SKILL GAME’

This time does not propose amazing things and amazing, only what I managed to do rummaging through drawers to satisfy the demand for my nephew.

A few days ago he came out with this phrase: ” You who are so good I build a game that changes every time I want?”

I tried to explain that I am not a magician but, you try to reason with a child of 5 years without him lose the esteem I have in you!

Having promised I'd think I posed two problems, what to do and how to do something that can be challenging but easy to do for her age.

Discarded a priori electronic games because he can use the best cell of parents and definitely has played with a host of games downloaded by parents on their smartphones.

Then I had the idea to create something similar

Suitable age and needs a bit of skill to complete the course without touching the tip of the way in metal.

Can be changed as desired by simply changing the amount and the radius of curvature of the curves. A good way to give the impression of having always a different game and above all created by him.

Now it only remains to make it interesting with added sound or light that they can lure him but, without overly complicating things otherwise it remains too difficult and leave him at once.

The choice of food is important, discarded batteries because the parents are not willing to go out and buy the batteries whenever your child wants to play.

Normally a power button is practically useless because the game will never be switched off. Simply it will be abandoned to move to a new game.

Opto for a USB cable to connect to a mobile phone charger, in the house there are many that are abandoned because the most delicate part, Micro USB connector, that should be on the cell deteriorates forcing you to buy a new cable. The child I have seen it too many times to put in charging the smartphone parents because drain. I will use one of those cables truncating the terminal part and using the single 5V supply, widely secure value for the age in question.

Stability touches the power switch to the rest!!

In the drawers I find a CD4093 and immediately put in motion the brain to use it and let us all, Here a first draft preliminary feasibility done at the time with what I had available, a sheet of notebook and a red pen

From the top down a monostable, a timed audio oscillator, a flashing light indication.

Of course it is only the first draft with a couple of obvious errors.

The final pattern that came out is this

in it there are several circuits.

U1.4 from the start to the game, in rest conditions the capacitor C5 has been downloaded by R8 therefore both inputs are at the positive potential and the output will result in zero.

Upon pressing the "puls" button leads to a mass of uploading terminal C5, under these conditions the output goes to one until the capacitor will not re-downloaded on R8. The output will feed the movable probe of the game and simultaneously will turn on the LED which indicates that the play time is started. Small makeup, every time you press the button before the end stretches of the game temple.

U1.3 with the components connected to it has the function of generating a sound in the case that the probe (verde) come into contact with the circuit to be followed (rosso), the operation is simple, in C3 rest conditions it has been downloaded by R3 and its output is fixed at 1, C2 does not allow the transistor to start conducting.

When it touches the red with the circuit sees it instantly charge C3 that unlocks U1,3 which can oscillate freely until C3 it is not downloaded from R3, under these conditions the oscillation now passes C2 which drives the transistor which in turn drives the small speaker that generates a note . The value of the frequency of oscillation depends on the values of R1 and C1 according to the formula

F=1100/(R1*C1).

U1,2 instead serves as an indication of reaching the end of the trail, R6 connects an input to ground, forcing the output to one and d in these conditions the LED D3 limited by R5 current can not turn on. As soon as the probe touches the path term contact (blu) the input port that was previously zero to one and under these conditions the door is free to oscillate through C4 and R4 at a frequency of about two Hz.

U1.1 is the last door and has the task of making the flashing LED D2 to D3 alternately while remaining switched off in the rest condition and D3 off.

This is the arrangement of components

as you can see everything is in a base the size of a postage stamp 30 x 34mm without even a ponticello.Per the definitive realization I used a VHS cassette housing, until they have available are readily usable at zero cost and also giving it a second life except from the landfill.