If you like this, take a look at Blinkenlights: http://blinkenlights.net/

Esp. watch the videos from the original Blinkenlights installation in Berlin and the Arcade one in Paris.

I'd like to play this... sounds like a ton of fun.

However, not sure it qualifies as a hack. Installation of colored lights in the rooms, and linking them to a PC/microcontroller sounds more like a lot of electrician grunt work than a hack.

If they tapped into the existing electric infrastructure, on the other hand...

Agree, and from the pictures it looks like they had plenty of assistance in setting this up.

It reminds me of the event on Brown's campus in 2000.

http://news.cnet.com/2100-1040-239433.html

I had the exact same idea and have been planning on doing this on a building in Pittsburgh. Now I feel like I would just be a copy cat if I did. :-/

But if you build it, more people will get to enjoy the concept.

It isn't Hunt Library in CMU campus by any chance, is it?

Actually I was considering 5th Avenue Place downtown (the Highmark building) for Light Up Night later this year, assuming I can get permission for it. Hunt already has the lighting for it but I'm not sure it's tall enough to be able to play Tetris effectively. Although if the blocks were to "fall" horizontally that would actually be pretty interesting. Were you/others planning on doing a version on Hunt?

they are not the first to do this. berlin had the first blinkenlights installation in 2001! and it was controllable via sms/phone.