Homemade Mahjong Controller

[wavemotion]

Hi all (my first post!),

I've been playing quite a bit of Video Mahjong over the years - partially by trial and error and then later with really helpful guides like the ones Bart wrote. Given that most of the Mahjong Video Games come out of Japan, the rules were some flavor of Reach Mahjong though I didn't know it at the time I was learning. One thing I've always wanted was one of those big Mahjong control panels like you see on the candy cabs in Japan (and I've only seen them in vids and pictures - never in person). I decided to try my hand at making my own. My woodworking skills are minimal - I have a small set of tools but enough to cobble together something sturdy. Electrically, I'm much better - and was able to do the wiring and logic interface to the PC easily enough. Here are some pics of my controller which is in the final stages of being completed:






It's USB out to the PC which looks at the whole thing as a big 26-button HID compliant joystick.

Not sure if this is of any interest to anyone, but I figured I'd post it anyway

-Dave

[xKime]

[Shirluban]

Have you programed the micro-controller yourself, buy it ready-to-use, or scavenged it from an actual joystick/joypad?

[wavemotion]

For all my previous arcade controllers I typically rip apart a defenseless keyboard or mouse (or both) and wire it up. Witness one of my big homemade arcade controllers:



In this case, the buttons and joystick are wired up to the keyboard. The spinner and trackball are wired to mouse inputs.

But that's time consuming and can have electrical problems so now I simply use something called a Key-Wiz which is a 40 button input board that you tack the button wires to. It converts those to signals to a logic chip that converts it to a standard USB joystick.

The board is around US$25. The buttons and switches are roughly $1 each. Wiring was stripped from an old hard-drive IDE cable. Total cost around US$55. Enjoyment: Priceless.

Dave

[Kyuu]

Ridiculously impressed. Now, I want to see this puppy in action.

Also amused @ how the Riichi button is... a red one. The red button! Must... press... red... button...

[wavemotion]

Now, I want to see this puppy in action.

Sadly, the controller does not seem to have improved my skill (or lack thereof).

Also amused @ how the Riichi button is... a red one. The red button! Must... press... red... button...

I got to pick the button colors and bought extras in other colors so I could switch it out if it didn't feel right. Red just seemed... important. I think I'll probably make the Ron/Tsumo button a unique color.

The unlabled purple, by the way, is Pause. Necessary for those of us who need a little time to evaluate our hands.

Dave

[xKime]

That keywiz thing somehow reminds me of this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfQqh7iCcOU

[Barticle]

Welcome Dave, good to have you aboard. That's some very impressive work there. (and a nice collection of consoles and LCD's from what I can see)

Also it's great to know you've been using my guides.

That keywiz thing somehow reminds me of this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rfQqh7iCcOU

That's silly... which is a good thing of course!