Weird Question About Electronic Games And Toys

[Pete Holland Jr.]

Years ago, I was a Pokemon fan (street cred? What's that?), and among the more interesting toys they had was the Pokemon Battle Arena. It was made by Tiger Toys. It was basically a fighting game. Players sat across from each other, with a small display screen between them. Looking at the screen, there was red film on both sides (it tinted the view red) but other than that, it was clear.

The game itself was a fighting game, and here's where the question comes into play. There were a bunch of transparent pegs between the "glass" planes for the display. Something was wrapped around the pegs in such a way that the game would flash images, a total of six different ones. It was like a wire and made a rough wire-framish image of the characters. No motion, and none of the pegs were used for more than one image. Character on the ground, character up in the air from a jump, character falling back in a defensive position, one set for each player, powered by IIRC three AA batteries and for about $30.

Every once in a while, I wonder what exactly was in that display. At first, I thought it was fiber optics, but looking at that, it appears fiber optics only emit light from the end, not for the entire length like the game did to display the characters. Plus, there would be no need to tint the display. Does anyone have any idea how they might have pulled this off?

 

[Jasen Betts]

On 2012-10-12, Pete Holland Jr. <peterg@uti.com> wrote:

Every once in a while, I wonder what exactly was in that display.
At first, I thought it was fiber optics, but looking at that, it
appears fiber optics only emit light from the end, not for the entire
length like the game did to display the characters. Plus, there would
be no need to tint the display. Does anyone have any idea how they
might have pulled this off?

sounds like light pipes, a close relative of fibre optics.

they emit light anywhere the surface is at a sufficient angle to the
light beam.

A similar trick is done with crystal blocks, By introducing flaws in
into them in the right locations they can be made to contain shapes
that glow when illuminated from one end.

http://www.okokchina.com/p/Crystal-Block/laser-crystal-block-8428.html


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[Pete Holland Jr.]

sounds like light pipes, a close relative of fibre optics.



they emit light anywhere the surface is at a sufficient angle to the

light beam.

Thank you. I've been wondering about that for years.

 

[josephkk]

On 13 Oct 2012 03:49:42 GMT, Jasen Betts <jasen@xnet.co.nz> wrote:

On 2012-10-12, Pete Holland Jr. <peterg@uti.com> wrote:

Every once in a while, I wonder what exactly was in that display.
At first, I thought it was fiber optics, but looking at that, it
appears fiber optics only emit light from the end, not for the entire
length like the game did to display the characters. Plus, there would
be no need to tint the display. Does anyone have any idea how they
might have pulled this off?

sounds like light pipes, a close relative of fibre optics.

they emit light anywhere the surface is at a sufficient angle to the
light beam.

A similar trick is done with crystal blocks, By introducing flaws in
into them in the right locations they can be made to contain shapes
that glow when illuminated from one end.

http://www.okokchina.com/p/Crystal-Block/laser-crystal-block-8428.html

Nothing so exotic, that would be way too expensive. Just some edge lit
plastic with wax images silk screened on to them. Edge light the plastic
ant the wax images on the surface provide an escape path for the light.

?-)