Making Othello Bright and Loud With a Launchpad
The idea was to create something we wanted and to see where a project created from our own desires could take us. This project started with “Wouldn’t Othello with sounds and lights be fun?” and ended up at the SXSW Trade Show in Austin, Texas as a realized idea just a few months later. This is only the beginning of this project, as SXSW served as public research and development for new ideas and opportunities.
You could argue that we should have just made an app for the iPad, but we wanted something that felt more real, something that wouldn’t just disappear with a swipe. What we made was a device with the tangibility of a real board game along with the excitement and occasional sensory overload that arcade games can provide. We decided to make an Othello board game with light shows, game scoring, and a reactive sound element that intensifies based on the player’s moves and the progression of the game.
For those not familiar with Othello, also known as Reversi, it is an old two player board game in which you jump over your opponent’s pieces to claim them as your own pieces with the end goal of having the majority of the board covered with your color. We wanted to take this simple game and blend it with concepts taken from arcade games along with some influences from pachinko machines.
For the sake of getting the idea out quickly and effectively (instead of obsessing over technicalities) we used a Novation launchpad because it happened to have an 8x8 grid (like Othello), all of which are pressure sensitive buttons with RGB LEDS and midi controllable. Going this route saved us a ton of troubleshooting, soldering, tinkering and helped us maintain some sanity.
To control the Launchpad, we made a script in Python with the basic game logic and additional cues for the music, sound effects and light shows. From there we loaded the code and music library to a Raspberry Pi to work towards making the game a single portable unit. The Raspberry Pi 3 Model B is able to comfortably power and control the Launchpad from a single USB port. This means we only need to run a power adapter to the Raspberry Pi or maybe only a mobile battery pack!
For SXSW we had it running as a two player game but we are looking to make IBM’s Watson the opponent in the near future. It ‘ll probably be necessary to put in different difficulty levels or else no one will ever win…aside from Watson of course.
Once we had the Python code, the Novation Launchpad and Raspberry Pi all working in unison I started designing and building a case a week before leaving for SXSW. I used Fusion360 to make a rough model of the Launchpad and then started to build a case around it. The catch with making the case was that it was too big for the 3D printer to print, so the 3D printed frame was divided into four interlocking sections that would also lock together with the laser cut acrylic parts that only required double sided tape to assemble.
For those who want their own LED Othello board we are looking to give access to our 3D print files, laser cutter files, and python code so you can learn to make your own! All you need to provide is a Novation Launchpad, and a raspberry pi (this is optional) and then head over to a maker space to make your case and put it all together. If you happen to live in Tokyo you can go to DMM Make and if you just want to play LED Othello, it may be in some bars in the near future for your enjoyment!
