This is an Arduino version of the old chestnut Buzz Wire game. Players must navigate a loop of wire over a larger wire loop without touching the two together.
This code uses an Arduino LCD/button shield to make the game a tad more Interesting. These popular devices are often available at retail electronics stores (Fry's and Micro Center both carry them) and on line for between $10 and $20. Velleman makes one (VMA203) as does OSEPP (16x2SHD-01) and Sparkfun (DEV-13293). I've tested this code on the Velleman and the OSEPP shields, but I haven't obtained a Sparkfun shield. Adafruit makes a shield which may be similar, but from their description it may not work with this code. It's also significantly more expensive than the other three. All of these shields feature an LCD with 2 lines of 16 characters each and six push buttons. Five of them are helpfully labeled (Up/Down,Right/Left, and Select). The sixth is labeled "Rst" and is tied to the reset pin of the Arduino beneath the shield. For less than $30, you can be the proud owner of a tiny computer, complete with a display, control buttons, and 11 I/O lines.
This BuzzWire game has three modes: Timed, Challenge, and Tournament.
- Timed mode
- The timer counts up by seconds as you navigate the game.
- Challenge mode
- You set a time and the timer counts down; you must finish your run before it hits 0.
- Tournament mode
- The timer counts up for the first run, but in subsequent runs the timer counts down from the time you took for the last run.
Select the mode with the Up/Down/Left/Right/Select buttons on the VMA203. To change modes, hit the <reset> button. Use Up/Down/Left/Right/Select to change the time value in Challenge mode. All games start when you touch the wire loop to the start pin. Win when you touch the wire loop to the finish pin within the time limit. Lose by running out of time or by touching the wire loop to the big wire loop.
By default, BuzzWire uses my MusicBox library. You can disable this
with #define SILENT in the BuzzWire.ino file. It also uses GreyGnome's excellent interrupt library.
Pins
These shields use many of the Digital pins on the Arduino, as well as the first Analog pin (pin 14, AKA A0) BuzzWire itself uses the following pins:
- Pin 16 ( A2)
- Connects to a nail at the start of the big loop. Touch this with the wand to start or restart the game.
- Pin 17 (A3)
- Connects to the big wire loop. Touch this one and lose.
- Pin 18 (A4)
- Connects to a nail at the end of the big loop. Touch the wand to this one to win the game.
- Ground
- Connected to the wand (small wire loop)
If SILENT is not defined, BuzzWire also uses pin 15 (A1) as a
speaker out pin; the other speaker wire should be connected to ground.