Q&D-Poor man's-Skinner-Sadist-Jeopardy game

In this instructable you will learn how to make a Q&D-Poor man's-Skinner-Sadist-Jeopardy game .

First off, the disclaimer: I'm not responsible of whatever you do. You have to know that with a great power comes...bla-bla-bla. Just be careful and remember that electricity reserves respect. While the energy involved in this project is generally safe, it can be fatal (or at least very harmful) given certain special conditions, so just to play on the safe side:

- Never mess with little children or pets, even with their consent, just say no.
- Avoid old or sick people (mainly with a heart condition or with a pacemaker (or a peacemaker gun).
- Remember that using the device on body parts other than the extremities can be dangerous (you never know what nerve are you killing).**

^{_{Ethical disclaimer:
In connection with the Milgram experiment and to avoid any ethical dilemma for the Arduino, I used the LED library; doing this way I fool the Arduino into thinking he is only deploying innocent LED blinks to the players. Arduino is only obeying the evil orders of the authority figure and is not aware of the pain of the players, please don't judge him.}}

By now, maybe you are wondering: "What's a Q&D-Poor man's-Skinner-Sadist-Jeopardy game?, do I need one?, is it for me?" well, if you are ready to start an epic journey to the world of power, irresponsibility and electronics to create a device capable of make the players learn something by the always effective power of pain and shame... you might be ready to receive the knowledge.

Given that, let's continue with the description on the next step.

_{^{The above video may not be entirely real, it would contain minor creative licenses.}}

**For those faint of heart or just coward (like me after too many accidental shocks while working on this) I designed an alternate feedback system . Instead of shocks it just shares vibrations with a vibromotor, it is still fun if you place it in body places where the vibration results very uncomfortable, like over the inferior part of the eye, behind an ear or whatever weird place you can imagine.

Step 1 Really, what's this thing?

OK, enough of preambles. Let's get right to the point:

Why Q&D-Poor man's-Skinner-Sadist-Jeopardy game?

Q&D:
Quick and dirty, the fact is that I didn't have much time to get a working prototype for this evil device, so as soon as it could work and have a minimum of robustness (just enough to endure the mistreat of shocked (and thus disabled) humans) it was considered finished. You will note it is really dirty (I didn't even bother to trim the resistors).

Poor man's:
While some of the main parts are easily obtained for free, it's "Poor man's" not because it's cheap (unless you stole the needed parts, which I don't recommend), it's "Poor man's" because the final result and overall look will make you think:

"Man, this thing looks like sh*t"

but believe me: It works like a charm and will give you tons of joy and happiness while infusing the players with pain and sorrow (in the form of high voltage sparks). Besides it will help to avoid it being stolen if you happen to forgot it somewhere.

Skinner:
Read about our dear friend B.F. Skinner , then this and finally this , while there is no direct connection (and seems like he doesn't believed strongly in the universal force of punishment) the premises are enough to justify the name (or I just want the fame of the name, that could be true).

Sadist (and masoquist if you want):
Eventually, you (and your players) will discover why... muajajajajaja.

Jeopardy game:
OK, I'm just using that name to describe a Quiz game for three players and a host, the players win the right to answer by means of a button... aside from that there is nothing else in common with the TV show... I hope the lawyers don't get mad.

Objective:
A game to test the knowledge of the players and help them learn faster by means of reinforcement and punishment. You can use it on parties or to challenge other alpha males in your surroundings

Real Objective:
Shock the people to death.

Well, enough garbage (this time for real). Go to the next step to see the bill of materials, the approximated cost of this hell bound project, you will also see a video of the device working).

Don´t forget to look at the pictures and say "Man, this thing really..."

Comments

[Lithium Rain]

>obligatory Milgram reference here<

Awesome project!

[33125577utube]

Ethical disclaimer: In connection with the Milgram experiment and to avoid any ethical dilemma for the Arduino, I used the LED library; doing this way I fool the Arduino into thinking he is only deploying innocent LED blinks to the players. Arduino is only obeying the evil orders of the authority figure and is not aware of the pain of the players, please don't judge him.

[westfw]

I would replace the original flash cap with a much smaller one. Otherwise you're counting on other factors that may or may not be present to keep the shock withing a reasonable level. A full flash cap worth of charge is WAY beyond fun&games (it may be limited by the other components here, but I'd rather not have that potential anywhere nearby.)

[TOCO]

cool

[israelff]

Thanks! I hope you try one day.

[TOCO]

I am amazed by how many replies that I got from people by simply posing cool on their instructables that I think are very interesting, cool, and well done. I will do that more often. I would love to do something like this but during the school year no time. I have science olympiad, computer club, computer club lan parties, school work, rc hobby, I want to build a couple robots, and getting physical activity. (as a nerd who is lasy but somehow not fat that is hard to do other than the short periods of walking down the hallways at school during passing period.

[frank26080115]

There are MUCH safer ways of doing this that are just as "shocking"

Just try oscillating 1.5V at a low frequency, it will "shock" a person, and is much safer during construction and safer during use, and it's safer for your microcontroller. This is how a shocking pen usually works.

[israelff]

This also uses 1.5V, the magic is done by the transformer. The construction and implementation is, in fact, as safe as your good practices allow (don't look at mines).

While I have to confess my blatant ignorance about the method you are referring me to (I used to think the shock-spark can only be achieved by High voltage means, high enough to break trough your skin natural impedance), I'm confident the optical isolation is enough to keep the integrity of the microcontroller.

Remember that while voltage is "High Voltage" the energy amount is really low.

[RickO5]

This project does not shock you with 1.5 volts, it shocks you with over 400 hundred volts. The circuit in the camera steps up the voltage from 1.5 to 400 to charge the capacitor, and then when the flash is fired it steps it up to over 1000v. Since you're tapping off the capacitor and not modifying the circuit any, you're using somewhere around 400 volts for this circuit.

This has a very real danger potential (pardon the pun). I've used these in a lot of circuits. Since its DC and its isolated to just one hand you're probably alright, but its still dangerous, and can cause nerve damage.

The amount of energy stored in the capacitor is actually very large, since it is charged up over time. This can (and has to me) easily create burn marks on the skin, and more importantly, burn nerves under the skin.

To make this remotely "safe", I would limit the current output to 8ma with a 50k "cowards" resistor.

Franks suggestion of a 1.5V oscillating circuit is much safer though. Not trying to knock you here, its a nice project, and I'd be hypocritical if I said I haven't used cameras in similar ways, but it is dangerous.

[israelff]

:), yes you are absolutely right, I said it uses 1.5V because it really is using 1.5V to feed the transformer. I have to point out that the voltage stays around 330V at a very low amperage, (the 1000V secondary transformer works only to ionize the path across the flash tube and is not used in any way here).

Your 50k resistor recommendation is good for the people who doesn't know what awaits them (and fears for his life). From my experimentation, at 50k two thirds of the experimenters report a minimal response ("It tickles"). At 20k or 10k the sensation is tolerably enough for most of the people and still makes you feel alive.

Conclusion: 20k-10k is a "good" optimal point between fun and pain. Decrease at the risk of the user if your strong and immature players boast of his masculinity.

Thanks for your concerns.

[frank26080115]

One of those shocking pen toys is basically a relay that is wired to oscillate the reed.

[dheiden]

Definitely stay away from people with "peacemakers"...

[israelff]

Jajajajajaja... that's the kind of mistakes that can change your life. Thanks (now it's corrected).

[7654321]

I've experimented with camera capacitor shocky thingies, and wouldn't a direct short of the capacitor cause burn marks on the person's skin?

[israelff]

Hi, good point, while a direct spark could be powerful enough to make you regret the idea to touch the capacitor, the "Coward resistor" and the "closed circuit time" (if such a thing exists) prevents a full blow energy transfer... at the end of the day the players sensations range from small "pellisco" to hard "pellisco", it all depends on the subject and the "Coward resistor" (even without resistor the contact time and the impedance of the circuit diminishes a good deal of the punch.

But yes, it could burn your skin if certain weird conditions are met :)

[7654321]

Oh ok, lol I'm so going to make this. Muhahahahaha

[israelff]

"Cicle" should be "Cycle" on the Diagram #1... sorry.