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Coat game pieces with UV marking paint - it's nearly invisible in normal light but glows under UV. If (when!) you drop a game piece, take the UV flashlight (included with the marking kit) and sweep the area to spot it.
As an added benefit, you'll be able to see everywhere the cat pissed on the floor.
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Thought
of this while trying to find a missing SCRABBLE tile that had fallen on the floor - both the tile and floor being of similar light-toned wood. But this could work for any board game that uses lots of small, easily dropped pieces.
No animals were harmed in the production of this idea.
Kit with marker and flashlight
https://www.amazon....light/dp/B0001UQ8V4
I should probably delete this idea as my "invention" is a pretty straightforward application of something that already exists. But love the annotations so far. [a1, Nov 15 2023]
[link]
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So what was harmed? Vegetable or mineral? |
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Dust bunnies, not sure which category they belong to. |
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It's a bit sensible for me, but dispatching a small crumb nevertheless. |
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Top tip: put the side of your head on the floor so your eye is as close to the floor as possible, sighting along the floor. |
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Put a light on the floor shining sideways. |
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Then you can easily see things on the floor. |
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Don't do it too much or the neighbours will get concerned |
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New idea…. horizontal floor scanning lights concealed under skirting board edging. Switch them on and everything taller than a millimetre on the floor will cast an extended shadow. |
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Yes very good [xenzag], could combine them with wall-mounted periscopes so that you don't need to bend down to look along the floor. |
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When playing scrabble, I surround the playing area with an array of high-definition cameras so that if a playing piece is dropped on the floor, I can quickly replay this happening in a beautiful 360° slow-mo 'Matrix'-style pan |
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[pocmloc] - thanks, eyes and flashlight sweep at floor level is how I usually find dropped pieces. |
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[xenzag] - We have an upright vacuum cleaner with a scanning light like you describe. Having the lights built into walls (along with [hippo]'s camera array and [pocmloc]'s periscope arrangement) takes the concept well into the halfbaked overdone zone. |
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Why not fit the lights into every object in the house? |
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Would make it hard to sleep. |
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Only activated by impact i.e. hitting the floor |
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But what if they hit the ceiling? Gravity is a bit weird at our place lately, we think it has something to do with the expansion of the universe since one of those big bangs. |
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Of course if they had metal strips built into them, there would be no need to look for them at all - a quick sweep using the scrabble Roomba collector with the powerful magnet hanging from its jib would do the job effortlessly. |
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Or just make the pieces out of ferrous metals. But not magnets themselves - had a travel game once with magnetic pieces and they were more bother than they were worth. |
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Before I thought of the simple not halfbaked marking pen, I did consider fitting RFIDs into each piece. But that - along with metal strips built into them - would need to be done at time of manufacture - not easily applied afterwards. |
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If we wait a bit and Neal Stephenson is correct, they will walk back to the box on their own. |
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Did you not get the Mattel awareness update for your Roomba? It will pick up your Scrabble tiles, but also scrub off Barbie so she doesn't show up under UV. |
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Also, it reminded me of an idea I had, inspired by the detective books with a red magnifying glass to uncover clues. I thought that could be modernised, with a Cluedo-esque boardgame using a UV light. |
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HEY! Something I thought of actually works. Bought that special pen & flashlight from Amazon, made some marks on all the game pieces, and tried the light. They'd should be a lot easier to find now. |
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Except I misplaced the special flashlight already. Wife says I should have marked that too - I guess one of us isn't clear not on the concept. |
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