Microcontrolled Board Game Ideas
During the 1980's, I played two electronic board games: Electronic Stratego and The Generals. Microprocessors were limited back then because of available memory and I'm not sure what chip was in them because I never took either apart. Electronic Stratego used a board that was pressure sensitive to feel the small buttons on the bottom of the pieces in order to tell the processor what the piece was. When you moved a piece by pressing down, the game would play a marching sound. When your spy attacked the "1" it played villian music. When the flag was captured, the game would play a tune from the 1812 Overture. There were some other sounds but they didn't do much else.
Here is some information I found from Wikipedia:
Electronic Stratego was introduced by Milton Bradley in 1982. It has features that make many aspects of the game strikingly different from those of classic Stratego. Each type of playing piece in Electronic Stratego has a unique series of bumps on its bottom that are read by the game's battery-operated touch-sensitive "board". When attacking another piece a player hits his Strike button, presses his own piece and then the piece he is targeting: the game either rewards a successful attack or punishes a failed strike with an appropriate bit of music. In this way the players never know for certain the rank of the piece that wins the attack, only whether the attack wins, fails, or ties. Instead of choosing to move a piece, a player can opt to "probe" an opposing piece by hitting the Probe button and pressing down on the enemy piece: the game then beeps out a rough approximation of the strength of that piece. There are no bomb pieces: bombs are set using pegs placed on a touch-sensitive "peg board" that is closed from view prior to the start of the game. Hence, it is possible for a player to have his own piece occupying a square with a bomb on it. If an opposing piece lands on the seemingly-empty square, the game plays the sound of an explosion and that piece is removed from play. As in classic Stratego, only a Miner can remove a bomb from play. A player who successfully captures the opposing Flag is rewarded with a triumphant bit of music from the 1812 Overture.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratego
In 1980, Ideal released The Generals Electronic Strategy Game. The rules and piece ranks are the same as above, except that the "Spies" are "Agents", and an electronic arbiter determines which piece wins in a confrontation; neither player sees his opponent's pieces. The plastic pieces have selected notches on their bases, which depress certain indentations in the electronic arbiter's twin slots. The lights flash and a short musical phrase plays before a light labeled "battle winner" is illuminated. The losing piece is removed from the board, while the winning piece is placed back on the board. If the flag is placed in the arbiter, it plays "Taps" after the initial musical phrase.
Generals inherently requires a third-party arbiter to maintain the game's uncertainty to the endgame.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_of_the_Generals
I think there is room for other electronic board games. You could use the Prop but why should all of the fun be limited to the 80's? I'm putting this out as an idea that you can use the Prop for other games or products. Have fun doing it.
Here is some information I found from Wikipedia:
Electronic Stratego was introduced by Milton Bradley in 1982. It has features that make many aspects of the game strikingly different from those of classic Stratego. Each type of playing piece in Electronic Stratego has a unique series of bumps on its bottom that are read by the game's battery-operated touch-sensitive "board". When attacking another piece a player hits his Strike button, presses his own piece and then the piece he is targeting: the game either rewards a successful attack or punishes a failed strike with an appropriate bit of music. In this way the players never know for certain the rank of the piece that wins the attack, only whether the attack wins, fails, or ties. Instead of choosing to move a piece, a player can opt to "probe" an opposing piece by hitting the Probe button and pressing down on the enemy piece: the game then beeps out a rough approximation of the strength of that piece. There are no bomb pieces: bombs are set using pegs placed on a touch-sensitive "peg board" that is closed from view prior to the start of the game. Hence, it is possible for a player to have his own piece occupying a square with a bomb on it. If an opposing piece lands on the seemingly-empty square, the game plays the sound of an explosion and that piece is removed from play. As in classic Stratego, only a Miner can remove a bomb from play. A player who successfully captures the opposing Flag is rewarded with a triumphant bit of music from the 1812 Overture.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratego
In 1980, Ideal released The Generals Electronic Strategy Game. The rules and piece ranks are the same as above, except that the "Spies" are "Agents", and an electronic arbiter determines which piece wins in a confrontation; neither player sees his opponent's pieces. The plastic pieces have selected notches on their bases, which depress certain indentations in the electronic arbiter's twin slots. The lights flash and a short musical phrase plays before a light labeled "battle winner" is illuminated. The losing piece is removed from the board, while the winning piece is placed back on the board. If the flag is placed in the arbiter, it plays "Taps" after the initial musical phrase.
Generals inherently requires a third-party arbiter to maintain the game's uncertainty to the endgame.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_of_the_Generals
I think there is room for other electronic board games. You could use the Prop but why should all of the fun be limited to the 80's? I'm putting this out as an idea that you can use the Prop for other games or products. Have fun doing it.
Comments
I'll let Orson explain it to you....
I happen to teach a couple of Taiwanese kids English and as part of the learning process we play games for a portion of the class. Yesterday, the boy I teach insisted on Monopoly. Fortunately, the new version of the game has plastic credit cards and an "ATM" to handle all the cash transactions.
But I did notice that it is still using dice. Rolling dice is at times chaotic as they end up on the floor. To make matters even worse, the boy was insisting that he could roll only one when it was to his advantage (under Taiwanese rules).
I know a dice roller has been done many times, but it is still a handy board game tool. Getting rid of all the banking involved with Monopoly money is an interesting development. In some ways, I really like it; in other ways it is annoying to me (it makes noises, flash lights, and can make mistakes). I suspect that one still needs a banker to control it. Still, the nature of the game is to learn to negotiate as well as buy and sell. So it remains a classic.
Someday, I'll have to explain Taiwanese Monopoly rules - but this is another topic.