ITP Spring Show 2009
Sunday, May 10, 2-6pm & Monday, May 11, 5-9 pm
 

Nobu Nakaguchi

TUUUG-of-war

How loud can your team yell "TUUUUUG"?

http://www.nn27.com/tuuugofwar/

Classes
Redial: Interactive Telephony


A multi-player, big screen game of tug-of-war in which two teams play by yelling "TUUUUUG" into mobile phones.

Background
Researched the history of Tug-of-war, the rules of the game, and video of actual matches.

History of tug-of-war - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tug_of_war
Tug of War International Federation (TWIF) - http://www.tugofwar-twif.org/
How to Play Tug-of-War according to ehow.com - http://www.ehow.com/how_7943_play-tug-war.html

Audience
People who own a mobile phone and have played tug-of-war in the past. People who are interested in experiencing new interactions for a classic game.

User Scenario
Six users will join the game and form two teams. When all users are ready, they begin yelling "TUUUG" into their phones. The louder they yell "TUUUG", the more they pull the rope. The winning team will be congratulated and will take a photo with the monsters. The photos will get posted on a website (http://itp.nyu.edu/~nn435/tuuugofwar/) and a link to the photo will be SMSed to the winners.

Implementation
A maximum of six users can play the game of TUUUG-of-war. Asterisk handles the call. Then volume data is calculated by a java client which interfaces with a Processing sketch.

Conclusion
My learnings:
Bluetooth serial communication, game strategy, play incentives, and asterisk dial plans.