[HN Gopher] Electromechanical Lunar Lander
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Electromechanical Lunar Lander
Author : soopurman
Score : 67 points
Date : 2024-06-20 16:39 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.chrisfenton.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.chrisfenton.com)
| JKCalhoun wrote:
| A "sweded" Lunar Lander with a moon that looks like a prop from
| an elementary school production of The Little Prince.
|
| I love it.
|
| Now, let me gently suggest they put the lander closer to the
| poles so I can see the distance between the lander and the "moon"
| more clearly.
|
| Also, put a Go-Pro on the lander and give me a touchdown display.
| wanderingstan wrote:
| Seconding adding a camera to the lander. Then have "expert
| mode" where you play using only the video feed!
| fentonc wrote:
| This was one of my rare projects that was as fun to use as it was
| to build!
| bloopernova wrote:
| Your blog and various tinkering are inspiring! Thank you for
| making and writing :)
| tromp wrote:
| Arcade game play + some ports:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plS_BH2ecS0
| megous wrote:
| Cute. :)
| kurokikaze wrote:
| Video from a camera fixed on the surface of the "moon" would be
| cool to see here.
| EncomLab wrote:
| Reminds me of a toy I had back in the 70's where you attempted to
| drop bombs into cut-outs in a rotating horizontal disk by looking
| through an eyepiece with an attached 90deg mirror. The only
| controls were a lever that moved the mirror side to side and a
| trigger to release a bomb. It used a wind up spring motor and was
| entirely mechanical - I played it for hours.
| fentonc wrote:
| That's awesome sounding - I love how creative people got with
| mechanical designs before everything went digital.
| bloopernova wrote:
| wow, within 5 minutes of my pretty much identical recollection!
| (EDIT: that sounds almost accusatory, it's not meant to be)
|
| Do you remember what the game was called?
|
| EDIT: it was called "Chutes Away!"
| UncleSlacky wrote:
| Loved that game!
| 082349872349872 wrote:
| Chutes Away _Rescue_ Target Game reminds me of
| https://xkcd.com/2128/
|
| Holy dual-use technology, Batman!
| EncomLab wrote:
| Yes that is exactly it!
| bloopernova wrote:
| I like how it's supposed to be about rescuing people, but
| we both remembered it as dropping bombs!
| bloopernova wrote:
| This brings to mind a vague memory of a physical game in the 70s
| where you had a bomber above a rotating plate with landscape
| drawn on it. With target holes maybe? I'm not sure. You had to
| drop little heavy bombs, probably with lead in them, and had to
| try to hit the targets. The bombs may have been magnetic?
|
| Weird game, but in the same vein of mechanical simulation.
|
| EDIT: It was called "Chutes Away". Work blocks access to any
| board game site so I can't verify whether there's a good article
| on it...
| gnatman wrote:
| Cool!
|
| >>Released in 1977 from Gabriel, Chutes Away challenged players
| ages six and up to save the day as the pilot of a Coast Guard
| land and sea rescue plane.
|
| The mission was to drop a set of eight plastic parachutists
| into various scoring cups on a revolving terrain, accumulating
| points and rescuing survivors along the way. To successfully
| drop the parachutes on target, players used the game's built-in
| reduction-lens viewfinder in concert with an aircraft control
| lever. The lens-mounted scope provided a quasi-realistic aerial
| view and players initiated their drops using a Drop switch in
| the control panel.
|
| The toy's spring-wound motor allowed the terrain to move
| without the need for batteries, while an on/off switch
| controlled gameplay. The air-rescue target game took up a
| decent amount of table space at 21 1/2 x 16 1/4 x 16-inches
| high.
|
| Chutes Away's popularity allowed Gabriel to release a Night
| Rescue version of the game, which added a small search light to
| the bottom of the plane, allowing children to attempt their
| daring rescue missions during the day or night.
|
| https://toytales.ca/chutes-away-from-gabriel-1977/
| bloopernova wrote:
| Such a cool idea, the quasi-realistic "bombsight" was so fun
| :)
|
| > allowing children to attempt their daring rescue missions
| during the day or night.
|
| Oh wow I wish I had that version.
|
| Maybe in Lego...?
| UncleSlacky wrote:
| Recommended by Dick Van Dyke himself!
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gDScZxaZ1k
| UncleSlacky wrote:
| Reminded me of an electromechanical lunar docking arcade game
| (docking the Apollo Command Module to the lander on the way to
| the Moon). Can't find anything about it on the web, though.
| relwin wrote:
| Apollo 14. Here's some play video I shot of it years ago:
| https://youtu.be/lp9KVdrgi3Q?si=JvghqkITFLdmySKq&t=45 . All
| electro-mechanical too.
| jonty wrote:
| Iain Sharp has built two physical Lunar Lander games, one of
| which is on permanent exhibition at the Under The Pier Show in
| Southwold, UK: https://www.underthepier.com
|
| * 2009: https://lushprojects.com/lunarlander/
|
| * 2022: https://lushprojects.com/lunarlandermk2/
|
| He just built an absolutely beautiful mechanical version of
| Flappy Bird: https://lushprojects.com/appybird/
|
| Unfortunately I can't find any video of it running, but there's a
| picture here: https://oldbytes.space/@rc2014/112557511719828847
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