Quiz Show Buzzer System using Staples Easy Button

 My first instructable!

As a college instructor, I often enjoy doing review games - especially using PowerPoint for a Jeopardy! format. However, sometimes it's hard to see students' hands and the commercial buzzer systems are very expensive. I found a very basic game show circuit board at an electronics store, but the buttons were so small that it would never work for a team-style game. So I got the idea to use Staples Easy Buttons from another website that showed how to turn one into your garage door opener. These work great for team jeopardy because the entire team can sit around 1 button.

A few trips to Radio Shack and voila!

This is a lockout system, which means that once one person has pushed their button, it prevents anyone else from triggering their light. There is also a reset button for the moderator to "clear the board."

Total cost for a commercial system: ~$300
Total cost for this homemade option: ~$60

Bonus: I've attached a PowerPoint file that can be used as a Jeopardy template. All $$ on the main board are hyperlinked to the appropriate slide in the presentation. The small outlined arrow in the lower right corner of the home board links to final Jeopardy. I've also attached various Jeopardy .wav sounds for inclusion also.

Disclaimer: I am somewhat inexperienced with electronics parts/soldering - mostly self-taught - so I apologize for any sloppy work in the photos.

Step 1 What You Need

Most of the parts can be purchased at Radio Shack or from other electronics suppliers. I've included links where applicable. Prices and links are accurate as of 12/15/09:

Game show/quiz buzzer circuit kit ~$15
http://www.electronickits.com/kit/complete/game/vemk133.htm
(Note: I also found this at a small electronics store in town)

4 x Staples Easy Buttons - $4.99/ea
http://www.staples.com/Staples-Easy-Button/product_606396

6"x4"x2" Project box - $4.99
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062283&filterName=Category

4 LED lights (I used 10mm ultra bright red ones) - $1.79/2 pk
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3096133

5 LED holders - $1.49/2 pk
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062559

Slide switch, SPST - $2.99/2 pk (I might have used the mini version)
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062488

Small, round adhesive pads (the really thin ones, not the thick rubber)

Single conductor, about 4 ft

2-conductor wire, about 20 ft cut into 5 4-ft segments. These lengths will determine how far your buttons can be placed from the control, so you can adjust the length for your needs.
(Note: I had used wire with many more conductors because I got a good price and I wanted thicker wire so it would be more sturdy)

1-in PVC pipe, about 4 inches

2 x 1-in PVC caps

Momentary switch, SPST, normally open - $3.39/2-pk
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2062496

Silver spray paint (optional)

Small bits of heat-shrink tubing (optional)

Soldering iron w/solder
Hot glue gun
Desoldering bulb

Helpful tools:
Wire stripper
Dremel (drill will work, Dremel is better)
Helping hand magnifying stand
Large workspace
Time!

Comments

[KRSmith84]

So after some more playing around (and getting the system all put together), I have discovered that with the new Easy Buttons, *every* cotact point results in a lit-up light *without* pressing the button. Boo to Staples for changing the Easy button. Might just make hand-held buttons using PVC and momentary contact switches...

[edgannon1979]

Need help with how to wire T11A39 easy button. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank You

[KRSmith84]

Having same issue. Pic of circuit board in my profile image gallery if anyone cares to have a gander and offer some advice

[jiasso]

I have two of the older easy buttons and the circuit boards in them are different than the ones pictured. anyone know how to wire these?

[bigster]

I have three new easy buttons and I cannot figure out how to wire them. they have T11A39 on the circuit board and the 2011-04-27. Anyone have any idea how to wire these up?

[ladbg]

I can't quite tell from the pictures where the slide switch wires attach to the circuit board.  You indicate they go to the upper left hand corner and advise to  refer to the circuit board instructions, but I'm still having trouble.  Do you have another picture or more specific instructions?  Thank you.

[rk55]

In case you haven't figured it out yourself or someone else had answered your question, here is the answer. There are are three holes next to the battery where the tiny slide button supplied withe the kit goes. You need to use the two holes closer to the battery connection to connect your larger push button.

[rk55]

I soldered all the components, soldered wires for LEDs and the on/off switch and connected the battery. I also plugged the push buttons that came with the kit to test my connections. I 'turned the system on' buy shorting the wires for the on/off switch. When I press the switch 1, the LED1 wires have a voltage between them as measured by the multimeter. I can reset by pressing the reset push button to reset the voltage to zero. But push button switches SW2 through SW4 have no effect on LED1 through LED5. I checked all the connections and polarities of diodes, they seem to be fine though my soldering is kind of sloppy. Any suggestions on what can be going wrong? I do not want to connect anything till I can make sure the circuit is fine. Thanks

[smrflwr]

This is awesome. I have a question regarding the Jeopardy template. How do you change the exam title on the slides? I know how to do it on the title page, but on the other slides I am unable to change it. I checked the slide master and I can't do it there. I would appreciate the information.

[balloonpilot]

Thanks for the great instructable!!
This should save a whole lot of arguments over who rung in first at my youth group.
And at an affordable price too.

[johnelle]

I built this and it functions but the "super bright" LEDs are not very bright at all. I assume this is because they need more current than the small original LEDs that come in the kit. Has anybody adjusted the resistance so the get more current?

Also the reset button works better with 1/2" PVC rather than 1".

[kbedell1]

The website that sells the kit also sells a power adapter that could work for higher voltage requirements.

[Phoghat]

My GF and watch Jeopardy together. Sometime there's another friend or two.
1. I'm assuming that if less that 4 people are playing it will still work?
2 I don't like the Easy button and will make this with the hand held button in #5?
3. I'll just use some other kind of momentary switch for the reset button.
Can sound be added?

[10lombara]

i have a question regarding the circuit, i built the circuit exactly as you said but it seems like no electricity is running through the circuit because my LED lights are not going on. What are some of the possible problems that i could have? i was thinking it was my soldering but im not sure.

[Madrias357]

LED's might be backwards, power might be backwards, buttons might not be functioning. Test with a multimeter in DC volts mode.

[Phoghat]

Not to mention a cold joint or two

[bartman1966]

An alternative solution could be to use QuizXpress (http://www.quizxpress.com). This is software for Windows that allows you to design quizzes graphical with all sorts of game formats and works with the commonly available wireless and wired Sony Buzz buzzers.

[Xombee]

Thanks for the Instructable! The kit has another product number "MK133", that can be found at http://www.apogeekits.com/quiz_table_mk133.htm for under $9.

If you are a soldering newbie, be sure you follow the correct soldering procedures (there's several videos on Youtube), or you'll mess up the board. One thing that happened to me is that I failed to put some hot glue on the wire connecting points to extend the LED reach and a couple of them snapped the solder connecting points.

Also, don't be lazy about tinning and cleaning your soldering iron of excess solder, or you'll have trouble.

[jatala]

Great build! Thanks for sharing. Perfectly explained! Just finished tonight and lights 3 and 4 are not working. I am going to have to trouble shoot!

[jatala]

Found the problems and system works flawlessly. Thanks for posting this instructable. I used the system at a company party and it was a huge hit! Couldn't have built it in time without your easy instructions. I knew I wanted to use easy buttons as buzzers, but it wasn't sure how to integrate it into a locl out system until I found your instructable. Thanks again!

[wareneutron]

what is content of mini kit mk133

[kmagic4]

this could be really cool if you made the buttons out of those similarly shaped stick up push button lights and it would probably be easier to connect them to the wire

[db_speakers]

Great instructable, I built something really similar about a year ago without realizing this was out here. I'm an electrical engineer and my dad, who's still involved with scouts as an organizer, wanted something like this for 8 teams. I didn't realize that radio shack made a kit so I designed a control circuit myself. I first thought to use staples buttons for controllers because one was sitting on my bosses desk. Then I started looking into it and it was the cheapest assembly I could find. Individual buttons without housing are really cheap, but the stylish plastic housing and tactile response of the button really did it for me. Plus, the "EASY" button makes perfect sense for a quiz game. My version of the easy button is identical to how you put it together. I added hot glue to the wire pass through on the easy button plastic collar, just to make sure the solder didn't take the stress if somebody kicked the wire. I like your reset button; mine was just a button next to the indicators on the box. I made my controllers detachable; one of my design requirements was to make at least 30 ft chords for the controllers (8 teams spread out in a big area). I bought speaker wire at bulk price and used RC battery connectors. They're really cheap, have simple locking mechanisms and are 2 pin, so they did the trick. Any connectors (like 3.5mm audio coax mentioned above) would work fine, but my cord lengths would have made a pre-assembled cable too expensive. All told, the most expensive part of the project were the 8 controllers. They cost $5 each to make, so they ate most of what turned out to be a $60 project. The actual circuit I built with the LED's and project board was maybe $10 tops and accomodates 8 players. It also fit on one of those little 2x3.5 inch radio shack project boards using a pretty tight layout. In response to a lot of these comments: I think it would make the most sense to switch to a micro controller and 3 wire controllers if sounds and controller lighting were desired. Plus, most microcontrollers have atleast 16 I/O; which means up to 16 players could be supported with only a $30 complete micro board. If you really wanted a brief buzzer followed by a timer, it could be designed and built with 555 timers, but it would only take 5 lines of code in a micro. You have to ask yourself if it's worth it when the code is that simple to implement.

[sci5]

I am a student that attempted this project for physics. Instead of using the easy button, I used LED lights from Radioshack for about $5. I found it diffcult to go to Staples when I live an hour away. For novice solderers, you need to practice before you start on the board or you will ruin it. It was a great idea, but it was very hard. The circuit board is the hardest part. I enjoyed making this. Thanks for the idea.
                                                  The Chick

[Davecarp]

im a little disappointed that you didn't design the circuitry yourself, but you used a kit instead. ive seen plans for a similar jeopardy style buzzer system made with a load of 555 timers, that would have been cool to see in instructable form.

[edtk421]

This is a great idea thanks for posting it.  How could I add a buzzer or some sort of sound effect.  The led will show who buzzed in first so the sound is just for fun and would go off after anyone buzzed in.   - side thought - could we keep the 'easy button' sound functional?

[dangermouse69]

Terrific idea, thanks for posting. I have the enitre kit together and am excited to use it. However, one LED - Position 2 stays lit constantly. If I hold one of the alternates down while I press reset then the lit LED will move until resetting. Any ideas?

[raykholo]

I gotta say, that reset button looks pretty professionally made.  And I commented just below about electronics - here is a circuit you could make yourself, given more experience: www.kpsec.freeuk.com/projects/quiz.htm

It would do exactly what yours does, with indicator leds, buttons, and reset button.   
Again, great work for a beginner in electronics.

[jschweers]

If you use 4 conductor wire for the easy buttons, it wouldn't be hard to make the easy buttons light up, too, to indicate who buzzed in first.

[raykholo]

 even 3 conductor (speaker cable) would work, since the button and LED are probably both connected directly to ground.  I have more electronics experience so I would probably make my own circuit using a bunch of 555s or a microcontroller, which could definitely accomodate only 3 connections.

[pyro1324]

 lol at step four at the first picture it looks like it says LED ho on the LED holders package XD 

[rblynes]

What if I wanted to use a light bulb for each button instead of an LED.  What would I need to do differently for this to work?

[irishlyrucked]

It really depends on the lightbulbs.  If you were going to use small lightbulbs powered by DC, they'd have to have similar voltage and current needs to the LEDs.  However, if you wanted to use large lightbulbs, like the kind in your home, you'd need to add a relay capable of being triggered off of the ~3 volts coming from the board.  You'd also need mains power to the box to power the bulbs.  So the trigger side of the relay would be handled by the board, and the working end would be powered by the mains.

All in all, it's much simpler to use LEDs.

[WoutervD]

 Not so much I think. You would need a bigger box so the lightbulbs fit, and you would have to replace the LED's with light bulb sockets. I do think voltage/wattage could be a problem though, so perhaps you would have to make it with a plug instead of batteries.

[rblynes]

What if I wanted to use a light bulb for each button instead of an LED.  What would I need to do differently for this to work?  With this circuit board support that load?  Obviously, I need need a bigger power supply.

[dfc849]

I don't know the specifics, but to use home lamp bulbs in general, you'd use 4 relays, and wire it up as a separate A/C circuit. If you would like to use flashlight bulbs, you should be able to simply put them in place of the LED's with no additional circuitry. Maybe someone else could elaborate on this topic.

[tristantech]

What kind of lightbulb a 120 volt kind like what you use in your home or small ones like in a flashlight?

[RonnieJi]

Great idea! Thank you for sharing.

[crhubert]

I just finished building one of these systems .... very nice idea, thank you very much the instructions were quite well done. I have  bug 3 out of the 4 easy buttons work just fine ... the 4th position lights up the led but doesn't latch it on. 1 thru 3 turn on the LED and it stays on until the reset is hit . I checked the solder connections (I worked for a long time as a "bench tech" so I have a great deal of confidence in my soldering) Anyone else ever hit this bug ?? Other than that it came out great. Thanks again! 

[pineapplenewton]

dose it say that was easy every time because if not i should