Strike a Light Chaos buttons

[jlfreund]

I used to have this game in my previous job's game room, and it was a lot of fun.  It also looks like it would be a really fun build, and was wondering if anyone's seen a similar discussion about that?

The main hurdle looks like the multi-color 60mm LED buttons.  I did some searching, and there are lots of companies selling large single color lit dome buttons, but I didn't find a large, programmable LED dome button.  I wonder if the maker (Aquaventronics) could be building those in house.  The 2 player version doesn't need the programmable color, so I could always go that route, but the 4 player looks like a much better project since it could be used for 2 or 4 players.

[PL1]

The main hurdle looks like the multi-color 60mm LED buttons.

If you remove the two QD tab/LED contact assemblies, there should be enough space to run wires from the RGB LED leads through that path.


Scott

[jlfreund]

Thanks for the great write up!  I guess I could do something similar for a clear domed button.  But the Strike a light buttons look like they have about 15 LED's each, so it's probably at least a couple hours of work to wire up each button.

So far, this: https://www.adafruit.com/product/1187 looks like the closest starting point for such a project.

[PL1]

Thanks for the great write up!  I guess I could do something similar for a clear domed button.  But the Strike a light buttons look like they have about 15 LED's each, so it's probably at least a couple hours of work to wire up each button.

So far, this: https://www.adafruit.com/product/1187 looks like the closest starting point for such a project.

If you're going with 100mm (4") buttons, you will want more than one RGB LED, but 15 separate LEDs seems like overkill unless you mean 5 separate RGB LEDs. (15 channels)

Even 5 RGB's per button will be a huge challenge.  15 channels * 16 buttons = 240 channels.   
- It will be a lot easier if you can get away with 3 RGB's per button.  9 channels * 16 buttons = 144 channels.

What type of LED controller do you plan to use?
- The IPac Ultimate I/O has 96 channels.
- The PacLED64  has 64 channels.
- Not sure if they can be used together as-is or if Andy has alternate firmware(s) for using several boards together.   
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Might be a lot easier to use neopixel rings like this project on Adafruit.

You'll need an LED controller for addressable (WS2812B or SK6812) LEDs.

You can connect the data lines for the rings in series.  Data out from controller to data in on ring 1, data out from ring 1 to data in on ring 2 . . .
- No idea how to configure the LED controller software to put the data in the right order.

- Looks like the protocol can send the commands fast enough that the data shifting through the chain probably won't be a distraction.

16 RGB LEDs/ring * 16 buttons =  256 LEDs.

256 LEDs * 24 bits per LED = 6144 bits per refresh.

6144 bits * 1.25 microseconds per bit (?) = ~7.68ms for the data to flow through all of the LEDs.
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Considering how many buttons you'll need for this build, you might want to check Amazon for some better deals like this.   


Scott
EDIT: Changed from 24 LED ring to 16 LED ring.

[jlfreund]

Hi, I saw that Adafruit project as well -- it looks like the closest project to what I would need to do. 

I'm wondering if I can use four of these 50 LED strips, each with their own 5V supply, using 4 data pins on the Adrino (similar to this video).

Ideally, the project should have 4 large LCD displays (for score) and audio output (4 channels of audio out would be great for this game but not sure whether an Adrino (or RPi) should be able to drive all those addressable LED plus other devices.

[PL1]

OK, let's take a step back and examine what you need to make this build work.

1. Game software/ROMs.

AFAIK nothing points to this game currently being in MAME.
- I assumed you had already checked this.   

Looks like it is only about 7 years old.

IIRC MAMEDevs usually don't add a game until it is at least 10 years old and out of production.

Until it is dumped and added to MAME with working outputs or someone makes a homebrew version, I regret to inform you that this build is dead in the water.   

That said, here are the other things you will need once it is added to MAME.

2. A PC to run MAME.
- Might work on a RasPi, but will that handle the support software like LEDBlinky?

3. LEDBlinky or similar to take the LED outputs from MAME and convert them to LED controller commands.

3. A compatible LED controller that can accept those commands and control the LEDs.
- An Arduino could probably handle this with the right sketch/firmware.

4. Some sort of score display(s).  MAME should be able to handle this directly to a single screen with a LAY file.
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Looks like a fun game.

Let's revisit the hardware and support software options after it is working in MAME since something new might be available by then.   


Scott

[jlfreund]

This one isn't supported by MAME, so my plan was to consider an RPi or Arduino and then use publicly available drivers to control the devices (LED, switch, amplifier, LCD).  If I can locate all the information I need online (which specific drivers and parts to use) to build the game, then I'll probably start ordering a few parts at a time to experiment with.

Jason