Amon found the usual post party debris the one morning/afternoon and decided to Hook Up some of the stuff to his computer and make something useful. With some pizza boxes, cups, a computer and Scratch, he made a Skeeball type game. Just like the one at the arcade at the mall, but less hungry for quarters. Check out his Instructable for details on how to have your game create your pizza.
These steps will help you make Skeeball-inspired games from post-party materials (to satisfy the morning-after crafter in you). We’ll recycle some party favors such as plastic cups, plastic bottles and pizza boxes to create something that gives you new ways to play and interact with your computer. The game that I use as an example in this instructable constructs virtual pizzas on a PC based on which hole a player rolls a ball into. Each hole has a label listing a pizza topping. When a ball rolls through a hole, the ingredient on its label is added to the on-screen pizza drawing.
Amon is one of the members of the Lifelong Kindergarten research group at the MIT Media Lab and involved with the development of Scratch. He also works with the Fab Lab group on creating new ways to make things.
As you look around your humble abode, what do you see that can help you invent a new game? How can you reuse materials for fun and adventure? Have you tried Scratch yet? Maybe your kids or students would like to learn to program with scratch. Since there is nothing in his design that you don’t already have around you now, what could you do with this idea? Would you like to use fine craftsmanship or personal fabrication to improve on Amon’s physical design and program and create something better? Add your comments, and post your photos and video in the Make Flickr pool.
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