On Monday 07 July 2003 22:22, Alexander Henry wrote:
> As described, that product irks me on a number of levels as well; but
> I'll hold my tounge and ask one question first:  what's the content of
> the game?
> --Alexander

     Several rows of "things" cross from left to right. "You" are in the=20
right-most column and, using the up and down buttons, intercept the "thin=
gs"=20
before they reach the right-hand edge. At progressive levels, say the=20
instructions, the things go faster and faster.
     I want to inspect the LCD closer: the "things" do appear to move in=20
rather large leaps of a body-length. That might be a pixel's worth but th=
ey=20
also have some inner detail -- I don't know if that's simply a decal that=
=20
only shows when the LCD pixel is dark/light or if the pixels are finer bu=
t=20
the mechanism only moves them in fixed steps. If the former, the electron=
ics=20
could be, as the other poster suggested, very very simple. But the overal=
l=20
effect (with sound, including a "winning" sound when you beat all three=20
levels) is of something more sophisticated.
     My money is still on a microprocessor inside the McDonald's happy me=
al=20
game, albeit something dirt cheap and possibly of the Microchip variety. =
I'm=20
using some of Microchip's $3 8-bit parts that run at 4Mhz, have room for =
1024=20
instructions and four 10-bit A/D converters. There's some pretty=20
sophisticated hardware available for a couple of bucks in single unit=20
quantities. At McDonald's volumes, I'd expect that cost to be well under =
one=20
dollar but, more likely, it's a custom design.

--=20
Ed Skinner, ed@flat5.net, http://www.flat5.net/