Cube Buddy is a time-based social game. It aims at providing the user with an experience that includes team-building, creating harmony, understanding gestures, and strengthening trust between people. The substantial goal of the game is to create a continuous movement with the cube during a period of ten seconds. On the other hand the holistic goal of the game is to create a harmony between users as time passes. Cube Buddy visualizes the movement through a LED system within movement detection.

Interface and interaction modality

Cube Buddy is a wireless product. The shape of the product is a cube. Two opposed surfaces have gaps for placing users’ fingertips. Each gap is placed on the center of the surface. The remaining four surfaces are for illuminating LED system. Cube Buddy can be used to play by two people. In order to play the game, players’ forefingers need to be placed in the gaps. When they start moving the cube, the game begins, since the movement detection system starts up. Visual feedback is granted by the LED system. For indicating the increasing movement, blue coloured LEDs lighten and their brightness increases. If the movement is decreasing, LEDs’ brightness decreases. If the users can create a continuous movement during ten second, a green coloured LED starts blinking: this means the players won the game. Otherwise, a red coloured LEDs’ blinking means they lost the game. Therefore Cube Buddy visualizes the gestural reactions between people and creates potential balance. The material of the cube is modelling foam, which is very convenient due to the flexibility of the material: in case users drop down the cube, it doesn’t crash easily. Technology

Cube Buddy is built with an Arduino board Uno and programmed with Arduino software. It contains a dual axis gyroscope for movement detection, two light sensors for finger placement detection, three high power LEDs (blue, green, red) for indicating game modes and a 9 Volt battery for make the cube self-sufficient in terms of energy. User experience

Cube Buddy is a game for socialization and entertainment. It can be played either indoor and outdoor. The interaction with the artifact is simple and pleasurable. It uses natural interaction as an input, which makes the artifact intuitively understandable to users. On the other side this artifact can be adapted into performing arts (pantomime, juggling, dance etc.) and education. Research and development contexts

The artifact can familiarize the public with games that are based on physical interaction, and also with using open source hardware and software.