When you have kids, they compete for things. When you have four kids that are pretty close in age, they compete for EVERYTHING. I figured it might be a good idea to add some structure to their competition, so I decided to “gamify” it.
With this set of buttons, only the first button to be pressed will light up. None of the other buttons will light until the main reset button has been pressed (which turns off all active lights). The code is very simple and easy to understand, plus there’s a ton of room for expansion with this idea! You could add teams, scoring via an LCD screen, buzzer noises, etc.
If you want to look through or use my code, you can download it below.
Download Arduino code
Here’s a simple wiring diagram for a single button for simplicity.
Tools List:
(purchasing via these affiliate links supports ILTMS)
Woodworking:
- SawStop cabinet saw
- Dewalt 20v drill driver combo
- Dewalt compact router
- Dewalt compound miter saw
- Orbital Sander
- Grizzly G0555LANV Bandsaw
- 2HP Dust Collector with 1 Micron bag
- Classic steel ruler (cork backed)
- Spray lacquer
Electronics:
- Arcade buttons
- Arduino Uno Kit
- Soldering iron
- Third hand kit
- Wire strippers (not the ones I have, but good ones)
- Thin solder
- Solder tip cleaner
I cut down some scrap 3/4″ plywood into 4 1/2″ strips.
I used that strip to set a stop block on my crosscut sled.
This allowed me to cut the strip down into perfect squares, five for each player box.
For each player, I glued three of those pieces together. I only glued around the outside of the squares as there’s no need to glue the inside.
These got clamped up to dry.
On the bandsaw, I cut into the square and removed the majority of the square from inside.
I added glue to the entry cut and clamped it to dry.