1. Get Your Project Started
with Arduino
Class 5: Arduino Games
June 13, 2014 Don Wilcher

2. Arduino and Games Topics Make: Basic Arduino Projects book example
The Secret Word Game

3. Make: Basic Arduino Projects book example

4. Secret Word Game Chapter 26. The Secret Word Game
In the mid-1970s, a company named Tiger Electronics made a variety of handheld electronic sporting games like baseball, basketball, and football. These portable handheld games used LEDs, seven-segment LED displays, and speakers to provide visual and audio effects for the units. The pushbuttons on these portable gaming devices allowed total interaction between the player and the electronic handheld unit. In other words, while they weren’t a Wii, these little electronic units were the first really popular interactive sports games.
The Secret Word game is a cross between Jeopardy! and Charades, in which players attempt to guess the message programmed into the Arduino microcontroller within a certain amount of time..

5. The Secret Word Game Block Diagram

6. The Secret Word Game BOM
Parts List
Arduino microcontroller
Full-size breadboard
R1: 330Ω resistor (orange, orange, brown stripes)
R2: photocell (light sensor)
R3: 1KΩ resistor (brown, black, red stripes)
LCD1: 16x2 liquid crystal display (LCD), part number JHD 162A
LED1: RGB (red, green, blue) LED
S1: pushbutton switch

7. The Secret Word Game Prototype

8. The Secret Word Game Fritzing Wiring Diagram

9. The Secret Word Game Circuit Schematic Diagram

10. The Secret Word Game Rules
Rules for the Secret Word Game
The objective of the game is to guess the mystery word programmed into the Arduino microcontroller within a certain amount of time.
Three hints will be given to the players by the game host, after which a pushbutton switch is pressed to start the RGB LED timing sequence.
The players will write their answers on a sheet of paper.
Once the RGB LED timing sequence is completed, the game host reveals the secret word to the players by shining a flashlight on the photocell.
The player who has the winning word will shout out, “I’m a Winner,” or some other suitably cool phrase!
The game host starts a new game by changing the secret word using the lcd.print() instruction of the Secret Word Game sketch.
The new sketch is then uploaded to the Arduino microcontroller for the next round of electronic gaming fun!

11. The Secret Word Game: Flashing LED

12. The Secret Word Game: Revealing the Mystery Word