How Drexel Does the Game Pong

The city of Philadelphia has always played a major role in a Drexel education. With Philly as the University's backdrop, students and faculty alike have the chance to explore, network, and create anything imaginable.

And if you need proof, look no further than Drexel University associate professor Frank Lee. Lee, co-founder of Drexel's Entrepreneurial Game Studio, decided to turn one of Philadelphia's newest skyscrapers, the Cira Centre, into a 29-story game of Pong.

Lee says he was driving on the highway into the city when the idea hit him. He saw the Cira Centre radiating in the night, thanks to its 1,525 multicolor LED lights, and he couldn't help but imagine the vintage videogame Pong on the side of the building.

First made for Atari, the traditional version of Pong involves two rectangles that bounce a dot across a black screen. The Cira Centre was a perfect choice for a game because of those LED lights, which Lee programmed to create the 437-foot-high game of Pong.

The game controllers were employed half a mile away at the historic Philadelphia Museum of Art, right on the famous Rocky steps.

Lee said one of the biggest challenges of programming Pong onto the 85,360-square-foot side of the building was ensuring it happened in real time. He worked with a team of Drexel colleagues and students to overcome that challenge, and together they wrote software that controlled the LEDs.

Overcoming that challenge to translate a game of Pong to the side of a skyscraper had huge rewards: Lee played a game of Pong against Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, was awarded "Geek Story of the Year" at the Philadelphia Geek Awards, and won a Guinness World Record for largest architectural videogame display.

"It's been great to see this [project] stir up so much excitement in Philadelphia's growing community of scientists, engineers, innovators, and inventors," Lee said. "I hope this inspires others to dream big."

See the record-breaking game of Pong in action now at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhhPOMwVdKg/.