| Scoring: Dismantled and Re-built | by Keith Brown on 17/05/2010 | I’m relatively new to magic, only starting during the Alara Block, but that doesn’t mean I can’t delve into an area of Magic commonly overlooked: Keeping track of score.
I am a 6th form student from Carlisle, and I’m currently doing an A-level in “Systems and Control Technology” (the electronics and mechanical part of Design and Technology), and for my A2 I needed to do a practical project, and decided to link it with Magic, so I had to look deeper into my chosen part of the game.
The Concept
I will admit, that before MTG I did play the Yu-Gi-Oh TCG and was used to using vast amounts of paper to keep score so I thought I’d make a score tracker for either MTG or Yu-Gi-Oh in order to reduce paper waste; I ended up choosing magic as I realised from the outset that trying to make something for Yu-Gi-Oh was going to add unneeded complexity due to the extra digits required to show the score (as it uses 8000 as a starting value, requiring me to use 4 digits per person) The Magic starting total of 20 seemed MUCH more manageable, it also gave me a good excuse to investigate my local Magic club at the Derwent Bookshop in Workington, and get more into the game.
I was very new to the conventions that people used to keep score, as I was under the impression at that time that everyone used paper to keep track, but when I attended the Magic 2010 Core Set Launch for my first venture into MTG organised play, I learned about the spin down D20 life counters got from the Fat packs. This meant that I’d have to find a market for this product, as many people already had a means of keeping score in some way. I realised that the market for the product was tournaments and new players, as new players like myself wouldn’t have any way to keep score other than use a pen and paper, and a device like this would allow spectators to see the current score without disrupting the players.
After the event I was able to write a brief for the project:
To design and make an electronic score keeper for the “Magic: The Gathering” Trading card game. It must be able to accommodate the scores for 2 players, with at least 2 digits for each player’s score, allowing a range of 0 to 99 or higher. As the game is prone to wild score changes, compatibility with any score changes the game may include is essential. A reset must be included for each display which sets the score to 20 for the start of a game. The product must be suitable for table top use and be as portable as possible.
The concept should be designed for spectators to see the score state without disrupting the players.
Since going to the launch party, I was armed with a little more knowledge about the world of sanctioned play, I could look into the non-magic elements of the project, namely the electronics and components. I was told to look for other products that used a similar display method (7-segment displays), the key one I found was a Petrol Station Price Pillar.
The Pillar used large, bright displays in order to be seen in all light conditions and from a distance; I took inspiration form this and decided that the displays I’d use would be super-bright ones, large enough to be seen from a realistic distance (I settled on the distance being 3 metres).
As part of the design process I then had to write a specification, which is a set of points detailing what the project should do at the end. This was basically a bulking-out of the brief in bullet points.
Sorting Scoring
The next thing to tackle was how the score was going to be altered. I knew from getting creamed in the M10 tournament that scores could rise or fall quite rapidly, so the control method had to be able to accommodate that. There were 2 ways that came to mind immediately, place-value buttons (like you would do to change a digital clock) or a numeric keypad.
The keypad idea didn’t get far, as I was restricted to using specific types of microchip, all of which that only had a finite amount of inputs and memory. One of the chips was high-memory, which would’ve be ideal, but it only had 5 inputs, where the keypad required 8; the other was the exact opposite, having enough inputs, but lacked the required amount of memory.
This meant that I had to use the place-value method. I decided that each player would have a means of increasing and decreasing by 1 and 10, plus a reset to set the score back to 20.
Optional Extras
With the display and control methods chosen and finalised, I decided to look into other functionality I could give it. I toyed with a few ideas:
- 6-sided die emulator – This didn’t get far, as the chips I was using didn’t have a random number generator
- Counting display – This didn’t get far either, as I was unsure what use it could have and it would add a large amount of parts to the project.
- Match score – I ended up using this idea, by giving three lights that would glow different colours depending on who won the round.
I also gave consideration to the fact that a mains supply may not always be available so I built in what I called my “dual-power supply” which basically mean from the flick of a switch you could go from mains to battery. As the counter could easily be on for an entire day, I decided to use high-capacity C batteries, meaning that they would last for at least the day.
Binary!? WTF?
I had decided earlier that I was only going to use 2 digits, as at the time I thought that a score of 100+ wasn't obtained that often. So as I was working with 2 digits, and because it would make my life easier if I was able able to run both digits for a single player from the same chip, I used 4-bit binary.
For those who don’t know about binary: the first thing to know is that binary is only another way of displaying numbers, not an entirely different language.
As a norm, we use the denary system, or “base 10”. This means that a single denary place in a number can’t exceed 9, and should it go to 10 it carries to another place (so 1’s, 10’s, 100’s, 1000’s, etc, each place is 10 times that of the last).
The same is true for binary, or “base 2”. So a binary place can’t exceed 1, and a place equalling 2 carries to another place (so 1’s, 2’s, 4’s, 8’s, 16’s, etc, each place is 2 times that of the last).
So when we would say 13 (1 ten and 3 ones) in binary it becomes 1101 (1 eight, 1 four, no twos, and 1 one). The “4-bit” part just means that I’m restricted to 4 binary places in the number, which give me a number range of 0 to 15, which was ok for the project as I was only planning on using 0 to 9.
In my Chip program I used base 10 in order to calculate the scores, but then split them into tens and units, and converted each digit to its binary equivalent. The binary meant I could output 2 digits from the same 8-ouput chip by using 4 outputs to transmit the tens, and the other 4 to transmit the units. The binary numbers were then taken by 2 dedicated binary decoders with converted the 4-bit binary into a base 10 display.
The process of converting electronic scores to a visible display
Testing the program using a test board and breadboards
Getting Real
Having done all the R&D I needed to do, I went ahead and designed, built and soldered the Printed Circuit Boards for the project, using some circuitry methods which were previously unheard of in my school, such as the use of binary to display the scores, and using bi-colour LEDs.
After the electronic part was dealt with, I focused on the casing. The school had a limited number of ways that the case could be assembled, but I went with the MDF box approach.
The first decision was the shape, and any designs to be put on. I went with a cuboid shape with a bevelled face, and an engraved mana symbol design on the front.
The first task was to engrave the mana symbols. A short while ago there had been a request on the MTG Cumbria Facebook page for a new logo, and in the one I made the mana symbols were in the right order and alignment for the design, so I got Photoshop to them and turned it into a vector CAD design for the program I was using. The end product was the symbols engraved 2 mm into a piece of MDF with the detail engraved about 0.5 mm
So this:
Became This:
Which became this:
After that I cut and shaped all my other faces, put a lap joint into them, and glued them together using PVA wood glue. The bevel was the hardest as I had to get the angle smooth before I could glue it properly.
Demonic Decoration
With the case glued and solid I had to seal it in order to put any paint on it. This was done by painting this special MDF sealer on it and letting it dry. The result of this stage looked quite attractive despite just being MDF, so it seemed a shame that I had to put a proper finish on it.
In order to decide on a colour scheme, I took the unpainted case to the club at Workington during the Rise of the Eldrazi Pre-release, where a paintjob was decided through asking some fellow players. The body was to be a glossy black, the symbol backgrounds were to be painted their respective colours in matt, and the symbol foregrounds were to be a matt black.
I was given a black glossy chassis paint by my dad, and used that for the body, and prepared to take it to Workington for the Eldrazi Launch Party; unfortunately there were a few problems that I couldn’t address in time:
- The green buttons wouldn’t stay in place, as the nuts they were supplied with were too loose. So I left them loose, and told people to be careful. (despite my warning, Scott still managed to shock himself, where nobody else could even when they tried)
- The displays were showing the right numbers, but a some segments weren’t working
- The batteries weren’t working.
But I still took it to the club in its unfinished state to get general impressions.
The state of the counter at the launch party
Feedback
At the launch I asked for opinions of the project, most were positive, but here was some good constructive criticisms given.
The feedback included:
- A hundreds/negative indicator - I found out from a show of hands that 100+ life totals were more feasible than I thought. IT was also suggested that this extra column double up as a negative indicator for cards like Abyssal Persecutor
- A different shaped, lower level, case - This was to help with the ergonomics and allow viewing while looking down.
- A turn count and/or Round timer - to help with sanctioned play specific restrictions
The Last Hurdle
After I got it home I went about repairing the faults and stripping off the chassis paint (which in another players words: “smelled like burning”) as it hadn’t dried and was still tacky. I discovered soon afterward that the paint was 5 years old and had gone off.
In order to get the brushless, glossy black, finish I was after I decided to use Car spray paint. After I had the box smooth I sprayed it with grey primer, then a day later, put the black gloss on it. After it had dried and hardened, I was left with the desired glossy finish
The grey primer
The fully decorated box
After getting the decoration right, all that remained was to re-fit all the electronics, and test it
Now I’ve handed it in, and can’t re-claim it until November (exam board rules) so if you want to see it, I’ll be bringing it to the Workington club at some point in November or December. Robert C Wagner
17/05/2010 | This is awesome, congratulations! p.s. hope you get an A* | Keith Brown
17/05/2010 | I _should_ get a high project mark, if anything's going to pull my grade down, it'll be the written exam | Julian D Parker
17/05/2010 | this is such an awesome article; I don't think I've read anything like it on any other website LOL | Keith Brown
25/05/2010 | Did anybody understand my binary explanation? that is if you didn't already understand binary | Richard Smith
26/05/2010 | I imagine that a large proportion of readers of MTG articles will already understand binary (although amusingly enough, ask them to count in base 3, and most will struggle), but it seemed a pretty good, clear explanation to me. Nice looking product. Not sure it'll take off, given its relative bulk, but it certainly looks great! | Keith Brown
01/06/2010 | I couldn't sell it anyway, the WUBRG symbols are copyrighted and i don't fancy having a wizards legal team on my case.
and am i right in saying that base 3 is: 1,2,10,11,12,20,21,22,100,101,etc for 1-10 |
|  View 6 comments.
 Comment on this article.
|  Permanent link to this article.
 Read other articles.
|
|
The Week Ahead
Tuesday - Casual, EDH & more at West Coast Gamers (7:15pm)
Wednesday - FNM at The Gaming Crypt (7pm)
Friday - Standard FNM at Cleator Gaming Club (7pm)
Saturday - Peasant Vanguard at Workington Gaming Group (11am)
|