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It's funny. Laugh. Software Entertainment Games Linux

2.6 Ton Pinball Machine 166

Posted by michael from the tilt dept.
nmoog writes "Heres something you don't see everyday - The Southtyrol-game is an 11 metre, 2.6 tonne pinball "style" machine. Its intention? 'Provide an ironic and entertaining demonstration of how the advent of tourism shaped the landscape and economic habits in the small Italian province of Southtyrol.' And powered by Linux to boot. Um, as well."
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2.6 Ton Pinball Machine More

2.6 Ton Pinball Machine

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  • But a great way to snag tourists, just think of your favorite Putt Putt Golf place; Peter Pan in Austin.

    CB

  • Mirror (Score:5, Informative)

    by AndrewSchaefer ( 89406 ) * <andrew@nOSpAM.schaefer.nu> on Thursday September 25, 2003 @08:33PM (#7060092) Homepage
    Before it gets /.'ed, I mirrored it.

    http://www.schaefer.nu/southtyrolgame/

  • Yes But (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday September 25, 2003 @08:35PM (#7060101)
    Does it run Windows .NET framework, Compact Edition?

  • This looks great and all... (Score:5, Funny)

    by phraktyl ( 92649 ) * <wyatt@@@draggoo...com> on Thursday September 25, 2003 @08:36PM (#7060103) Homepage Journal
    But at "11 metres long" and with "16 user operated levers", not to mention two steps going from one side to the other, multiball is going to suck.

  • TILT (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    You need a major hernia operation.

  • Text of page just in case: (Score:3, Informative)

    by OverlordQ ( 264228 ) on Thursday September 25, 2003 @08:36PM (#7060108) Journal
    Considering there's 7 megs of movies on the page, it might get /.'ed pretty quick :) so:

    Southtyrol-game, powered by Linux
    Clicca qui per la versione italiana di questa pagina

    Merano - Italy, September, 24 2003.

    Today was the official presentation of the Southtyrol-game.
    The game is one of the worlds largest hand carved pinball style game machines. (Candidate for the Guinness World Records).
    It weighs 2.6 tons, is 11 metres long, 2.6 metres high, has 16 user operated levers, 72 metres of pathways for ball travel, 33 moving scenes,
    37 electric motors, 22 sensors and 16 audio speakers distributed over the entire game.
    It took about one year to build the game.

    The Southtyrol-game is located at the Touriseum, a museum dedicated to the history of tourism in the province of Southtyrol, which is located in Italy at the border with Austria.

    The intent of the game is to provide an ironic and entertaining demonstration of how the advent of tourism shaped the landscape and economic habbits in the small Italian province of Southtyrol

    What does a massive 2.6 ton wooden game have to do with Linux?
    The audio system is powered by Linux!

    There are dozens of motors and sensors that are operated by an industrial controller which is linked to the PC
    with a serial cable. Click here for a simple diagram of how it works.

    Everytime a ball passes sensors which are embedded in the pathways, the controller unit
    animates a nearby object by turning on the related motor and simultaneously sends the sensor number
    that was triggered through a serial cable.

    That way the PC knows which audio samples it must trigger and route to the various speakers located on the
    game board.

    The requirements that make a linux based PC solution more appropriate than dedicated sound modules includes:
    - low cost of multiple input and output soundcards
    - flexibility in controlling customized samples, trigger times, volumes, sample lengths, playback orders, assignment to arbitrary channels, etc
    - capability to play large samples at 44.1Khz and 16bit (CD quality).

    With 512MB of ram and a 40GB hard disk (sw-raid1) drive the computer meets all these requirements.
    The PC is just a standard Athlon box, for the audio we use the M-Audio Delta 1010 cards and for the audio API
    we use ALSA.
    Aditionally the PC stores on hard disk all the events (time stamped) that were triggered by the passing of balls.
    That way we can evaluate usage patterns of the game, eg what sections people like most or what sections are harder
    to reach.
    Example movies of the game in action
    (all movies in DIVX format, sorry for the bad video and audio quality, I recorded them using a digital camera with a builtin mic
    that does only low quality mjpeg AVIs which were later converted to DIVX thanks to mencoder).

    1) movie1.avi (1.6MB)
    In this movie the ball enters into a scene where a deer and a hunter hidden in the forest. The hunter emerges from his hiding place in the ground to shoot the deer. You hear the gun shot which is followed by applause.

    2) movie2.avi (1.3MB)
    In this scene the ball passes near a farm where it causes the cows to move and triggers the sounds of animals like roosters, cats, etc.

    3) movie3.avi (700KB)
    Here, as the ball passes a busy road, you see trucks traveling along the roadway and hear the sounds of various vehicles.

    4) movie4.avi (1.6MB)
    In this footage the ball rolls into an Apres ski which is an igloo shaped bar located near the ski slopes. You hear people shakin booty to the disco music.

    5) movie5.avi (1.5MB)
    In this movie the ball travels past a flock of noisy sheep which, not by coincidence, are very much like the herds of tourists that populate the ski resorts.
    Authors:
    Teo Mahlknecht: Woodcarving, mechanics
    Benno Senoner: Audio system powered by Linux (audio software development, hardware setup and optimization)
    Otto Vinatzer: industrial controller
    About other 10-12 people like electricians, carpenters etc contributed to make the game a reality.

    If you have questions, need more informations just contact us.

  • Hot damn... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Kedisar ( 705040 ) on Thursday September 25, 2003 @08:36PM (#7060109) Journal
    There's NO tilting this bitch.
  • The thing is microprocessor/sensor/mechanically controlled, Linux is only used for the audio portion of it... Geeze you guys are quick to claim whatever you can as 'being Linux' aren't you?

    • Well, I suppose the original poster should have stated that the audio was powered by Linux. ;)

      Plus, if the audio were powered by Windows, then it might very well exclaim a rather loud and annoying "YOU'VE GOT MAIL" the first time somone hit the AOL partner bumper... :P

    • Re:It's not 'powered by Linux' (Score:4, Informative)

      by ThogScully ( 589935 ) <neilsd@neilschelly.com> on Thursday September 25, 2003 @09:11PM (#7060320) Homepage
      Actually, a lot more is powered by Linux that that. The sensors you speak of trigger events on the Linux machine so that it plays the correct sound and can log the event. Then the Linux machine can be used to analyze playing habits, difficulties, etc. It's a very good implementation I'd say.

      Linux doesn't have to do everything for it to be an impressive application of the software. He used what was best for each job and interfaced all of it together.
      -N
      • Logging the event is hardly a 'lot' more than just playing them.

        It's a nice use of Linux, but an industrial controller does the hard work.

        I do approve of it and guess that if it were running windows that after a while of running all you'd here is the standard windows 'ding' over and over due to an error... :)
        • The industrial controller does not do that much in fact. Basically simple logic operations like
          if(sensor1==ON AND sensor2==OFF) then start motor 2 for 5 secs
          etc

          We could have powered the game entirely by Linux by using multi I/O cards that can drive relays and sensors, but the automation control was already assigned to an other firm when I came into play and suggested a Linux box for doing the audio stuff.

          The artist (a friend of mine, we live in the same town) is excited the flexibility and power of Linux
    • You beat me to the post.

      This phrase really grates on my nerves. Game machines, PVRs, PDAs, etc, are not powered by Linux. They're powered by electricity. They run Linux among other software.

      And while we're on the subject of word misusage -- Slashdot is for nerds, not geeks. Geeks are sideshow performers that do entertain people by doing disgusting things. Technophilic misfits are nerds. It's right there on the Slashdot logo ("News for Nerds"), but people persistently refer to nerds as "geeks" in the

  • Well ... (Score:3, Funny)

    by phoxix ( 161744 ) on Thursday September 25, 2003 @08:37PM (#7060118)
    It sure looks more like a nice piece of art to me ...

    Sunny Dubey

  • Overheard conversation (Score:5, Funny)

    by miyako ( 632510 ) <miyako AT gmail DOT com> on Thursday September 25, 2003 @08:41PM (#7060143) Homepage Journal
    Teo: Hey benno putting those large pictures and divx movies on the site was a great idea!
    Benno: Yes, now the world can see how cool this thing is
    Teo: Hmm, the server seems a little slow
    Benno: Oh, it looks like we've been posted on slashdot, I expected as much, seeing as we are using linux
    Teo: ...and you still put all those pictures and videos on the site?
    Benno: Yep
    Teo: *SLAP!*

  • 11 metres long? Tourists not wanted (Score:4, Funny)

    by iamhassi ( 659463 ) on Thursday September 25, 2003 @08:41PM (#7060145) Journal
    so you hit the ball, then watch it bounce around for an hour before getting back to the flippers?

    talk about getting your quarter's worth.

    "In this movie the ball travels past a flock of noisy sheep which, not by coincidence, are very much like the herds of tourists that populate the ski resorts."

    Doesn't sound like the tourists are wanted, strange considering the game is "located at the Touriseum, a museum dedicated to the history of tourism in the province of Southtyrol". When I hit the ball do I hear "Tourists suck!" and "Tourists go home!"?

  • can it handle a 2.6Gb slashdotting? I don't think so.
  • but does it support Ogg?

  • Not so long ago..... (Score:5, Funny)

    by oliverthered ( 187439 ) <{moc.liamtoh} {ta} {derehtrevilo}> on Thursday September 25, 2003 @08:44PM (#7060162) Journal
    Not so long ago, before the 'torists' came the population of Southtyrol were poor, probably didn't know what day of the week it was, but self sufficient.

    then they came, with prommise of all the great things to come, but now the inhabitants of Southtyrol are over run by forign invaders and will never be able to return to there peacefull way of life.

    Multiball activated.

  • which does it have? (Score:4, Funny)

    by NumLk ( 709027 ) on Thursday September 25, 2003 @08:44PM (#7060164)
    Balls of Steel or Big Brass Balls

  • New rallying cry for art geeks (Score:3, Funny)

    by shut_up_man ( 450725 ) on Thursday September 25, 2003 @08:45PM (#7060170) Homepage
    "Your 2.6 tonne art installation is not complete until it has Linux doing something unexpectedly funky in it."
  • 2.6 tonne pinball "style" machine

    It's obviously based on "Longhorn"
  • Anybody have an idea as to what the "industrial controller" is? I'd love a device like that which I could plug into the serial port and read sensors.
    • I would have to guess it would be a PLC, much like an Allen-Bradly, or a GEFanuc. Maybe if *I* RTFA, I would find the answer is there, but I didn't...

      TILT :(
    • AFAIK a PLC from SAIA (swiss manufacturer)

      http://www.saia-burgess.com

      Anyway doing it purely with Linux using a digital multi I/O card would have been cheaper because those I/O cards (eg with 48-96 in/outs) cost only around $200-$300.

      Anyway the current solution does its job well and perhaps in future we will go with a pure linux based solution.

      Benno Senoner

  • Want to learn how to interface electronics to a PC (Score:4, Informative)

    by t0qer ( 230538 ) on Thursday September 25, 2003 @08:53PM (#7060221) Homepage Journal
    This site has been very usefull to me.
    http://www.aaroncake.net/circuits/index.asp
  • Very interesting, but how does one go about 'bumping' a 2.6 ton pinball machine? ;)
  • ...but it's displaying "TILT" on the console, at least until this story is off the front page.

    Then again, maybe "FALLEN OVER- CAN'T GET UP" is more apt.

  • This one must have balls the CLANK!
  • Can a pinball "style" machine be played by sense of smell?

  • That's not pinball ! (Score:4, Informative)

    by jafiwam ( 310805 ) on Thursday September 25, 2003 @09:05PM (#7060287) Homepage Journal
    That's the Horta with little trees clued to it's back.

    Seriously, it looks nice an all, but pinball to me always has had a basic format, board, thingies to make the ball do stuff, flippers, hole in bottom.

    That thing lacks the essential qualities of a pinball machine. It's closer to Pachinko in my opinion....
  • Small [slashdot.org] or big, /.

    Which is more important to you?

  • Surreal... (Score:1, Troll)

    by cybermace5 ( 446439 )
    The Touriseum, eh? A museum dedicated to tourism.

    That's kind of like a book about people who read, or a movie portraying people watching movies.

    Who would go to a tourist attraction, which is dedicated to proving how tourist attractions ruined the way of life for that place? Someone in search of the elusive "one hand clapping" sound, maybe.
  • 'cause it's either [wikipedia.org] 5730 pounds, or 5824 pounds, or 5200 pounds.
  • Pinball meats miniture golf!!!

  • New lyrics by "The Who" (Score:3, Funny)

    by Judg3 ( 88435 ) <jeremy@@@pavleck...com> on Thursday September 25, 2003 @09:29PM (#7060396) Homepage Journal
    Ever since I was a young boy,
    I've played the silver ball.
    From Soho down to Brighton
    I must have played them all.
    But I ain't seen nothing like it
    In any amusement hall...
    That two point six ton machine
    Sure ain't no damn pin ball !

    Horrible quick parody of "The Who"s song Pinball Wizard [lyricsdepot.com].
  • "2.6 ton"

    Imagine a 2.6 METRIC tonne cluster of these pinball machines!

  • Can you imagine... (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    a Beowulf cluster of these?

    You thought it, but only I had the courage to say it.

  • Wow... that thing is long... and huge! And so many levers! I mean, could you imagine how nuts it would be to play this thing singleplayer if you got a multiball combo?

    Sounds like exercise to me. Wait... I don't like exercise! But it's also pinball! Oh, it's just not fair!

  • Oh wait...nevermind.

  • Units? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by heli0 ( 659560 ) on Thursday September 25, 2003 @10:12PM (#7060626)
    Submission:
    "Heres something you don't see everyday - The Southtyrol-game is an 11 metre, 2.6 tonne pinball "style" machine."

    Mirrored Story:
    The game is one of the worlds largest hand carved pinball style game machines. (Candidate for the Guinness World Records).
    It weighs 2.6 tons,

    So does it weigh

    2.6tonne(SI); 2,600kg (5,730lbs)? or

    2.6ton(US); 5,200lbs (2,360kg)? or

    2.6ton(UK); 5,820lbs (2,640kg)?
    Maybe we can get this in units of stones or VW beetles?

  • Did you look at the pictures?

    It looks like Jabba the Hutt attempting intercourse with Shelob the Spider.
  • Reminds me of the time in HS once upon a time when we'd go to the local "Lamp Post Pizza" where they had a pinball machine. Bring along a hard drive magnet, and play as long as you want on a quarter. The people who worked there were cool and as long as we ordered food, they thought it was a pretty cool "hack".

    Anyone else knows any cool pinball tricks?

    -=- Terence

    (For those who can't see how this trick works: The pinball is a steel ball bearing. So, plop the magnet down at the bottom near the pit and w
    • (For those who can't see how this trick works: The pinball is a steel ball bearing. So, plop the magnet down at the bottom near the pit and when you loose, you just drag the ball back up and keep playing :-D. HD magnets are nice and strong and does the trick quite nicely.)

      Oh my god! I can't believe I never thought to try that. --As Tesla once said, "The answer was so simple I almost overlooked it."

      You are my new hero.

      Remember those super cool tables? The Star Trek TNG, Indiana Jones and Star Wars tab
      • Nothing truly cool has happened since those days. Except perhaps the Fellowship of the Rings extended DVD, and Miyazaki's Spirited Away

        I hope I'm not going too much off topic now (oh yeah- /., can't really go offtopic there :-)
        but.. the next pinball machine by Stern is going to be the Lords of the rings theme..

  • In this movie the ball enters into a scene where a deer and a hunter hidden in the forest. The hunter emerges from his hiding place in the ground to shoot the deer. You hear the gun shot which is followed by applause.

    Before you ask... yes I enjoy eating tasty animals..

  • 1. Find a popular thing
    2. Construct a giant-sized version of it locally
    3. ???
    4. Profit

    One Aussie small town managed to build
    their BIG fruit or vegetable spin-off
    up-side-down... so they featured it as
    being a "more natural" form of the thing.

    "If you can't fix it, Feature it!"
    G Weinberg's Secrets of Consulting
  • The server was terribly slow for me, as was the first mirror, so I pulled out wget for everyone. Enjoy :)

    mirror [countrypure.net]

  • The guiness book of world record being,,,, the biggest waste of time ever?
  • "..And powered by Linux to boot. Um, as well."

    Hmmm, I guess Linux isn't on the ass end of gaming after all. Just the really weird and obscure end of it...
  • the same kind of people who invented the 2 stroke kick start vibrator... RS dynamo hummmm....
  • As a pinball fan, my only complaint is: Where are the flippers?! ;-)

    The molded interactive landscape is a beautiful quaint metaphor to use for this purpose - sort of drawing its influences from a grab bag of model train sets, folk sculpture and Advent Calendars. Most of all I'm glad they opted for something tactile rather than a 3d computer model; this will impress children in particular long after they've forgotten one more computer screen (and that's who you want historical representations to impress -

  • That's pretty neat, but I think it falls short of the traditional definition of pinball...

    Interesting tidbit: The largest machine ever to be mass produced was Atari's Hercules [cdyn.com]. It was 83" (211 cm) tall, 41" (103 cm) wide, and 93" (236 cm) deep. Weighed a hefty 275 lbs. Not quite the monster in the article, but it was mass produced and used a ball the size of a cue ball.

  • Where Tom Hanks became really TALL and rented a SPACIOUS apartment with HEAVY pinball games.
  • Before you start wondering:
    South Tyrol is only a mere geographical expression.

    They are only good for their Wafer Candies [loacker.it] and because they host an Oktoberfest even if they are in Italy.

    + + + +

    Ok, ok, I love South Tyrol (even if I am not a Tyrolean).

  • I'm really impressed by this thing.
    Congratulations to the builders.

    There is a great European tradition of mechanical devices like this, and it's good it is being kept up so creatively. Not to knock Disney, but some of these creations have a wonderful, slightly kitsch, homegrown quality that is lightyears from Hollywood production values. For people who like them, a great place to visit used to be St. Croix in the Swiss Jura. I haven't been there recently and don't know if the factory tours are still going,

  • Of course, this flipper has been inspired by a 15 year old machine called the Tourismus Flipper, to be seen on permanent exhibition in the Swiss Transport Museum in Lucerne. Only half a ton, but still Guiness-worthy in its time :-) Here are some pictures [morgan-art.ch].
    • Of course, this flipper has been inspired by a 15 year old machine called the Tourismus Flipper, to be seen on permanent exhibition in the Swiss Transport Museum in Lucerne.

      Ah. But the Swiss weren't first. New Yorkers have been flipping tourists for a century or more.

      Regards,
      --
      *Art
  • They have to send a mountain rescue team into the game..
  • 2.6 ton pinball machine... damn... I wonder what size tokens it takes?

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