Multi-personality Fortune teller

This Arduino project is a throwback to several carnival and novelty arcade games from when I was a kid. I’ve done many Arduino projects, but this is my first project that was my own design. Prior to this, I generally followed someone else’s design or idea.
My main motivation was to try to understand using the Adafruit Wave shield. Someday I would like to have the Arduino also control the servo that controls the skull, but for this project the talking skull portion was a kit. There are other talking skulls available (Talking thru Boris, a halloween decoration that can be found on auction sites).
I also wanted to build this as inexpensively as possible & use parts that are either things I already had on hand, or parts that are plentiful & cheap.
Using this approach often makes the finished project more unique.
A note about the video: I removed the glass to make the project more visible in the video.

Remove these ads by Signing Up

Step 1: Parts list

This was a long project so I won't attempt to list everything but the key elements are:
-Arduino
-Wave shield & SD card(Adafruit)
-Talking skull (I got mine from Nuts & Volts)
-potentiometer (Radio Shack)
-coin op mechanism (Adafruit)
-inexpensive computer speakers (Thrift store)
-LED strip lights (online supplier)
-UV LED lights(online supplier)
-Windshield wiper motor (salvage)
-11X14 frame
-Mirror window tint
-3/4" plywood
-1/2 doors
-flocked paper
I will try to point out helpful parts throughout the instructable but slight alterations in the design should make it easier to utilize parts you already have.

Cheechy808 says: Nov 5, 2012. 10:34 PM

Great job! this thing is awesome! IDK if these are stupid questions but, if there is a mirror tint on it, how do you see through? And does the skeleton head come with the EVIL, SARCASTIC, etc. knob and would it work without the case, coin op, etc.? Thanks and again, awesome fortune teller!

blackfire4116 (author) says: Nov 6, 2012. 8:46 AM

Thanks for the compliment! I wanted the mirror tint on it so that it'd be a surprise to the user what was behind the glass, the illumination inside is enough to make the prop visible in moderate room lighting. Really, this is the only part of this project that I have contemplated changing, I like subtlety, but to compete with other novelties your better off going over the top.
The skeleton head is very simple in its operation. If there's sound, it drives the servo in it designated rotation, and if there isn't sound, it returns to the start position. It isn't perfect but works pretty well. If your recording sounds for it you'd want to avoid any sounds that aren't audible enough to drive the servo (typically "S" sounds).
There is no such thing as a dumb question to me, I'm not really much of a technical person, I just figure out a way to do what I want to do.

chipper35 says: Oct 25, 2012. 9:50 AM

This is 124 pounds of heart-warming EXCELLENCE......!!!! That's what this is!!

The "thing" is cool.......and so is the Instructable!!

blackfire4116 (author) says: Oct 25, 2012. 9:04 PM

Thank you so much for the compliment! I've made many projects over the years but this is the first time I had ever went through the trouble to document it. In the past maybe 7 or 8 people might see what I've completed, and their friends, so their opinion is biased. it certainly is nice to get input from other creators.

108

Penolopy Bulnick says: Oct 1, 2012. 2:52 PM

Oh, this is just wonderful! I'm so glad you made this, just so I could watch that last video and listen to that response :)

blackfire4116 (author) says: Oct 1, 2012. 4:12 PM

Thanks! One of funnest parts of this project was coming up with the different personality's responses. The Normal ones are kinda plain, but I like almost all of the sarcastic, mean & evil ones.