- 2006.10.07
Occasionally I have students play games simulating game shows to
review for tests. I've played a "Millionaire" game and a "Jeopardy"
game.
One problem I always face is determining who gets to answer when
"buzzing in" is required. Usually, I just let people raise their
hands; but this year, I have unusually large classes (~40 students)
who happen to be very chatty and, let us say, overly
enthusiastic.
I mean these kids are into the competitive aspect of even a
little review game . . . they are on their feet, yelling,
laughing, etc. Consequently it was difficult to tell who raised
their hands first and accusations of "No, we were first!" were
flying.
I figured there had to be a technological way out of this
conundrum without buying a video-game style "buzzer" kit from some
overpriced vendor, so I tried to think of how I could put one of
the several older Mac G3s in my room to use in this respect.
There was an astounding lack of shareware for this purpose,
according to a brief Google search, so I decided to grow my
own.
Despite the lack of a prefabricated solution, I knew two things
that might help me:
- There is a fine, functional version of BASIC for OS X that
I know how to use - Chipmunk Basic.
- You can hook up two ADB keyboards to a Power Mac G3
simultaneously, and they will both function. The Blue and White G3
was the last computer Apple manufactured that could use an ADB
keyboard, and I happen to have a crate of these in a storeroom just
looking for a purpose.
I proceeded to write a short program in Chipmunk Basic (source
code follows) that basically captures the first keypress on both
keyboards with an old-fashioned INKEY$ command and then displays
this response as well as speaking it.
Players wait with one finger above one of the four keys I
programmed (A, B, G, and D for alpha, beta, gamma, and delta) and
the first one who "buzzes in" wins. Then the BASIC routine reports
the winner and awaits a reset. The reset (your have to type the R
key) is necessary so that the computer pauses, latching in the
winning response before the keyboard is ready to accept another
round.
In subsequent tests, the system worked like a charm.
In case you are a teacher and are wondering how I managed the
students who weren't playing, I split the class up into four teams
of ten students. Every time a student answered a question in the
game, they rotated out with other team members, and a different
student manned the keyboard. "Chaos," as one student described my
earlier attempts, became "organized."
Another said that they had played "Jeopardy" in other classes,
but this was the first one that was organized enough that they
could enjoy it and get some information for reviewing out of it at
the same time.
Here is the source code for my primitive "buzzer" program. Just
download Chipmunk BASIC, install it on your older machine, connect
two keyboards, and run the program. Just open Chipmunk Basic, copy
the text below, and paste it in. Then run it. Don't forget to save
it if it works well.
10 rem BUZZER PROGRAM
20 print "WAITING FOR INPUT..."
30 z$ = inkey$
40 if z$ = "a" or z$ = "A" then team$ = "ALPHA" : flag = 1
50 if z$ = "b" or z$ = "B" then team$ = "BETA" : flag = 1
60 if z$ = "G" or z$ = "g" then team$ = "GAMMA" : flag = 1
70 if z$ = "D" or z$ = "d" then team$ = "DELTA" : flag = 1
80 if z$ = "q" then stop
90 if flag = 1 then goto 110 else goto 30
110 a$ = "Team "+team$+" BUZZED IN FIRST!"
120 say a$ : print a$ : print "Type 'R' to reset for another round."
130 x$ = inkey$
140 if x$ = "R" or x$ = "r" then flag = 0 : goto 10
150 if x$ = "Q" or x$ = "q" then stop
160 goto 130
One last thing (gentle readers): I have homework for you.
- If you try this out on a 68K Mac, will it work? (Chipmunk Basic
is available in versions for System 6, 7, 8, and 9 as well as OS
X.)
- Will it work with USB keyboards on a modern Mac? [Editor's
note: It works on my Power Mac G4 with a wireless keyboard
connected via USB. dk]
- Does the "INKEY$" function have any inherent bias for some
keypresses happening before others?
- Is there some way to distinguish between keyboards so we could
use four separate keyboards with everyone pressing the space bar to
trigger the answer?
That's it for this week. Sorry about my absence for the last
while, I've been pretty busy with a number of projects.
is a longtime Mac user. He was using digital sensors on Apple II computers in the 1980's and has networked computers in his classroom since before the internet existed. In 2006 he was selected at the California Computer Using Educator's teacher of the year. His students have used NASA space probes and regularly participate in piloting new materials for NASA. He is the author of two books and numerous articles and scientific papers. He currently teaches astronomy and physics in California, where he lives with his twin sons, Jony and Ben.< And there's still a Mac G3 in his classroom which finds occasional use.
