Toys and Games

Ping Pong vs. an Invisible Opponent

This gadget, shaped exactly like a ping pong paddle, allows the user to play a rousing game against an invisible opponent.

The Self Table Tennis senses how hard you are swinging and plays an appropriate volume sound to match. There are three game styles- easy and hard rally and rhythm mode. I’m still a little unclear (even after watching the video) how you win or lose points but it looks like fun to just swing the racket around and hit invisible balls around.

It looks pretty neat, but seems more like a technical challenge to me. A microcontroller and an accelerometer could have any seasoned maker heading in the right direction toward a DIY version of this. [via Craziest Gadgets]

Continue Reading Michael Colombo4
Scratchbuilt: WH40K Armored Train

Scratchbuilt: WH40K Armored Train

This classic Warhammer 40,000-style wargaming model is actually the work of the Games Workshop studio team, and was produced for an example battle in GW’s 2007 Apocalypse rulebook. Individual modelers, as far as I can tell, are not credited. There are more pictures on the GW website, and I find them especially interesting because they show the model both before and after painting.

Continue Reading Sean Michael Ragan14
X-Wing Soap Box Racer

X-Wing Soap Box Racer

From Instructables user The Papier Boy. Complete with freaking-out R2 unit! “The spinning droid was constructed of Styrofoam and painted to look like R2-D2. I used one of my daughter’s old toys to create the motion. The toy had a gear on it that spun when a button was pushed. I cut the toy in half (it was too big) and mounted the toy to the underside of the body and glued the droid head onto the gear. To control the spinning I used an old NES controller. ..”

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Cat DJ Scratching Toy Eerily Mimics Esoteric Musical Instrument

Cat DJ Scratching Toy Eerily Mimics Esoteric Musical Instrument

The “Cat Scratch” cardboard scratching toy for cats by SUCK UK is fashioned in the shape of a DJ turntable, with concentric rings of corrugated cardboard (which cats love to scratch) serving as the proverbial record. The turntable part is just for show, but it is a novel idea that (likely unintentionally) harkens back to an experimental instrument called the Savart’s Wheel.

Continue Reading Michael Colombo4