Plinko Poetry is a new interface for electronic poetic expression. Drawing source text from current @nytimes and @FoxNews tweets, players can absurdly re-contextualize news headlines that are often overloaded with meaning. With roots in The Price Is Right and experimental blackout poetry- every player can be both a winner and a poet!




The interface of Plinko Poetry uses Processing to display alternate scrolling lines of current tweets from the New York Times and Fox News. When a user drops a chip, it randomly hits pegs on the way down. The word under each peg that is hit is highlighted, with the untouched pegs automatically darkened. Plinko Poetry uses openFrameworks camera color tracking to determine which pegs have been encountered. When the chip comes to a stop, the user is left with a trail of blackout poetry which is then live tweeted to @PlinkoPoetry.




Ultimately users will create a new corpus of ever changing poetic text based on the zeitgeist of current headlines.


Audience
Anyone who likes weirdo poetry and has eyes?

User Scenario
Player walks up to screen where text is scrolling. Player drops chip and text either highlights or blackouts depending on if the chip touched the corresponding peg. User is left with a trail of blackout poetry. Poems are then live tweeted to twitter and shown on a separate display.

Implementation
It's made of a LCD screen incased in layers of CNC'd wood and plexiglass.

Conclusion
A lot, hopefully it doesn't break!