We're throwing a big party in a couple of weeks and I thought it would be fun to add a competition element. This is a "normal" crowd, some people will be into the games, some not at all. I wanted something SUPER simple, that would basically run itself, so I picked four of my twenty-five games for a high-score competition. These were chosen because they are easy to understand and play, and have relatively quick game times for normal people. I picked Black Hole pinball, Centipede, Donkey Kong, and Pole Position II. Four prizes will be awarded, one for each high score.
Now I wanted a scoreboard. I already had a TV hanging on the wall, and I was able accomplish my goal using an old Windows PC and a spare laptop. On boot, the PC loads a local html file with a browser in kiosk mode, which refreshes every thirty seconds. The file is in a shared directory, and the PC is set up as a wifi hotspot. With the laptop, I can just connect to the hotspot and open the html file for editing with Open Office. Any changes that are saved appear on the TV within thirty seconds.
I thought it would be nice to identify which games were in the tournament, so I 3D printed some signs and stuck them in cheap LED bases from Amazon ($34 for all four). The bases were natural wood colored, but I painted them black and stuck them down with a little fun-tak. I'm pretty pleased with myself
