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Duel - how does it work?

C

cptcliff

TS Member
I was on Duel earlier today and despite people thinking it’s terrible, I don’t mind it.

I was thinking more, how does it work? Are the scores even real when you shoot stuff?


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I am not sure on the specifics of Duel but they generally work the same, it appears this way from what I have seen on Duel. It is a bit technical but it is difficult to answer without going somewhat technical, so bear with me. Don't pull down on the hand rail, I will do it for you.

Each gun shoots either a laser or IR beam (different depending on the ride). Each of the 5 guns on the car has a unique binary identification signal which is sent within the shooting IR or laser beam, the beam flashes so incredibly fast with this information, it cannot be seen by the human eye and is sent within something like a thousandth of a second. Binary data can be sent via light via the on and off flashing of the beam. This data will be looped within the beam, so when you do hit a target the information is always received.

(In Fact you can now buy LiFI, which is like a form of Wifi but done through household lights, the light literally flashes billions of times a second so cannot be seen by the human eye, or think Fiber Optic, the backbone of the Internet. Same sort of principles in sending data through light to what these rides use)

When the beam from the gun you fired, connects with a target (because of skillz innit), the target sends an IR beam back towards the car, which is picked up by the one of the many receivers on the car itself. Inside this beam, is not only the relayed information of which gun has sent the signal, but also how many points that specific target gives. The car's onboard computer then works out which gun has sent the signal, how many points to award and then updates the car display and stores this information for that player. This whole process is all done in less than a tenth of a second. The power of computers!

Each target has a very basic circuit board as it only has two pieces of information to send back to the car. They are basically like a fancy IR relay if you know what one of those is. As it is relaying the gun identification signal in the beam back to the car from the gun, but also adding its own points information specific to that target to the beam. These can be made very cheap, relatively speaking. Can be programmed quickly via USB and some basic software. At the end the ride, the car then offloads all the information via a IR sensor to a basic static computer which then displays all the information onto a board everyone can see.

That is the basics of it.
 
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DistortAMG said:
I am not sure on the specifics of Duel but they generally work the same, it appears this way from what I have seen on Duel. It is a bit technical but it is difficult to answer without going somewhat technical, so bear with me. Don't pull down on the hand rail, I will do it for you.

Each gun shoots either a laser or IR beam (different depending on the ride). Each of the 5 guns on the car has a unique binary identification signal which is sent within the shooting IR or laser beam, the beam flashes so incredibly fast with this information, it cannot be seen by the human eye and is sent within something like a thousandth of a second. Binary data can be sent via light via the on and off flashing of the beam.

(In Fact you can now buy LiFI, which is like a form of Wifi but done through household lights, the light literally flashes billions of times a second so cannot be seen by the human eye, or think Fiber Optic, the backbone of the Internet. Same sort of principles in sending data through light to what these rides use)

When the beam from the gun you fired, connects with a target (because of skillz innit), the target sends an IR beam back towards the car, which is picked up by the one of the many receivers on the car itself. Inside this beam, is not only the encoded information of which gun has sent the signal, but also how many points that specific target gives. The car's onboard computer then works out which gun has sent the signal, how many points to award and then updates the car display and stores this information for that player. This whole process is all done in less than a tenth of a second. The power of computers!

Each target has a very basic circuit board as it only has two pieces of information to send back to the car. They are basically like a fancy IR relay if you know what one of those is. Can be made very cheap, relatively speaking. At the end the ride, the car then offloads all the information via a IR sensor to a basic static computer which they displays all the information onto a board everyone can see.

That is the basics of it.
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Thanks for the comprehensive reply. Although not technically savvy (to your standard) I grasp the layman’s terms way you’ve described it and the IR bit concurs with my initial thoughts.

I suppose it’s actually a very ‘cheap and cheerful’ system really with not a lot to it but I definitely think it makes for a fun theme and something a bit different.

Again, thanks for the reply


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Cheap relatively speaking, although companies will put a premium on the technology as it is specifically built for those needs. It gets more expensive when you start tying the targets to activate animations, something the should always have done with Duel, but never.
 
cptcliff said:
Admittedly it looks a very cheap ride


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It does now, although when it was originally built as the Haunted House. It was a something of a grand scale and one of the largest and certainly most grand dark rides this country has ever seen. It has lost so much of its original grandeur though through decades of tinkering and lack of maintenance. That story though, is for a different thread.
 
You echo what I’ve read others have said online which is sad really. Why do you think there’s been no investment in it anymore?


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cptcliff said:
You echo what I’ve read others have said online which is sad really. Why do you think there’s been no investment in it anymore?


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I just think they cant see a return on their investment if they re invested without totally making something new.

Alsty said:
So the blaster is basically a glorified remote control?

A few times I've not used the blaster and still got a nominal score.
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Pretty much yeah. They never used to give a score when not shooting. Maybe they added random base scores to people who get nothing, so that even the younger members of the family can feel like they are joining in. That or the system is playing up due to its age.
 
DistortAMG said:
I just think they cant see a return on their investment if they re invested without totally making something new.



Pretty much yeah. They never used to give a score when not shooting. Maybe they added random base scores to people who get nothing, so that even the younger members of the family can feel like they are joining in. That or the system is playing up due to its age.
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I feel like your second point is the more likely one


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Whilst not Duel but touching a little on the history that @DistortAMG mentioned, there is a wonderful chapter from John Wardleys autobiography (creating my own nemesis). Which tells a lot of about how he used his previous experience from old ghost train rides and how cutting edge Haunted House was at the time of its launch. Its all wrapped in a cool anecdote involving a last minute dash to the props department. I'd spoil it but I think it's best reading from the legend himself.
 
The way the transit system worked speeding up and slowing down was technically very good for its time and bespoke to the ride. It was the same thing they were going for that (if made today) would probably be a trackless ride.

The Haunted House as a ride wasn't really about being advanced, it was about being the biggest and best haunted house, really huge and lots of fun, and different. It's now just your average ghost train on the surface now, it had a big decline thanks to a number of dodgy changes over the years (not just the Duel redo in 2003)
 
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Alsty said:
So the blaster is basically a glorified remote control?

A few times I've not used the blaster and still got a nominal score.
Click to expand...

For some reason, another possible reason for this randomly popped into my head today. I bet some of the ill thought out lighting changes over the years with probably no regard for the ride, has caused some fixtures to emit more infrared than before. This could cause issues. This seems likely, as it seems to be Merlins' modus operandi.
 
AT86 said:
Duel was it’s usual state today - to further add to the list of things wrong, there was no music at all during the ride.

Was quite creepy actually.
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That’s disappointing it’s still a mess, it’s the only “TLC” project that’s been poor.
 
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