The Tiny Arcade

February 11th, 2018

Bernard gave me this for Christmas:

It’s a tiny arcade machine. Better yet it’s a kit that needs to be assembled! Here’s what it looked like out of the box:

The critical components are indeed tiny, and fit easily into the palm of my hand:

Here’s the screen being tested:

Assembly of the case was tricky but not difficult, and I actually had more trouble affixing the super-adhesive ‘cabinet art’. Once finished, it’s tiny (about 8 cm tall) and very impressive:

The back is open to access the electronics, which include on/off switches, a plug to charge the battery and a micro SD card port:

The unit runs off an arduino-derived chip (I believe), and supports a tiny OLED screen that is very sharp and bright. There’s several basic games included but to be honest most are little more than tech demos. Amongst clones of Flappy Bird, Tetris, Space Invaders and even R-Type there is however a charming little roguelike by a Japanese dev:

Bernard has one too and wanted to compete on some games. Like a cur he hasn’t submitted scores yet so here’s some for him to aim at:

(To be honest these were just my scores for one game of each)

Anyway I’m very impressed with this thing. It’s completely open so I could in theory write my own game for it. Wouldn’t that be fun?

The Miracle Melt

January 30th, 2018

WARNING: Miracle Melters may cause an allergic reaction in hypersensitive persons.

WARNING: Do not eat!

WARNING: Keep out of reach of pets and small children.

WARNING: Avoid contact with face, eyes and hair.

WARNING: In case of accidental contact, immediately wash are with warm water to dissolve Miracle Melters.

WARNING: Prolonged contact with fabrics, including clothing and carpeting, may result in staining.

Going Home

January 20th, 2018

My flight is boarding now and it’s time to leave Oz once again. Sydney was fun – I could have spent a few days here – but there’s always a next time.

See you all back in the USA!

Newie #4

January 19th, 2018

The last three days have been a mix of meeting friends, going on long hot walks around Newcastle, and playing games and relaxing with mum and dad.

I met up with Matthew the other day for the usual catching up, and afterwards went into town to see the beaches.

They were closed due to high winds and even the surfers were absent! Aside from a windsurfer guy the above pair was the only brave souls I saw approaching the water and even they seemed apprehensive.

Kirsten also took me swimming yesterday. Since the baths were closed we went to the public pool which even has a water slide. It was fun even if the water was frigid!

This morning Sue took me to the lake where we walked a path I hadn’t done since before leaving Oz.

The end of these trips is always seeing friends one more time; going the places I hadn’t gone; eating the foods I hadn’t yet eaten.

Adam and I met up after lunch and played the hell out of the new MTG set which was released just today! He won convincingly πŸ™‚

It was my last day in Newcastle this trip, and tomorrow I’ll say goodbye to my parents and head for Sydney. Assuming I haven’t collapsed from exhaustion you can expect one more post before I leave Australia.

Forster & The Macropods

January 16th, 2018

I went to Forster-Tuncurry with Sue and ‘the kids’.

That’s the famous bridge linking the twin cities, which we’d visited in our youths. The weather was clouded and cool, and the water very cold, so we didn’t swim.

But we explored all around the seaside towns, including the beaches and shopping district. The three silhouettes in the shot above are the three ‘kids’ (Sues two and her daughters boyfriend).

That’s Sue of course. This was later in the day when the weather improved. I wonder what she was looking at?

Take a look at my shoes in the top shot, specifically the soles. Those little roundels make them harder to walk in and therefore better for exercise. Who thought it was a good idea to wear them to Australia consider some days I’d be exceeding 35k steps πŸ™‚

There was a small fair on the Tuncurry side that we visited after dinner. The lights in this guy (the photo is not altered) were brilliant against the evening sky. (Yes, two of ‘the kids’ are riding it in that photo!)

We also saw wild dolphins in the channel and offshore at the beach! Forster apparently has 250+ living there and we wanted to go on a cruise to see them closer the next morning but alas it was not running. So instead we visited an animal park called Oakvale on the way back to Newcastle.

Oakvale has all sorts of animals but of course only one mattered to me.

I was so happy to see the roos and they were equally happy to see me.

I’m certain they’ll remember me as long as I remember them πŸ™‚

I fed a pig too. And milked a cow!

Oakvale was impressive. We had been as kids but it’s a lot more professional now and in my opinion absolutely worth the admission just for the roos alone (and especially if you have young kids).

Oh I almost forgot that on the drive back we visited Uluru…

…which had a gollywog museum/shop inside.

Only in Australia? ?

Thanks to Sue for making this mini trip north possible. Forster was cool and nostalgic and may even be visited once again in my future since that dolphin cruise looked very interesting…