As a kid I've always loved how much my parents hated the Simon Says game, using a simple arduino, some LEDs, resistors, pushbuttons and a piezo we can make it ourself! I tested and designed this circuit using 123D Circuits, later on build the real thing and even made a PCB Arduino Schield!

Partlist:

1 x Arduino Uno
1 x Piezo buzzer
4 x Pushbutton
6 x Resistor 220Ω
1 x 5 mm LED Red
1 x 5 mm LED Blue
1 x 5 mm LED Green
1 x 5 mm LED Yellow
1 x 3 mm LED Red
1 x 3 mm LED Green
1 x Solderless Breadboard
Assortment of Breadboard Wires

Step 1: Prototyping in 123D Circuits

In my first step I start by prototyping the board in 123D Circuits. In their free online editor you can test out different values without worrying about blowing something up! You can play with my finished prototype right here in the browser by clicking the "Start Simulation" button or by following this link.

We start by adding 4 pushbuttons, 4 resistors and 4 LEDs, we connect the cathode of the LEDs with our common ground and the anode with a resistor. The other end of the resistor is connected to a Arduino Digital Pin. We do something similar for our pushbuttons; we connect our Terminal 11 to the common ground and our Terminal 21 with a Arduino Digital Pin. I've also added 2 smaller LEDs to give me a green or red light when I'm right or wrong. We connect their cathode legs to the common ground and put a resistor on the anode side that we connect with our Arduino Pins. Finally we connect our Piezo buzzer to our Arduino Pin 3, notice the small ~ symbol next to the pin 3 of your arduino? This means the pin has PWM capabilities, which we will need to create a tone for our Piezo. You can read more about PWM here: Arduino.cc/PWM

Step 2: Code

You can download the full sourcode at the bottom of this step.

Some more information, at the beginning of our code we start by defining our global variables and PIN numbers of our arduino.

// LED pin definitions<br>#define LED_RED     11
#define LED_GREEN   9
#define LED_BLUE    7
#define LED_YELLOW  5
#define LED_CORRECT 4
#define LED_WRONG   2

// Button pin definitions
#define BUTTON_RED    12
#define BUTTON_GREEN  10
#define BUTTON_BLUE   8
#define BUTTON_YELLOW 6

// Buzzer definitions
#define BUZZER  3
#define RED_TONE 220
#define GREEN_TONE 262
#define BLUE_TONE 330
#define YELLOW_TONE 392
#define TONE_DURATION 250

// Game Variables
int GAME_SPEED = 250;
int GAME_STATUS = 0;
int const GAME_MAX_SEQUENCE = 50;
int GAME_SEQUENCE[GAME_MAX_SEQUENCE];
int GAME_STEP = 0;
int READ_STEP = 0;

We then define our setup function where we set our Arduino Pin Modes to OUTPUT for our LEDs and to INPUT_PULLUP for our pushbuttons. We also use a randomSeed to make sure our randmon sequence we're creating is different every time. Read more about randomSeed and pseudo random numbergenerators here: Arduino.cc/RandmomSeed

void setup(){<br>  Serial.begin(9600);
  
  randomSeed(analogRead(0));
  
  pinMode(LED_RED, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(LED_GREEN, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(LED_BLUE, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(LED_YELLOW, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(LED_CORRECT, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(LED_WRONG, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(BUTTON_RED, INPUT_PULLUP);
  pinMode(BUTTON_GREEN, INPUT_PULLUP);
  pinMode(BUTTON_BLUE, INPUT_PULLUP);
  pinMode(BUTTON_YELLOW, INPUT_PULLUP);
  pinMode(BUZZER, OUTPUT);
}

Our loop function contains our main game loop; we use a switch case to quickly choose in which modus we're situated. This is called a "Super Loop" programming design. This allows us to easily have specific cases or "modes" for different parts of the game

void loop(){
  // In what mode are we?
  switch(GAME_STATUS){
    case 0:
      resetGame();
      break;
    case 1:
      playSequence();
      break;
    case 2:
      readSequence();
      break;
    case 3:
      gameOver();
      break;
  }
}

simonsays.ino
Download

Step 3: More Code

We begin with the "reset game" function where we fill up our GAME_SEQUENCE array

<p>void resetGame(){<br>  // reset steps
  READ_STEP = 0;
  GAME_STEP = 0;
  
  // create random sequence
  for(int i=0; i<GAME_MAX_SEQUENCE; i++){<br>    GAME_SEQUENCE[i] = random(4) + 1;<br>  }</p><p>  // Go to next game state; show led sequence
  GAME_STATUS = 1;
}</p>

Our next game step would be the playback step where we play the sequence

void playSequence(){<br>  // play a step of our sequence
  for(int i=0; i<=GAME_STEP; i++){
    Serial.print("Set LED");
    Serial.println(GAME_SEQUENCE[i]);
    delay(GAME_SPEED*2);
    setLED(GAME_SEQUENCE[i]);
    playTone(GAME_SEQUENCE[i]);
    delay(GAME_SPEED);
    clearLEDs();
    
  }
  // Go to next step: reading buttons
  GAME_STATUS = 2;
}

After playing our sequence we wait for pushbutton input

void readSequence(){<br>  // read our buttons
  int button_value = readButtons();
  
  if(button_value > 0){
    // a button has been pressed
    if(button_value == GAME_SEQUENCE[READ_STEP]){
      // correct value!
      setLED(button_value);
      playTone(button_value);
      digitalWrite(LED_CORRECT, HIGH);
      delay(GAME_SPEED);
      clearLEDs();
      digitalWrite(LED_CORRECT, LOW);
      
      // Lets speed it up!
      GAME_SPEED = GAME_SPEED-15;
      
      Serial.println("Correct!");
      
      if(READ_STEP == GAME_STEP){
        // reset read step
        READ_STEP = 0;
        // Go to next game step
        GAME_STEP++;
        // Go to playback sequence mode of our game
        GAME_STATUS = 1;
        Serial.println("Go To Next Step");
        
        // Light all LEDs to indicate next sequence
        setLEDs(true,true,true,true);
        delay(GAME_SPEED);
        setLEDs(false,false,false,false);
        
        
      }else{
        READ_STEP++;
      }
      
      delay(10);
      
    }else{
      // wrong value!
      // Go to game over mode
      GAME_STATUS = 3;
      Serial.println("Game Over!");
    }
  }
  
  delay(10);
}

Finally when you make a mistake we execute the "game over" modus:

void gameOver(){<br>  // Red RGB
  digitalWrite(LED_WRONG, HIGH);
  // Play Pwa Pwa Pwa
  tone(BUZZER, 98, TONE_DURATION);
  delay(TONE_DURATION);
  tone(BUZZER, 93, TONE_DURATION);
  delay(TONE_DURATION);
  tone(BUZZER, 87, TONE_DURATION);
  delay(TONE_DURATION);
  delay(GAME_SPEED);
}

We also have some helper functions that make our lives easier, they can be used anywhere in our code

void setLED(int id){<br>  switch(id){
    case 0:
      setLEDs(false,false,false,false);
      break;
    case 1:
      setLEDs(true,false,false,false);
      break;
    case 2:
      setLEDs(false,true,false,false);
      break;
    case 3:
      setLEDs(false,false,true,false);
      break;
    case 4:
      setLEDs(false,false,false,true);
      break; 
  }
}

void playTone(int id){
  switch(id){
    case 0:
      noTone(BUZZER);
      break;
    case 1:
      tone(BUZZER, RED_TONE, TONE_DURATION);
      break;
    case 2:
      tone(BUZZER, GREEN_TONE, TONE_DURATION);
      break;
    case 3:
      tone(BUZZER, BLUE_TONE, TONE_DURATION);
      break;
    case 4:
      tone(BUZZER, YELLOW_TONE, TONE_DURATION);
      break; 
  }
}

void setLEDs(boolean red, boolean green, boolean blue, int yellow ){
  if (red) digitalWrite(LED_RED, HIGH);
  else digitalWrite(LED_RED, LOW);
  if (green) digitalWrite(LED_GREEN, HIGH);
  else digitalWrite(LED_GREEN, LOW);
  if (blue) digitalWrite(LED_BLUE, HIGH);
  else digitalWrite(LED_BLUE, LOW);
  if (yellow) digitalWrite(LED_YELLOW, HIGH);
  else digitalWrite(LED_YELLOW, LOW);
}

void clearLEDs(){
  setLEDs(false,false,false,false);
}

int readButtons(void){
  if (digitalRead(BUTTON_RED) == 0) return 1;
  else if (digitalRead(BUTTON_GREEN) == 0) return 2;
  else if (digitalRead(BUTTON_BLUE) == 0) return 3;
  else if (digitalRead(BUTTON_YELLOW) == 0) return 4;
  
  return 0;
}

Step 4: Building and Testing the Real Thing

Next up we start building our breadboard using the simulation we just made as an example

Step 5: (optional) Layout Your PCB

You can also create and layout your PCB on 123D Circuits, click on the PCB layout tab in the editor and you can start dragging your footprints around and connecting the traces using copper traces.