Our shop, TechShop Chandler was fortunate enough to have been selected for Instructables' June Build Night, sponsored by littleBits!

We were sent FOUR littleBits Deluxe Kits, and several of their brand new Arduino At Heart Modules. This is one of many projects we made for Build Night!

For one of our projects I wanted to make a simple buzzer system for two players, that has a contestant lockout feature. Basically, whichever button is pressed first will light up and trigger the buzzer, blocking the other player's button from lighting up - making it easy to tell who buzzed in first.

Step 1: Assemble the Bits

For this project I used these Bits:

2 - Buttons

2 - Buzzers

1 - Fork

1 - Power Supply with 9V Battery

6 - Wires

2 - RGB LEDs

1 - Arduino At Heart Module

The configuration is pictured above, but goes as follows:

Power Supply + Fork

Fork 1: Wire + Wire + Button + Wire + Wire + Arduino d0 pin

Fork 2: Wire + Wire + Button + Wire + Wire + Arduino a0 pin

Then on the other side of the Arduino:

d1: RGB LED

d5: RGB LED

d9: Buzzer + Buzzer

Step 2: Arduino It!

For this step I used my co-worker Mike, because I am very new to Arduino and have yet to learn the finer points of programming.

Since there was no existing code for exactly this function, he started with the button function... this can be found in the Arduino software under:

File > Examples > Digital > Button

This function uses a button input and LED output... to turn the LED on/off using the button.

He duplicated the code to include two buttons and two LEDs, added buzzers to the d9 pin, and added a delay function.

The delay function makes the LED and Buzzers timeout after an allotted amount of time, as well as blocks the input from other button! Boom! Done.

I have attached the code! So give it a shot!

Gameshow_Buzzers.ino
Download

Step 3: Enjoy!

So now you're ready to play a few rounds of homegrown Jeopardy, or just to annoy your friends and loved ones with buzzers! Either way, YOU DID IT!

Add number Bits to make yourself a scoreboard, or make a DC motor spinning option wheel and add arduino to make it stop at random intervals! There's a bunch you can do with this stuff! It's awesome.

Again BIG thanks to Instructables and littleBits for bestowing us with this wonderful gift! We're definitely going to be getting more modules, so I can't wait to see what projects our members come up with next!