*other* Ephemerisle idea fleshed out

[mattbell]

Here's a mockup for the floating game table. 



This 8'x8' platform is designed to hold up to 2 people and allow them to tilt the platform and thus roll a ball by moving around.  There are lots of interesting interfaces you could get out of having one or more people control a ball in this manner.  It would be a chance for people to hone their sea legs in a game of balance. The platform could be reconfigurable, with different surfaces added or removed to switch games.

Here are a couple of possible configurations:

- Competitive balance game. (shown above)  There are two players, one red and one blue.  The players compete to tilt the board in a direction to get a ball to roll into a hole of their color.  Players may touch each other, but not the ball.  Players score a point every time they get the ball into a hole of their color, and lose a point if they touch the ball.  The first player to 10 points wins.

- Minigolf labyrinth.  The platform has some walls and some holes, along with ramps, hills, and whatnot. The player has to tilt the platform to get a ball from the starting point to the finishing point in as little time as possible.  If the player touches the ball or drops the ball in a hole, they have to start over.

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Here's how I did a quick proof-of-concept.  If it's *even possible at all* to do what I tried with an iphone, the Labyrinth app, some tape, and a balance board, then controlling the ball should be relatively easy in the full scale version.

 

Comments

[proctologiste.livejournal.com]

Rather than a ball you probably want to use a large-ish disk/puck of some sort.

I imagine the surface will be slippery and fairly unstable. A ball would afford almost no control, with a puck you can tune the friction to the point where it slides smoothly, but with a greater "activation energy". It's probably also easier to build a barrier that will prevent a puck from sliding off than a ball.

Perhaps the biggest balance of smooth motion with control is a "sphere inside a puck".

[nasu-dengaku.livejournal.com]

I hope the surface won't be slippery. People will be standing on it! I'm hoping to find a low-elasticity ball to reduce the chance of it bouncing out. The puck-ball mix sounds like a good backup plan if a straight ball moves too fast. A partially deflated four-square ball or a rigid hollow ball with sand inside could work well too.