At last fall’s Maker Faire Bay Area, Ben showcased the ‘Connect 4 Musical Instrument’. It is a twist on the classic strategy game, but this one plays music as you play the game. Ben shares how this project combined elements of game design, music technology, and interactive art.
Ben showed us how his idea evolved from the question, “What if Connect 4 made music?” Transform it into a functional prototype. Ben’s simple yet complex system uses RFID sensors in the re-engineered Connect 4 board and token tags to send location and color data to a Max/MSP computer. The movement from game to musical instrument was simply a case of mapping, with the columns on the board being assigned to specific notes and the rows controlling specific musical parameters such as volume, sound effects, or timbre. Ben’s firsthand experience with the technical and electronic challenges—like getting RFID to read through plastic, tags failing to communicate when dropped together, and each token needing a unique circuit board for individual addressing—made the explanation more engaging. Each of these issues had required an approach that addressed the physical design, circuitry, and software. In this way, we were getting an insight not just into how the technology worked, but into how and why it had to work. It was this element that allowed the technology to recede into the background as a transparent conduit, bringing the fun of playing and music-making to the fore. Ben’s design didn’t just create a fun, new version of Connect 4—it also let players compose music during each game.
The highlight of Ben’s presentation came when audience members were invited on stage to play the instrument themselves. Their strategic moves during the game created a dynamic, evolving melody—music born from play, not performance. This interactive demonstration perfectly illustrated how technology can transform familiar experiences into new forms of creative expression. Ben’s Connect 4 Musical Instrument shows how makers are merging games, music, and art, creating fresh, accessible ways for people to interact with technology.
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