Noisy Jelly

Marianne Cauvard and Raphaël Pluvinage, two students of France’s L’Ensci Les Ateliers, created a game called Noisy Jelly for a class project in February 2012. The working prototype is a wooden box containing agar agar, dyes, gelatin molds, and a game board. Players mix the agar agar with water to create a simple gelatin in a mold, then add dyes to create the desired color. After ten minutes, the gelatin shape can be removed from the mold and placed on the game board. Any time someone touches the gelatin shape on the board, a sound will be emitted. The board is a capacitive sensor, so any variations will change the sound. Each of the following help to create a unique sound for each piece: the density of salt in the gelatin, the shape of the gelatin, the coloring, the pressure posed on the gelatin, and the location of where the gelatin is touched. Noisy Jelly uses Arduino and Max/msp. There are no current indications on whether Noisy Jelly will be mass produced for public consumption.