Trampline Simon? Apparently. One might be tempted to call it "Trampoline Simon." But one would be wrong. One would be especially correct if one were to perceive this as more than a game of Simon played on trampolines, but an experiment in the technologies of play, the junkmasterly art of ad hoc engineering, and a hard-won insight into the nature children's play.

"This is a Simon game played on mini trampolines: the trampolines light up in a pattern, and the player jumps in response...There's lots of different factors when making stuff for kids. For starters they're incredibly rough on things, and they broke a couple of trampline sensors in no time with their wild jumps. I called Jameco to get more 2" lever switches, which are otherwise impossible to get locally, but they were closed for some mysterious holiday. Hmm.... So I put up my "back in 10 minutes" sign and drove to a hardware store to look for a solution. Stovetop grease pans! Perfect! You can see them here mounted all nice and tidy over the sensors to protect them, worked great, and they even have little holes to let me adjust the sensors:"

Labels: games, technology