Shockeration (Modified Operation Game)

Do you remember that good old board game operation ?
I do and its still as fun as it was when I was 8 years old. 

I really do have to give credit to a co-worker / friend for this idea. One day out of the blue he walked up to me with this horrible grin that he gets when he has an awesome idea, all he says to me is "Shockeration" then walks away. I sit there flabbergasted for about 10 minutes walk over to his desk and ask "What do you mean Shockeration?" he responds with "You know operation? Think operation that shocks you instead of lighting up the light!" And here is what materialized out of the horrible idea. 

There are videos of Shockeration on the last page! 

This project is dangerous, we have taken steps to ensure safety with this version of the game. 

Step 1: Materials / Tools Required

Materials

2 x AAA Batteries 
1 x Operation board game
1 x Camera Flash Circuit without capacitor 
1 x Assorted Wire
1 x Wrist Strap 
1 x Solder 
1 x Thread 
1 x Assorted Heat Shrink 
6 x Phillip's Screws 
5 inch solder-wick 

Tools

1 x Soldering Station
1 x Wire Cutter
1 x Utility Knife 
1 x Tweezers you don't care about 
1 x Phillip's Screwdriver

Step 2: Pre-pair the Wrist Strap

1. Get a length of wire about 3 feet long strip about 1/2 an inch of shielding off of it 
2. Cut a small hole in your wrist strap
3. The stripped wire is fed through the hole in the wrist strap. 
4. Split the conductor in half and solder it to the center of the solder-wick 
5. Sew the solder-wick and wire into the wrist strap.
6. For safety reasons use some heat shrink or string to connect the tweezers you don't care about to the wrist strap. 

Note
As you can see in the photos I used wire cover to make it look good as well as connect the tweezers to the wrist strap. This isn't required, just looks pretty good. 

Safety Note 
The Solder wick sewn into the wrist strap is the ground plane and you are connecting the tweezers to the wrist strap so that the stock only travels through your fingers to the wrist strap. Make sure you use the tweezers in the same hand as the wrist strap. If this electrical current were to go through your heart it could stop your heart. If you have never noticed all the commercially purchasable shocking products do the same thing. 

Step 3: Pre-pair the Photo Flash Circuit

I purchased 20 Photo Flash charge Circuits from Electronics goldmine. Here are the instructions to pre-pair my model of photo flash circuit for this project. Electronics goldmine no longer sells my version of the photo flash circuit but here is another circuit that they sell. http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G19047

1. Remove the Green, Blue, and Yellow Wires. 
2. Remove the Neon Bulb that shows when the flash circuit is fully charged.
3. Solder the pads beside each other together. 
4. Solder a 100pF to 1nF capacitor to the heads of were the Neon Bulb was, this capacitor needs to be a ceramic or Mylar film capacitor and should be rated to 400 volts.

Safety Note 
You are using an extremely low capacitance capacitor to limit how much current can discharge into the player of the game. DO NOT use a larger capacitor. Also if your capacitor isn't rated for 400 volts, when it becomes overcharged it could explode. I have used a ton of this flash circuit and I know its maximum output voltage is 400 volts at less then 1 micro-amp. If you don't know how electronics function this project ISN'T SAFE FOR YOU. 

Step 4: Pre-Pair the Operation Board Game and Assemble the Other Pieces.

1. There are 6 melted plastic pieces holding the cardboard layer down. You need to cut them off. 
2. Remove the cardboard and you'll see the brains are in an easily removable gray piece of plastic. This grey piece is held in by three clips. 
3. The Grey piece has all the electronics. Remove the 6 Phillip's screws, the cover will come off now.
4. Remove the 2 Phillip's screws holding each of the circuit boards down.  
5. Clip the yellow wire that is connected you want to leave it connected to the metal piece attached to the grey plastic. 
6. Cut the 4 wires that connect to the battery terminals, but make sure you leave the battery terminals intact. 
7. Once all the electronics have been removed you'll have to modify the case a little bit. This is required to fit the photo flash circuit into the grey electronics case. 
8. Cut the Switch Board in half, discard the half with the epoxy covered chip. 
9. Solder the red positive wire to the switch in the same way as the photo. 
10. Solder a second wire from the other position on the switch this is to connect to the  battery terminals. 
11. Because our photo flash circuit uses around 2.5 to 3.5 volts we are only going to use two AAA batteries, you will need to modify the grey case again. On the bottom you will need to remove the two metal battery connectors near the CE Symbol then install the connector like the photo. 
12. Solder the Red wire from the Switch to the positive battery terminal. And solder the black wire from the flash circuit to the negative battery terminal. See the photo for reference.
13. Now solder the small yellow wire connected to the metal piece to the diode on the end of the flash circuit. See photo for reference. Also solder the wrist strap wire to the flash circuit again see photo for reference. (The Thick wire is the wrist strap and the thin wire is the wire that connects to the metal piece. Sorry I didn't mean to use yellow for both.)
14. Install the rest of the electronics (switch board and flash circuit into the case and close it. Re-Install the 6 Phillip's screws. 
15. Pop the grey case back into the operation frame. 
16. Re-install the card board and find appropriate screws to hold it down. 
17. Flip it over and Install the 2 AAA Batteries and get ready to play Shockeration!!!

Step 5: Ending

This project is pretty fun and can be finished in about an hour if you have everything in advance. It does hurt ALOT so make sure you warn people before you let them play the game.  Also make sure you use the tweezers in the same hand that has the wrist strap. 

I will be adding some youtube videos of the unit in action before April 1st!

Comments

[mikeasaurus]

That's diabolical; I can't wait to see the results!

[blabberbytes]

So I have the flash module you recommended (Goldmine G19047). It's a lot different than the one on this tutorial. I don't see a LED nor are there any wires. I attached some pictures. Where do I add the capacitor? Anything else I need to do besides that?

[Psycosisnine]

Your photo flash is more or less the same circuit. just a different layout. The really big electrolytic cap needs to be removed or you could seriously hurt someone. And then place the 1nf cap in its place. The circuit should have a + and - labeled hole for supplying the 1 AA or 2 AA batteries. Otherwise youll need to grab a multimeter and test what you think is ground etc.

[blabberbytes]

Thanks for your guidance. I replaced the larger cap with one that has number 1 on it.I do have a triple A battery pack. I can't find any + or - signs or buttons. I do have a multimeter though. How do i find the + - ?

[Psycosisnine]

Did any of the circuits come with a metal bracket that looks like it would hold a AA or AAA Battery ? Make sure you remove the really large electrolytic cap and replace it with a 1nf cap or youll hurt someone

[Psycosisnine]

make sure you remove the super large electrolytic cap. And replace it with a 1nf cap.
Otherwise bust out a multimeter and learn the circuit. There is a button spot on the bottom of the circuit board that needs to be bridged (shorted) for it to turn on. And most of the time they have a + and - Labeled somewhere on the board for supply voltage

[JoeH231]

I know this is an old post, but still hoping to make it! Looking to see if you know of another circuit board I can use though as the link provided (and the backup link) are not working anymore. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated!! Great work by the way! Hopefully I can build one soon!

[Psycosisnine]

Easiest and fastest way to find one would be locally sourcing a disposable camera with a flash. Take it apart and youll have your circuit. They seem to be a bit harder to find now.

[JoeH231]

Ahh icic, Thanks for the quick response!

I cant wait to make this!!

[bajablue]

lol... I'd kill you for doing this to me!!!! ;-D

[resistanceisfutileiflessthan1ohm]

nice, seems fairly simple and if you only use a standard camera flash charging circuit(no capacitor) it is also pretty safe.

[Psycosisnine]

Thanks!

[maurifix]

Althoug I'd never have one of this, I liked so much the idea, and like to suggest an improvement if you admit:
You can take apart the tweezers using plastic bolt, nut and washer to fix it, and the wires of the circuit is soldered in each part of the insulated tweezers. So there's no need to use the wristle, the current will be even lower cause the circuit will be closed in your fingers and the shocked person won't throw you game away, and no one will notice that's a prank! Awesome!

[Psycosisnine]

I love it !!!
This sounds like a great idea!

[teamcoltra]

I already know this project isn't for me, but in one of the videos your like "don't use your other hand otherwise you will complete the circut" which doesn't sound like a good thing... but you make no reference to this issue in the actual 'ble

[Psycosisnine]

On step two in the safety notes it explains why. I will expand on it a bit.

[Ian Fowler]

cool, it's still a family game, not enough current to hurt you unless your old,... if it were a real mans game their would be a picture of a women on the operation table, only be one hole & you'd be using your tongue to remove the projectile.

[Psycosisnine]

There is little to no current on this because I have replaced the Photo flash 120uF cap with a 1nF cap.

But thanks for the comment!

[Presentteck]

let the involuntary throwing of this board game commence :)
only a matter of time before someone jumps too hard.

[Psycosisnine]

Yeah its came close a couple of times. That the reason why I made my cable like 3 feet long. I'm hoping to win one of the UP contest 3d printers so that I can make replacement pieces for the game. I also want to make some Metal replacements just to make the game that much harder!