A slightly different twist on physical computing / tangible interfaces is something I saw last year titled, Control Freaks and its only popped up on my radar now again. A Control Freak is:

a small device that attaches to an everyday object making it a host. It can sense the movement and sound of its host and connect that feedback to a local gaming platform, translating the manipulation of the host into game play commands on the connected game platform…When the Control Freak device clamps onto a host, sensors on the device can detect movement or vibration when the host object is manipulated. If the host is a door, then Control Freak can sense it opening and closing. The device augments the behavior of the host allowing it to become the controller of a game. Critical to this is the affordance of the host. A chair swings, a door opens and closes. The device translates the host’s affordance into play commands. In this way, swinging on an office chair can control the movements of Pong paddles on the gaming screen.

Below is a video of the Control Freak device being employed on an office chair to control a game called Brain Candy.

And below here is a scenario as to how the Control Freak creatures might one day imbue the everyday objects around us with the qualities of play.