With the severe drought in California, forest fires have become a huge problem. Unfortunately, most of the water in the area is already being used for brewing artisanal coffee in small coffee shops in San Francisco. In order to put out the fires, one person must pump water in from out of state while the other aims a water gun to precisely quench the flames.
After the start button is pressed, the two players have 45 seconds to beat the game. Once it starts, the flame begins to head toward the city. The flame is attached to an arm and is controlled with a servo. It is self-righting so that it remains in the vertical orientation while it moves. At the center of the flame is a phototransistor that receives the IR signal sent by the LED pulser.
Before the players can try to put out the fire, they must first open the water lines to let the water flow from the pump to the water gun. They can achieve this by turning the spigot knobs, which are attached to encoders and modified so that they can turn continuously. Once each player has opened the water line, an indicator light will turn on. Now one player can begin to pump water. As the player pumps water, the water reservoir begins to fill up, as indicated by the eight blue LEDs.
As long as there is water in the water reservoir, the other player can fire the water gun at the flame. The water gun contains an IR LED as well as a pager motor. If the target is hit, the player will know because the gun will vibrate in his/her hand. Hitting the target will partially put our the fire and turn off one of the red LEDs on the flame. It will also deplete the entire water reservoir. If the player with the water gun misses the target, the water reservoir will only decrement by one.
As the fire moves toward the city, it passes trees along the way, making it more difficult for the player with the water gun to hit the target. If the time runs out before the fire is put out, after having moved slowly the entire game, the flame will dramatically descend upon the city by moving rapidly toward the bridge. For 15 more seconds before the game and all the modules are reset, another fire will start near the city. A blower fan intensifies the new flames that are created.
If the players beat the game in the time allotted by putting out the fire before it reaches the city, it will recede back to its initial position and a bright green hidden LED strip will light below the trees and near the grass. These LEDs indicate that the city has been saved and that the grass will grow once again.
