Player One Ready! Life-Sized Pac-Man

So last summer we had way too much fun with Life-Sized Angry Birds, so this summer we decided to bring another digital game into the real world. In a word, the results were AWESOME!

Set-Up

Look up Pac-Man on your favorite search engine, and you'll get quite a few screen shots of the classic video game mazes. I used construction paper to lay out the maze as I was short on time, but if you wanted to be technical about it, you could grab some masking and measuring tape and go crazy!

We used a whole bunch of die-cut circles for the dots, but you could use plastic coins, LEGO pieces, or any other small item that you have in copious amounts. 

GamePlay

Select one player as Pac-Man (or Mrs. Pac-Man as the case may be), and two players as ghosts. Assure the rest of your participants that everyone will have a chance to play both parts. We gave each player one minute in the maze to pick up as many dots as they could. The ghosts had to stay in their center starting position for ten seconds, and then they could start giving chase. Typically speaking, the ghosts had to walk backwards or step heal-to-toe to slow them down a little bit. The round ended when the time ran out, or Pac-Man (or Mrs. Pac-Man), was tagged by one of the ghosts. 

The key to everyone participating was rotation. All of the participants started in a line, and the first participant was Player One and the second and third participants were the ghosts. When Pac-Man (or Mrs. Pac-Man) was tagged, they went to the end of the line, and the first ghost became Player One, the second ghost became first ghost, and so on and so on until everyone had a turn to play each part. 

When each round ended, the two ghosts would reset the maze by replacing the dots that Pac-Man (or Mrs. Pac-Man) had collected, and the game would begin again. 

Extras

Keep a High Score Board with each participant's name.

Find some Pac-Man sounds and have them playing while the rounds are happening.

Consider a way to have Pac-Man (or Mrs. Pac-Man) grab that power-up that allows them to eat the ghosts for extra points. Maybe have a ball they can grab that lets them tag the ghosts and send them back to their starting location. After a certain amount of time, they'll have to surrender the ball. 

Why Do We Watch Movies Like The Fault in Our Stars?

Disclaimer: I'm cheating this week. I read a book that I could talk about, but I'd much rather talk about the movie that I just watched last night. I figure I'm not cheating too much (as the movie is based on John Green's The Fault in Our Stars), but I'm definitely cheating at least a little (as I haven't read the book yet).

Let me begin by saying that I loved the movie (and once again mention that I haven't read the book yet. I can't comment on how good of an adaptation it was. But, I have on good authority from my sister that it is an excellent adaptation of the novel). The story was powerful, the acting was incredible, and you couldn't help but keep thinking about the theme, characters, and catharsis of the film.

But, I also couldn't help but wonder; why we do this to ourselves? Why do we watch movies like The Fault in Our Stars? Why do we read books like The Fault in Our Stars? Do we like to be sad? Do we enjoy watching other people suffer? Do we not have enough troubles in our lives that we have to go experience the fictional struggles of made-up characters?

I don't think that is it at all. I think there are plenty of reasons to go see and experience these types of books and movies, and they aren't near as cynical and cruel as my last paragraph. I think some of it is curiosity, some of it is having our own experiences and suffering validated and experienced on the silver screen, and some of it is because these movies and books are typically put together better than others.

However, the main reason I came up with last night is this; we watch these stories about dying because it reminds us to get living, and to do it better than we have been. This motif has been told, sung, and retold, and resung a million different ways; but it hit me afresh last night.

We go to see movies like The Fault in Our Stars because we need that reminder that life is painful, unfair, and twisted. We go to see movies like The Fault in Our Stars because we need that reminder that life is beautiful, unexpected, and worthwhile. We go to see movies like The Fault in Our Stars because we need to be removed from our routines for an hour and a half and actually evaluate how we've been living, rather than just what we've been doing. We go to see movies like The Fault in Our Stars because our pain is real, but so is the truth that life is worth living anyways.

3D Printing in the Cloud

                      
That kinda sorta sounds like an oxymoron. Isn't 3D Printing about manufacturing things one layer at a time? Isn't it about bringing your ideas into the real world? How can you do that in the cloud?

Well, you're right. You can't do that in the cloud. You are still going to need a 3D Printer sitting somewhere in your vicinity. But the whole design-a-model, get-your-design-to-the-printer, fiddle-with-your-settings, and control-your-printer part can be done through the cloud thanks to a fancy little device called Skyforge.

Skyforge is a combination of hardware and software that connects your 3D Printer to the cloud. Instead of using a USB connection to lash your computer to your printer, you can just pull a design from the cloud. Instead of having to go through multiple programs to get something print-ready, you can just use Skyforge's interface. Instead of needing to email a client about how much it will cost, you can just send them to Skyforge who will let them know itself.

Now, Skyforge isn't free. In fact, there are some young entrepreneurs that are asking for your support on their Kickstarter page. But, if you are an organization who wants to make their 3D Printer more user friendly, or an individual who does a lot of 3D Printing, Skyforge might be just what you were hoping would materialize.