|
Economical Wireless Quiz Button Lock-Out System |
|
|
Wireless |
$449
for 8 Players
Available 5-1-05 |
|
|
In response to numerous
requests for a wireless quiz bowl product,
we would like to offer the wireless version of our E-Quiz Bowl
Pro. We have called it EW-Quiz Bowl
Pro. As you will soon see, the
EW-Quiz Bowl Pro system does almost everything that our wired E-Quiz Bowl Pro product does. Click E-Quiz Bowl Pro to see that product’s
description. |
|
Please read on to find out why Merlin the Wizard, is
pictured here. |
|
NOTE: In order for Merlin to speak,
and the speech engines to work with Microsoft Agent in Windows XP, the
SAPI
4.0 runtime support must be installed. |
||
In the EW-Quiz Bowl Pro
system, players are grouped together into teams and each group team has a wireless
transmitter. Individual players are
still wired to a team’s transmitter. It
is possible to have a maximum of three team transmitters (the base system comes
with two). A team transmitter can accommodate either 4 or 8 players (the
base system’s transmitters each support 4 players). The team transmitters (easily) have a range of about 100
feet. This is more than adequate for
quiz game situations.
In becoming wireless, the
EW-Quiz Bowl system has lost some of the modular design of the E-Quiz Bowl Pro
system. Expansion from the base
8-player system is still possible but you must state your requirements when you
order your system. The system can
accommodate up to 24 players (maximum) if you order each team transmitter with
8-player inputs.
NOTE: The Team
Transmitter configuration is only used for the physical connection of
the hardware (player input
buttons). You can actually
configure the players anyway you want in the software. For example with 8 players playing, you
could have 2 teams with 4 players each, 4 teams with 2 players each or just 8
players, with no team membership.
|
It is very comfortable to
hold and connects to a team’s transmitter module using RCA type plugs at both
ends of a 6 foot cable. This distance
can be easily extended. |
Each player is equipped
with a hand-held quiz button. The
button is 1 inch in diameter and is mounted in a 5 inch length of plastic
pipe. It is pictured to the left and
below. With its flat base it can
stand by itself. |
The screenshot below shows
the Quiz Master’s computer display with the EW-Quiz Bowl Pro program window.
|
Excel with EW-Quiz Bowl
program window – Quiz Master’s screen |
2nd COMPUTER
The EW-Quiz Bowl Pro system
can make extensive use of a second PC. It
is NOT necessary but when you see what it can do, you will be impressed. The information displayed on the second PC
is what the players or contestants would see.
Merlin is pictured there and he can say or speak any text that is
displayed on that screen. You can also
show pictures there as part of a picture type question. If you have projection type equipment you
can project this displayed image on a large screen.
Note: The use of the Microsoft Agent characters is optional
and you can disable their use in this product.
Some screenshots from the
second computer are pictured below.
|
|
|
|
|
Question 1 Screen |
Merlin (Pleased) |
Merlin giving the correct
answer |
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The system can also use
Microsoft Agent characters to announce the questions….or better yet, you can have the Agent character recognize
the player who buzzed in, by announcing his/her name. Microsoft Agent characters are animated and can move and talk
with the help of the included text-to-speech software module. They also can talk with a balloon as
pictured.
The system includes all
hardware and software to allow 8 players to participate in a game. Several MS Agent characters and software are also included. More characters are available on the
Internet. To have the Agent speak you
must have a sound car and speakers installed in your PC. You must also have MS Excel and at least a
Pentium II computer with Windows 98 or later.
The EW-Quiz Bowl Pro system connects to an IBM computer using a free USB
port.
Team transmitter with one player button attached |
The EW-Quiz Bowl Pro team
transmitter is shown to the left.
There are 4 RCA phono jacks for 4 player inputs. The transmitter box is
approximately 5 x 2.5 x 1 inches. A
quarter coin is also in the picture. Power for the transmitter
unit is supplied by a 9-volt battery located behind a removable cover. |
EXCEL
The Excel software program is
used to store the names of the players and their scores. It can also show the number of correctly
answered questions. Team membership is
easily handled in a worksheet by inserting a formula to add the scores together
of all payers associated with a particular team.
When the EW-Quiz Bowl Pro
software is first run, it examines the Excel worksheet to determine the number
of players and teams. With 8 possible
players in the base system it is possible to have 2 teams with 4 players or 4
teams with 2 players. If you would like
8 players and no teams that is also possible too.
EXPANSION
The system may be expanded in
the future but for now it only accommodates 8 players.
USB
|
EW-Quiz Bowl Pro comes with
the USB connection built in. Once the
software is installed on your PC, the EW-Quiz Bowl Pro software program will
start automatically whenever the system unit is connected to a USB port on
your computer. An icon will appear in
the system tray indicating the system is installed and operating. |
|
NOTE:
You must provide your own copy of MS Excel to make full use of this product.
OTHER SOFTWARE
|
|
Create your own Game Show! The EW-Quiz Bowl Pro
software is also capable of working with other quiz game software programs
such as Game Show Presenter. Check
out the trial edition of Game Show Presenter at www.almorale.com. This presentation game show software
provides the fun and excitement that will enhance learning in any type of
environment. |
We will soon offer a demo of
the program below for download. We plan
to include it with the purchase of the EW-Quiz Bowl product. It is a trivia type question game where
players answer multiple choice questions.
|
|
It makes use of two MS
Agent characters: Merlin the Wizard and Peedy, the green bird. It features great
integration of the agent characters.
Merlin will ask each question
and say all the answers. He will even
make comments about each of the players throughout the game using each of
their names. Peedy will attempt to play
along and inject some humor. It is great fun because
every player gets to answer.
Questions sets can be easily created and saved to disk. The software also allows picture type
questions. |
COSTS
|
Base System |
Price |
|
EW-Quiz Bowl Pro - 8
Player system |
$449 |
Shipping and handling is 10%
of order total. We only collect sales
tax for Pennsylvania. If your state
requires you to pay sales tax then you must pay it yourself.
Print order form
: Order Form
We welcome any questions
that you may have concerning this product.
OUR QUALITY POLICY
It is our policy to
continuously improve our products to better satisfy the needs of our customers
and to deliver quality products, every time and on time. Computer Products for
Education reserves the right to make changes in product specifications and
appearance.
This product comes with a
30-day money back guarantee. Evaluate
it for 30 days and if it isn’t what you expected, return it to us in good
condition for a full refund. Shipping
and handling costs are not eligible for a refund.
Revised 4/18/05
COMPUTER PRODUCTS FOR EDUCATION
PO Box 1694,
Kingston, PA 18704 USA
Copyright © 2005 by Computer Products
for Education