Everyday, people who take the bus sit and wait for their promised transportation to arrive.  There are no accommodations at the bus stops that make waiting more interesting.  We have solved this problem by creating a simple game console-type device.  This device attaches to a sign post, and allows the individuals waiting to have fun.  The games were designed to be compact and easy to learn.  This new entertainment will greatly improve the experience of the common day bus-taker and, hopefully, help convince more people to take the bus.

    At the beginning of our project, we set out to create a few addictive games that would occupy people waiting for the bus.  When we visited a bus stop, we did not see anything that filled that need.  We solved this issue by creating games that are engaging, addictive, and could even bring out a person’s competitive side.  Our console has two games: Memory and The Button Game.  Memory is a game where the person is shown a pattern of lights, and the person then has to recreate the pattern by pressing the buttons that correspond to the color.  Every round, another color is added to the sequence.  The point of the game is to follow the pattern for as long as you can; when you press a button that was not in the pattern, you lose.  The Button Game is also very easy to learn.  The goal of this game is to tap the button as many times as you can within a thirty-second time period.  After thirty seconds is over, your score appears on the screen.  Our original plan for both of these games was to have a synchronized scoreboard and to install consoles across the city, at different bus stops.  In this way, people would compete to have the best bus stop score.  The scoreboard would show the stop where the highest score was achieved.  This would make it a fun competition.  We originally intended the games to synchronize with the bus timing; for example, the button game would start thirty seconds before the bus came.  We did not have enough time for this, though.   The gaming console has a simple design.  It is as small as possible, but is still able to incorporate a screen and four buttons.  This means that it does not take up a lot of room on the sidewalk, and people will easily be able to play the games without being worried about blocking pedestrian traffic.  In our development process, we first brainstormed fun games and then went on to prototyping.  We went through a few different iterations for both the button box, screen, and actual buttons before finding the best ones.  We faced many technical and design challenges over the course of this build.  Our biggest problem was time; we did not have enough time to program or design all of the things we originally wanted.  Although we would make improvements if we could continue beyond these two weeks, we now we have a working prototype that could go out on the street.