29-story skyscraper lighting system hacked to play tetris

29-story skyscraper lighting system hacked to play tetris

to celebrate the upcoming 30th anniversary of tetris, drexel university professor frank lee and his team hacked the lighting system of cira centre – a 29-story glass-encased skyscraper in philadelphia – to play the classic arcade game on the building’s facade. using the north side and the south side of the tower, competitors played a version of the game, in which rows of blocks are added to the opponent’s screen when players eliminated them on their side. joysticks were connected to a computer to transmit the data via a 4G network inside the cira centre. the signals translated the commands to the building’s external LED lighting system, which create images on the facade.

video courtesy AP

view of the cira center in philadelphia