If William Gibson and Bruce Sterling had written an arcade scene into “The Distinction Engine”, it most likely would have regarded lots like [Pete Wood]’s Meccano Martian Mission, as illustrated within the video beneath by the [London Meccano Club]. Meccano Martian Mission is an homage to Atari’s 1978 Lunar Lander online game, however fully electromechanical and manufactured from– you guessed it– Meccano.
You may assume Meccano is “too fashionable” to rely as steampunk, however it squeaks simply into the Victorian period. The primary units hit shops in 1901, the final yr of Queen Victoria’s lengthy reign. Since then, Meccano has developed a big following that has produced some actually spectacular constructions, and this arcade recreation can stand amongst the most effective of them.
The sport has all of the options of the unique: a swiveling spaceship, two-axis pace management, and even just a little yellow flame that pops out if you end up making use of thrust. There’s a timer and a gasoline gauge, and identical to the unique, there are simpler and more durable touchdown pads that provide rating multipliers. Whereas the rating should be totted up manually, the sport will detect a crash and flag it with a pop-down banner. It actually must be seen to be believed. It’s all accomplished with cams and differentials hitting potentiometers and microswitches — not an Arduino in sight; [Pete] does a superb job explaining it within the second half of the embedded video, beginning about 10 minutes in.
Certain, won’t be new or groundbreaking — these are previous, previous strategies — however not many individuals know them properly sufficient to make use of them anymore, particularly not with this diploma of sophistication. To see these electromechanical strategies utilized anachronistically to copy one of many nice pioneers of the arcade world tickles our fancy. It’s no marvel that perfecting this mechanical marvel has taken [Pete Wood] a decade.
The venture reminds us of the Meccano Pinball Machine featured right here years in the past, however that one way or the other felt like a extra pure match for the apparently undead constructing kits. We lamented Meccano’s demise in 2023,however the model is outwardly being revived this yr. Hopefully, meaning there may be extra younger members for the [London Meccano Club] and teams like them, to maintain the perforated-steel flame alive by one other six reigns.
This hack is the bee’s knees, and we’re very grateful to [Tim Surtell] for the tip. Bear in mind, the tip line is all the time open!.
