The Project

The Goal of GruePhone 2.1 is to be able to play a number of classic text based computer games, including text adventure games using nothing but an old phone.  I have recently expanded this into other text based games like Hunt the Wumpus. This is accomplished using a small, ARM based embeddable computer called a “chip” from a company that has since gone under.  This will read the descriptions to the user via a text-to-speech (TTS) engine, and listen for user input via a speech-to-text (STT) engine and feed that back to the game.

The first real demo of the phone so far

The goal of GruePhone 1.0 was to port Zork I (via a z-code interpreter) to an embedded platform, and enclose that and an old modem inside a telephone, so that the game can be played from a teletype, TDD, or old computer with an acoustically coupled modem.
GruePhones 2.0 and 2.1 were displayed at Bay Area Maker’s Faire, a few times, and twice at the East Bay Mini Maker Faire.  Version 1.0 was exhibited at the bay area faire in 2011.

You can follow the gory details in the blog.

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