Alwin de Rooij | Portfolio

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Referring to Hermann Hesse’s book “The Glass Bead Game” in which the glass bead game is closely related to music making we wanted to built a glass beat game in which a player or a group of players can make music by putting marbles on a game board. The idea includes building an instrument for simple music making as well as exploring the possibilities of using the setup as a game with rules focusing on topics like sound, music, spatialization, hearing, psychology, tactical behavior and synesthesia. We wanted to explore the relation between board games and music making; the game component as well as the process of music making. The goal was to built a game-board which can be used to make music by putting different marbles on specific places on the board. The music is shaped as well by the placing/position of the marble on the board but is also influenced strongly by the characteristics (transparency) of the marble itself.

Setting up the game is easy. Just plug the interface (usb) in your computer and start the software program. The game is for 1-4 player.

The rules for The Glass Beat Game are as follows.

1. Every player takes a card from the stack of cards. This card is the personal “assignment”. The five possible assignments are: A picture on the card shows how to place the glass stones on the board; There is a picture on the card – the sound shall be altered in a way that it is associated with the picture; There is a color on the card – the sound shall be altered in a way that it is associated with the color; There is a word on the card – the sound shall be altered in a way that it is associated with the word; There is a sentence giving a psychological/ tactical assignment like “make something your opponent likes” on the card.
2. The players are throwing the dice, one after another, clockwise. The dice decides which positions/ glass stones on the board can be altered: A “one” means, only one position can be changed, however it can be any position; A “two” means two states can be changed, however they have to be aligned in a row; A “three” means three states can be changed, however they have to be aligned in a row; A “four” means four states can be changed, however they have to be aligned in a rectangle; A “five” means five states can be changed, however they have to be aligned forming the rectangle with a center; A “six” means nothing can be changed, but your assignment can be swapped against the next card if the player wants to.
3. If you fulfill your assignment, take the next card from the stack.
4. If all cards are gone or the players want to end the game the player with the most fulfilled assignments wins the glass beat game.

The Glass Beat Game was created by Hanna Schraffenberger, Arnout Terpstra and Alwin de Rooij.