Unlike other random fortune-telling machines in the past, the unit described in this article is as close to "the real thing" that we have ever seen. Apart from the professional housing and enclosure, this unit uses a small printer similar to those used in point-of-sale machine to print the fortune for the ponderous to take with them.
Building such a project isn't that difficult, however sourcing an old printer could be a challenge. Don't forget to review our post about using old printers here. Nevertheless, it's a fun project and would be great for fund-raising and so on. So to get started on your own "Lucky Panda" machine, head over to the project page. And we're on twitter and Google+, so follow us for news and product updates as well.
So if this sort of project intrigues you and you're new to Arduino, the first step is a solid board for your projects - our Freetronics Eleven - the Arduino-Uno compatible with low-profile USB socket, onboard prototyping space and easy to view LEDs:
