A self-aligning Boggle board
Wed 25 October 2023
Earlier this year Charlie challenged me to make a Boggle board that always leaves
the letters upright, and this week I have succeeded. Read more
The Egyptian coin box
Sat 5 August 2023
I have invented a new magic trick. It involves a very thin wooden box with 5 locations for coins inside, each
labelled with one of the 5 bodily senses.
A spectator places a coin inside, without telling the magician where it is. The magician
then makes a show of listening to the box, sniffing the box, etc., and successfully determines where the coin was
placed. Read more
Cheating at chess with a computer for my shoes
Sat 30 July 2022
I have come up with a new way to win at chess:
I have connected up a Raspberry Pi Zero in my pocket to some buttons and vibration motors in my shoes,
so that I can surreptitiously communicate with a chess engine running on the Pi. The project is called "Sockfish" because
it's a way to operate Stockfish with your socks. Read more
I made an adjustable loaded die
Tue 2 November 2021
I made a loaded die with a tiny servo hidden inside that can move the weight around to change the
distribution of roll probabilities. Read more
Autopatzer: my automatic chess board
Wed 6 May 2020
My automatic chess board (the "Autopatzer") has reached the point where last night I was able to
play its first online game against a real person using lichess's Boards API. Read more
I designed a trick chess piece with hidden compartments
Sun 4 February 2018
It's quite easy to model a traditional chess piece (apart from a knight) using CAD software. You basically just have to draw a sketch of the outline and revolve
it around its centre. I modelled, and 3d printed, a Queen that includes some hidden compartments for storing small bits of paper, e.g. containing passwords or Bitcoin
keys. Read more