"You Don't Know Jack" Controller v2

[Sasquatch!]

I did one of these back in 2000 (my god, has it been that long ??).  It worked fine, but I wasn't that happy with how it hooked up to the PC: It was kind of klonky and ugly, so I re-did the whole thing, condensing everything into just the Button Box (with hand buzzers, of course).  I have an I-PAC VE inside of the Button Box itself now, so everything connects to the PC via a single USB cable.  Much cleaner now.


Here's the Button Box that has all of the "answer" keys.  The hand buzzers plug into the jacks toward the bottom.


The hand buzzers are actually made out of 1/2" PVC.   There's a SPST momentary pushbutton mounted to the top endcap, which is wired to a two-conductor 1/8" mini phone jack cord.


Everything connects to the PC with a single USB cable, which is connected to an I-PAC VE keyboard encoder that's inside the Button Box.


And here's everything together.  Bonus shot of my dog's butt in the upper right of the picture.

Just wanted to see what y'all thought.  Feel free to use this thread to reminisce about how cool YDKJ is if you wanna too.

Project website:
http://www.arcadeparadise.org/console/ydkj2/

[Will]

That is way cool,I played a few different versions of it and it looks like your set up is almost as good as being on a game show.Must be alot of fun at partys.

[DarkKobold]

I hate to ask this, but does this make a good drinking game? Always on the look out for a fun and unique one to add to the list.

[AmericanDemon]

Definitely!  I can't recall how we played, kind of a blur.  We made the rules up as we went, but it was a lot of fun.  You can be really creative.

Hey Sasquatch!  How much for one of those? 

[Sasquatch!]

Definitely!  I can't recall how we played, kind of a blur.  We made the rules up as we went, but it was a lot of fun.  You can be really creative.

Hey Sasquatch!  How much for one of those? 

Yeah really - what can't be made into a drinking game?

Not for sale though, dude.  Sorry.

[CheffoJeffo]

OK ... that's just sick ... I was looking for your old site with the pics of the 2000 project (I have finally gotten around to building things and wanted to add a YDKJ breakout box to the cocktail I'm working on for the cottage) and found it was gone.

Complained horribly to the wife after checking archive.org and not finding it ... she couldn't understand and just called me a pathetic geek.

Then you post V2, I show her and she completely geeks out about how she has to have one of those (Andy, you'll have an order for another couple of iPacs tommorrow)..

While it is yet another project inserted in the queue before my scratch standup, I think this will provide me with tons of bonus points that I may need for later projects.

Thanks for posting V2 and for your timing.

Cheers,

JAKD

[Sasquatch!]

OK ... that's just sick ... I was looking for your old site with the pics of the 2000 project (I have finally gotten around to building things and wanted to add a YDKJ breakout box to the cocktail I'm working on for the cottage) and found it was gone.

Complained horribly to the wife after checking archive.org and not finding it ... she couldn't understand and just called me a pathetic geek.

Then you post V2, I show her and she completely geeks out about how she has to have one of those (Andy, you'll have an order for another couple of iPacs tommorrow)..

While it is yet another project inserted in the queue before my scratch standup, I think this will provide me with tons of bonus points that I may need for later projects.

Thanks for posting V2 and for your timing.

Cheers,

JAKD

Man, that IS timing.  Heh.  It's a simple project, but lemme know if you need any help or anything.  Humorously enough, my wife digs the YDKJ controllers a lot too...probably because she whips my arse every time we play it. 

[GGKoul]

HEy, I was just checking out the instructions.

[Daniel270]

One little thing...

How do you work around the questions that require a typed answer?

[AmericanDemon]

Handy dandy keyboard. 

[Chris]

I have a tiny 7-inch keyboard for maintaining my cab, and I've been thinking of building a keyboard drawer for it that doubles as a YDKJ controller....

[Sasquatch!]

HEy, I was just checking out the instructions.  And I have a question. 

How did you wire up the head phone jacks to the IPAC?

You can kind of see it in this picture.  The jacks are two-conductor, so I have a common ground daisy-chained to one of the conductors on all of them and going to GND on the I-PAC, and then separate wires on the other conductor which go to separate inputs on the I-PAC.  Really, just think of it exactly the same as wiring a standard button.

One little thing...

How do you work around the questions that require a typed answer?

Wireless keyboard.  The living room PC that it's hooked up to already has a wireless RF keyboard, so that just gets passed around when it's needed.  Being able to buzz in is really the only big "time critical" moment; once you buzz in, you can take a few seconds to grab the keyboard.

[SteveJ34]

I think this would be a fun addition for party game but I don't have familiarity with Dont Know Jack series.

A quick search on Ebay produces what appears to be many versions.

Which do you play and/or recommend?

[Chris]

I think this would be a fun addition for party game but I don't have familiarity with Dont Know Jack series.

A quick search on Ebay produces what appears to be many versions.

Which do you play and/or recommend?

All of them.

[Sasquatch!]

I think this would be a fun addition for party game but I don't have familiarity with Dont Know Jack series.

A quick search on Ebay produces what appears to be many versions.

Which do you play and/or recommend?

First off, Jellyvision has re-released a bunch of the titles (supposedly with improved WinXP compatibility) , so you might want to check that out too:
http://www.jellyvision.com/stuff/gamez/ydkj/store.php

To answer your question: Honestly, I'd at least start with playing them in order.  You can jump around, but some of them do build on each other a bit with additional features and whatnot. 

[Chris]

If I'm not mistaken, YDKJ XXL is Volume 1 with additional questions plus Volume 2, so you don't need that and Volume 1 or 2.  YDKJ XXXL also includes Volume 3.  So YDKJ XXXL is probably a good place to start.

--Chris

[GGKoul]

Ok.. but from investigating, Vol 1 and Vol 2 is over 8 years old.

I would probably start by getting the latest verison. Vol 6. 

Thanks what I'll probably start with.

[Chris]

Ok.. but from investigating, Vol 1 and Vol 2 is over 8 years old.

I would probably start by getting the latest verison. Vol 6.

[SteveJ34]

For those wanting a taste of the fun this can be, here's a link to a short demo....

http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,2476,00.asp

[quarterback]

This is a cool idea.  Probably a good way to get my family 'into' this whole 'gaming thing'.  ANd I love the way you put together the hand buzzers.  Cool stuff

[Chris]

This is a cool idea.

[quarterback]

This is a cool idea.

[Sasquatch!]

This is a cool idea.  Probably a good way to get my family 'into' this whole 'gaming thing'.  ANd I love the way you put together the hand buzzers.  Cool stuff

Be careful on "family"... the YDKJ series is definately "PG-13"... there is, however, a YDKJ Censored edition for playing with younger or more sensitive folks.

--Chris

Yeah, I really meant my wife, parents, aunts & uncles etc.  No little kids in my life at this point.  But thanks for the heads up

I like how Jellyvision's website puts it:

(WARNING: This product contains mature content, including suggestive sexual references, language, and ribald sound effects that might not be suitable for children. Sure, they might laugh, but at what cost? Think about it.)

[GGKoul]

Hmm.. I was just checking the Jellyvision site.  And the latest YDKJ vol 6 only offers 300 questions?  What a ripoff...

As most of the other ones offer 800+ questions.

[Chris]

Hmm.. I was just checking the Jellyvision site.