Simon Says

I’ve been looking for some inspiration for my two children to get into coding and decided that encouraging them to create something that they could then go on and use was probably my best bet. It’s not ready for them to be let loose on yet, but the boards are designed, manufactured, populated, tested and running some dummy code. I post more when I’ve got them working and also updates on how my two children enjoy building 1980’s toys with their Dad…

A big, no huge, shout out to everyone’s favourite forum member @ Justin for his endless skills and talent in building me a custom MF core for use with the onboard STM32F411. I could never have fitted all that hardware onto a board only 50mm in diameter without him; nor the LiPo charging and power circuitry. Thanks.

Here’s a video of where I’ve got to.


Feedback welcome.

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Good job!

Very cool! What kind of buttons are you using. I don’t think I’ve seen these before.

They’re from Farnell.

http://uk.farnell.com/panasonic-electronic-components/evpasbc1a/tactile-switch-spst-0-05a-12v/dp/2425611?ost=2425611

Easy to reflow and a bigger button surface area than a normal momentary action SMT push button.

Simon must be making a comeback. My 8 yr old asked for one for Christmas this year.

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Nice work!

@ ianlee74 - Thanks. Assembly was a nit of a challenge, especially the MCU, but I’m pretty pleased with the results. Now to finish the code and get the kids excited about building their own game.

@ Architect - Thanks. I hope to get the real code on it in the next few days. Then I intend to post it on codeshare. It’s in native net mf but could easily be translated to Gadgeteer and use Gadgeteer leds, buttons and the tine module.

@ kiwi_stu - Thank you.

Very very nice.

@ hagster - Thanks for commenting. Hopefully I’ll get time to post more later today or tomorrow.

@ Jason - Nice job fella :slight_smile:

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Was this a one-time build or will you be make some available for purchase?

The jury is still out for a while on that. I’ve a few boards mite to make and might have a few left over.i need to improve manufacturing efficiency before anyone would want to pay a reasonable price for them. I’ll keep your request in mind and past further once I’ve reached a view. Thank being said if there’s enough interest I probably will do a small run.

Thanks for your interest though.

So, I’ve just finished my first attempt at an authentic Simon Says code stack, and before I could even reach for my webcam to shoot a short video to post, my 7 year old son, picks it up, switches it on and starts playing. Not only does he amaze me over how quickly he understands how it works, but he’s already got a score of 11!!

Now all I need to do it turn that enthusiasm from playing into writing…


Wish me luck.

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