July 05, 2012

Build your own "Dice Game with no luck"

 Once again Mike Cook shows us in detail an interesting project involving an Arduino-based heart - his "Dice Game". How the game works is a little different than expected, as Mike writes:

The idea is that it is a game involving a dice, but with no random element of luck. In this game the top number on the dice is used to indicate by how much a number, or heap as I call it, should be reduced. The winner is the first to reduce it to exactly zero, or get the opponent to overshoot zero. What makes this into a game of skill is that, on any turn, the only numbers you can't use are the number already shown on the top of the dice, and the number the dice is resting on.

Certainly different - and moreso when you discover how the dice is "read" by the game. The dots are tiny magnets, and a hall effect sensor can then detect the strength of each side of the dice when laid flat on the game - therefore determining the value when face up. You can see this in action in the following video:


Certainly different and very well done. Kudos to Mike for such a great project, and documenting it for us to see. You can read all about it and download the design files from his site. When building your own Arduino-based project, consider using the Freetronics Eleven - the Arduino Uno-compatible board with low-profile USB socket, visible LEDs and onboard prototyping space:


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