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A CU researcher is using leftover packaging to create a DIY arcade in his own home, and now gamers everywhere can, too.

Researcher Peter Gyory was bored at home during the pandemic when he discovered he could use his background in game design to build an arcade device out of random materials.

“I like to design what are called alternative game controllers, but during quarantine I was stuck at home all the time,” Gyory said. “I had a lot of cardboard lying around from the various things I was ordering over the first year, so I decided to turn those into game controllers.”

Tinycade is what Gyory appropriately named his device. It can be used anywhere, and anyone can make one from home with a smartphone, cardboard, two small mirrors, rubber bands and toothpicks.

“The restriction I gave myself was that if you couldn’t go to the grocery store and buy it, I couldn’t use it in Tinycade,” Gyory said.

Gyory received a bachelor of science degree from the Rochester Institute of Technology in game design and development and is now a doctoral student at the University of Colorado Boulder’s ATLAS Institute for creativity and invention.

Gyory and his colleagues presented Tinycade at the Association for Computing Machinery’s conference on creativity and cognition in Venice, Italy, last month. They have begun developing initial games on the platform such as a claw game and a spin on Space Invaders.

The team behind Tinycade hopes that other gamers will be inspired to create their own versions. “Because the look and feel of the cardboard is so familiar, people can be inspired to think of and make different input controls for any games they can imagine, and not be restricted to the standard game board, joystick, keyboard or mouse,” said Ellen Do, one of the team members behind Tinycade and Gyory’s Ph.D. adviser.

Do, who is a professor at ATLAS and the Department of Computer Science, helped Gyory develop his idea. “I believe a lab for making things is an environment for creativity. I often asked him to build something he wants, that he knows he will enjoy and to share with others,” she said.

Once the platform rolls out, players will only need to follow a few simple steps. To build your own Tinycade you will need to download a set of stencils that will help you cut out and assemble an arcade machine from spare cardboard. You then place your phone in the device to serve as the screen.

“We want the project to be something that anyone could easily build at home with stuff they can find lying around the house,” Gyory said.

The machine’s controllers are also made out of cardboard and can be configured into a wide range of designs such as joysticks, knobs, sliders and switches.

Within a Tinycade platform are a set of mirrors that allow your smartphone’s camera to see what’s going on under those controls. For example, if you press right on the controller, the pieces will shift to reveal a digital marker, which looks like a simple QR code. Your phone will spot that marker, then tell the character on the screen to move right.

Games will soon be available for download on the Tinycade website, Gyory said.

Next, Gyory is going to expand his computer vision recognition software, so that any game players can design and make their own creative controllers to play with any games already available, Do said.

“This is going to have huge impacts to anyone who is interested in playing or making games, as they would no longer be restricted to whatever big game companies provide for standard game controllers, but be able to build and play their own inventions,” she added.

To learn how to make your own Tinycade, visit tinycade.github.io/tinycade-homepage/.

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