One of the favorite American games at parties is beer pong. But how about scoring when you are already drinking? As a way different and innovative approach, now RFID technology has been arrived to do it for you. The company’s solution includes an RFID-enabled ping pong table with Internet access and applications that allow players to track their scores and rankings. The software keeps a record of scores by instantly reading tag reads from the beer-pong balls, allowing players to concentrate on the game’s three key features: drinking, playing and having fun.
Beer pong began as a simple drinking contest held on any floor that could hold a cup of beer. Ping-pong balls are tossed into beer cups or glasses by players to place their ball in one of the cups. The game has some guidelines. The winner usually has achieved the most throws and is the soberest, and whoever’s cup the ball ends up in must finish the whole drink.
A Hong Kong-based technology firm developed the RFID-enabled game, and it has since been published, bringing beer pong to e-sports, a console game match in which players from different locations battle against each other.
How does the RFID-based pong game work?
PONGConnect, the table where all tech happens, is equipped with RFID ball-detection software.” In addition to RFID readers, the table has two LED monitors that show all of the players’ results. The RFID technology is developed to measure the precise moment a ball falls in a beverage cup throughout the play and which cup it drops in, allowing a player to be identified as having scored.
On either side of the table, there are ten designated beer cup spaces and disposable plastic cups that go into each curved space. The company also sells the balls equipped with an ISO 15693-compliant passive HF 13.56 MHz RFID tag. A set of 22 RFID readers and 20 antennas are used to locate the holes in the table and, as a result, the precise cup where the ball falls. At the gap between the cups, there are two more antennas. Each ball has an RFID tag integrated into it that does not conflict with results.
What are the challenges of this RFID-enabled game project?
A drink could harm the reader chips and electronics if it gets into the table’s built-in circuitry. As a result, the company’s developers applied waterproof and strong rubber stripes to all parts while designing the equipment.
On the other hand, the waterproofing material may influence the reliability of RFID recognition. As a result, the company’s engineers disconnected the reader antenna to maintain tag-read precision. The antennas were then positioned uniformly according to a predetermined range.
In a nutshell, this case study demonstrates that RFID-enabled solutions and the Internet of Things are in our lives and that businesses can achieve competitive outcomes using this technology. PONGConnect has taken a retro game and turned it into a highly dynamic and competitive e-sport, attracting fans of the game as well as other esport fans to its product.
