Internet buzzers

[Brig Bother]

Hey there. I thought I'd ask you lot as I can't find any on the web.

Is there anything on the magic interweb you can use as a buzzer/lock-out whatever?

I'm thinking of something where, for example, I'm the judge on my control box, which their buzzers on their computers will connect to. I'll give a question on IRC, they hit their buzzers. My program works out which one pressed first, but also works out the delays between connections so it knows who buzzed first in real time? Does this make any sense?

Anyway, any ideas let me know.

[parliboy]

It makes sense.  I had included a long-winded explanation about this stuff, but you already get it, so no need.  Basically, you're going to be looking for a system that uses the timestamp on the computer at the moment the question is delivered, the timestamp at the moment the answer is sent back, then subtracts the one from the other to compute true response time (assuming the user's computer is accurate)

Now that that's out of the way, the bad news:  No, I'm not personally aware of any publically available system like the one you're looking for.

[Skynet74]

I remember hosting Game Shows with My Family when I was a kid. I would always use a regular Calculator as a Buzz in device. It worked great when we played Family Feud. One Family member put their finger on the One key and the opposing Family member would put their finger on the Three key. As soon as someone buzzed in their digit would show up first on the display. It's a Poor Mans Buzz in Device, but it performs using the exact same principle as a Big Game Show Buzzer and serves the purpose just as well.




John

[DJDustman]

One thing I would Recommend...If you look on EBAY and look for Either Electric jeopardy or Sale of the Century Board Games, They come with Buzz-in Lock out devices.

[zachhoran]

[quote name=\'DJDustman\' date=\'Nov 17 2003, 09:22 PM\'] One thing I would Recommend...If you look on EBAY and look for Either Electric jeopardy or Sale of the Century Board Games, They come with Buzz-in Lock out devices. [/quote]
 It was reported on Usenet a few years back that the Quizzard, the hexagonal six-person buzzer device coming with the 1986 $ale home game, was marketed separately around 1990.

[chris319]

He's looking for something which works over the Internet, so board games don't help.

[Brig Bother]

Correct. It would seem to be possible too, You Don't Know Jack 5 seems to be playable online. Although I can't get it working on XP, annoyingly.

[chris319]

Seems like it would require some fancy programming to figure out when the question arrived on the player's screen and when they buzzed in, irrespective of transmission time. Once you've got that figured out you have to get it to work over IRC.

Good luck.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Brig Bother\' date=\'Nov 18 2003, 03:36 AM\'] Correct. It would seem to be possible too, You Don't Know Jack 5 seems to be playable online. Although I can't get it working on XP, annoyingly. [/quote]
 Yes. I used to play it online quite a bit, before the game started to attract griefers who spent all of their time playing stupid sound effects in an effort to distract serious players.

I can't remember if I've installed it since I've had XP, though. If I remember I'll try it tonight. No reason in the world that it _shouldn't_ work, near as I can tell...

[ITSBRY]

One key and the opposing Family member would put their finger on the Three key. As soon as someone buzzed in their digit would show up first on the display. It's a Poor Mans Buzz in Device, but it performs using the exact same principle as a Big Game Show Buzzer and serves the purpose just as well.

That's a terrific idea John!  I would have never thought of something like that.

ITSBRY
itsbry@juno.com

[Dbacksfan12]

[quote name=\'ITSBRY\' date=\'Nov 18 2003, 11:53 AM\']

One key and the opposing Family member would put their finger on the Three key. As soon as someone buzzed in their digit would show up first on the display. It's a Poor Mans Buzz in Device, but it performs using the exact same principle as a Big Game Show Buzzer and serves the purpose just as well.

That's a terrific idea John!  I would have never thought of something like that.

ITSBRY
itsbry@juno.com [/quote]
 I am the owner of the Press Your Luck Palace.  It's fairly easy to script lockout devices, etc.  Email me, and I'll show you the workings.

[Robert Hutchinson]

While I can't say it for certain, I have a very strong feeling that the logistics here might be insurmountable. If Player 1 buzzes in, how long do you wait for Player 2 and/or Player 3, in case they buzzed in first but are lagging? You'd have to synchronize the players' computer clocks, keep them synchronized, and trust that no one was cheating in that regard. Just how far down the line can you adjust for lag? There's lag from the server to the host, lag from the player to the server, lag from the question appearing--heck, if a player's computer is busy with another task, there could be lag in their keyboard's transmission of key presses.

[chris319]

I'd think you would start timing at the moment the question appears (or finishes appearing) on screen and stop timing when the key/mouse is hit. This would all be done locally so path delay would be a moot point. But you are right about multitasking/multithreading delays. You'd want to quit all other applications for it to work properly.

[Robert Hutchinson]

[quote name=\'chris319\' date=\'Nov 20 2003, 10:01 AM\']I'd think you would start timing at the moment the question appears (or finishes appearing) on screen and stop timing when the key/mouse is hit. This would all be done locally so path delay would be a moot point.[/quote]
I'm just wondering if and/or how that local information would get sent through IRC.

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'Robert Hutchinson\' date=\'Nov 20 2003, 11:30 PM\'] I'm just wondering if and/or how that local information would get sent through IRC. [/quote]
 I could see it getting done quite easily via mIRC scripting.