The game made it’s semi-public non-playtesting debut at a birthday party. Due to some space limitations, the batters were positioned on a flagstone patio in a garden, and the LED strip was wrapped around a tree. The distance from the batting stands to the tree was about 15′, so there was time to see the ball coming straight after it wound down out of the tree. This configuration worked much better than I had anticipated. I just wish I had shot some video of it.
People playing the game ranged from their 20’s to one person in her 80’s. They all enjoyed it, and it worked flawlessly!
I didn’t want to use battery operated lights this time because I wouldn’t be available to change batteries when they ran out, so I put these too-large garage lights on stands. They worked, even in direct sunlight, but are not a great solution. I need to find a smaller solution.
You can see in this image another thing I did to make it pretty bulletproof when unattended. By attaching the tripod holding the light and the light sensor to one sheet of wood they stayed in alignment through some rather energetic and unsupervised playtime.