SlashGear

I feel a little ashamed to admit this, but I’m a crap gamer.  Yes, you heard me, I lack the hand-eye coordination, persistence and general aptitude to play Halo 3, Grand Tourismo Theft Auto Superbike Fifa 3 2008 or even Pac Man.  That pretty much leaves me with Solitaire, Minesweeper and Freecell.  Oh, and don’t forget Tetris!  Yes, Tetris, love of my life (if you exclude everything else I love more) – there have been real-life game versions of it before but nothing I’d consider parting with cash for.  Well, that’s just changed.

Make sure you check the video after the cut!

Sparkfun decided to take their newly-designed 4×4 rubber button boards, each key happy with an LED plopped merrily behind it, and put together a 12×20 Tetris board complete with colour-changing RGB lights and sixteen microcontrollers to make the whole damn thing work.

What they’ve ended up with is a sort of 10lb Tetris picture-frame, where to move or rotate a block you press the keys around it.  It’s a demanding beast, too, gobbling power from a modified $20 PSU that spits out an impressive 30A at 5V.  Sadly I don’t think they plan on selling them, and while the schematics are up I’m nowhere near talented enough to make one myself.  Guess I’ll just have to buy myself a classic GameBoy!

Spark Fun [via MAKE:]