Tutorial
Two lessons. One you can read to a five-year-old while you stand at the 8×4. One that names every button, letter, and abbreviation on the desk and the pads.
01
It is 8 feet long and 4 feet wide. That is as long as a small car, and as wide as a grown-up lying down. We do not build a new table. We dress this one.
Do this. Walk around it. Sit. Put both hands on the rail. That is home.
02
Elbows need a pillow. Wrap the oval racetrack with leather so it feels like a castle chair, not a board.
Do this. Tape the rail first. Leave holes for cups, dice, and four phone docks.
03
Drinks never go in the city. Dice never fly over the little houses. They have their own nests.
Do this. Four cup holes. Two dice windows with lids.
04
Phones sit in docks. They are not extra TVs. They are four game pads for lights.
Do this. Open Pads in this keep. Tap Front, then Full. Watch the near rooms get bright.
05
The felt comes out. Tiny stone halls and forges go in. This is the city the lights will paint.
Do this. Leave a hole in the very center, plugged for now. That hole is for the ghost later.
06
The LinkTable desk is how you talk to the lights. You learn it before you hide lights under the wood.
Do this. Open Desk. Press GO. Press BO. The room should go dark, then come back.
07
P1 near you. P2 far away. P3 left. P4 right. Each is a little projector or a spare phone.
Do this. Open each head. Live means on. Shut means covered. Escape makes that one go black.
08
Four clear walls make a floating picture. It is a trick of reflections, like a magic castle window.
Do this. Only after the lights work. Dark pocket. No water on this glass.
09
A tiny aqueduct, closed so it cannot spill on the computer. Distilled water only.
Do this. Beside the ghost, never on top of it. Grown-ups fill it.
10
A shallow dish under the lip. Roots kiss the water. No pump. Moss likes that.
Do this. Check the water line once a week. Florida is thirsty.
11
A touch on the rail, or a tap on a tile, can change the lights. Like a secret doorbell.
Do this. Last. First make GO work from a pad. Then add doorbells.
12
Water, moss, and fog are slow. Lights are fast. Never mix them in the same wire. And never pour water on the computer in the pedestal.
Do this. If you remember only this, you can build the whole keep.