Toronto Mesh Project – tomesh.mini

We’re building an interactive game to teach how the internet works.

I. Why a game?

The goal of the Toronto Mesh project is to build a community-owned network and demystify the infrastructure that enables our everyday digital interactions. At the Maker Festival we hope to set up a game that conveys network infrastructure concepts in a fun and non-technical way while being inclusive to all age groups. Through the mechanics of the game, the audience will learn about alternatives to centralized internet infrastructure, how encryption technology protects against bad actors, and most importantly, the physical pathways through which information travels beyond our computer screens.

II. What’s the story-line of this game?

It’s a stormy winter night. You see a UFO in the sky and quickly learn that we may be under threat by an Evil Alien Mastermind. You try to notify the world, but you realize that this Alien has disrupted the internet, our primary mode of communication. Luckily, over the past years local communities have wired up parts of North America with a community network, which the Alien may not know about!

You need to get the message to all the communities before he takes them over, battling weather conditions and his evil tactics.

III. Game mechanics and some details

The game board and details will be laser cut out from plywood. The board will represent a map of 16 cities in North America. Each community will be represented by a cluster of LEDs and banana plug sockets. Players will be provided with cables with banana plugs that can be used to connect the different communities together in any network topology they choose, limited only by open plug slots and lengths of provided cabling. There will be a user control panel with:

1. Momentary push button labeled “Send broadcast”
2. Momentary push button labeled “Send encrypted message”
3. Dial to choose receiving community

The game will be powered by a raspberry pi. It will update LEDs on the board according to player moves.