
Hope this helps,
Steve
fun idea... I don't remember the sort of game of which you speak, but this shouldn't be that complicated. Essentially all you'd need is to anchor a motor to the board, and have the motor spin something which is unbalanced. Am I missing something?
Perhaps you could get one of those litte massage things which buzz nicely and take the motor assembly out of it. You can find these at most novelty stores I believe.
Is this for a dexterity game of some sort? Or is it intended to randomize the locations of things on the board? Do tell!
peace,
Tom
maybe you could use pager or cell phone vibrator motors ...
the way they do it is the output shaft of a vibrator motor has a non-uniform weight attached to it. so as the shaft spins, the weight causes a vibration.
That would have been my though, some off-center weight on a motor shaft, the bigger the board to be shaken, the bigger the weight and the motor would need to be, but you can buy everything you need at any Radio Shack or Edward's Scientific (are they still around?), etc.
For the randomizer, if you're handy with electronics and soldering you could probably find a simple schematic online to run your motor. Assembly isn't too hard once you get the design and the parts.
This reminds me of a toy/game that I picked up on closeout for I think $1. It's about the size of an etch-a-sketch and is essentially round plastic counters with images of bugs on them set into a sealed acrylic maze. The only control was a knob that could be moved in either of two directions and to varying degrees.
The toy operated on a vibrating motor like you're talking about. When you move the knob in either direction, the board would vibrate, vibrating faster the more you move the knob in that direction. The vibration would cause the bugs to race through the maze (going pretty fast at the top speed). The direction you move the know controlled the direction in which the motor woud spin, which in turn would determine the direction the bugs would turn at any corner. Moving the knob one way would cause all the bugs to turn right, the other way would cause them to turn left.
It was a very simple device that was actually pretty cool to watch in operation. Not that this has any bearing, just a cool use of vibration in a toy.
You can achieve a vibration mechanic like this:
Attach a long rubber band to two posts at the long ends of the underside of your board. However, before attaching it, run the rubber band between the eye of a somewhat heavy metal washer. Now attach the rubber band to the underside of the board. For the vibration effect, you give the washer a few twists so the rubber band is tightly wrapped around it (or more practically you'll want to 'tie' the rubber band to the eye of the washer), then you 'wind' the rubber band until it's tight and hold it. To get the vibration effect, you realize the rubber band. As the rubber band is unwinding, it will cause the washer to flip and shake sporadically, thus vibrating the board. Not sure how practical this will be (because you will have to lift the board to wind the rubber band everytime you need to vibrate the board), but it's worth a shot. Perhaps you can come up with a method for winding the band without lifting the board (perhaps some sort of crank). Also you'll probably want to experiment with different weights and size of washers to get the proper effect.
Hope this helps!
-Darke
For the sake of a quick prototype, you could simply stick a pager (set to vibrate) under/into your board. Then set up your computer (dialing software should be fairly easy to find) to call your pager at random intervals. To playtest, start your computer dialer program running and then begin the game.
As some background, my brother-in-law works for companies setting up their networks and other computer systems. He programs the computers to page him whenever an error state arises. It can be done and pretty easily too.
Not sure about the approach, but I'll add that you don't need a dialing program -- most pager companies allow you to send an email to the appropriate address (like 8083218765@pagerco.com) and the subject or body of the message will be sent to the pager.
-- Matthew
Thanks for the feedback, sometimes I just need a push in the right direction to open up my brain!
I figured the random part would be the hardest, but you have all given me some things to work with.
Thanks again.
I figured the random part would be the hardest, but you have all given me some things to work with.
You can do the random part mechanicaly, using springs to get a non-linear shaking.
Caparica
www.2concept.com/games
I would avoid radioshack for electronic parts. They are primarily interested in selling cell phones and satellite dishes these days. Most stores has a tiny selection of very expensive ancient stock under a thick layer of dust in their parts section.
There are some good online retailers. For motors, a good place is The Electronic Goldmine. They have dozens of small hobby motors in the under $2 range. They also have an assortment of 4 pager vibrator motors for $2.50, but I think that will be much too small for a gameboard.
For general parts, I like All Electronics Corp. They have a large selection of surplus electronics components.
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maybe you could use pager or cell phone vibrator motors ...
the way they do it is the output shaft of a vibrator motor has a non-uniform weight attached to it. so as the shaft spins, the weight causes a vibration.