Game Show Buzzer Lockout System

Introduction

Looking for a cheap alternative for a GAME SHOW BUZZER LOCKOUT SYSTEM. In this project we use construction helmets for the fun factor instead of a box type console and create a very affordable game show buzzer system. The total cost will be about $50-$70 depending on what materials you find around your house. Check out the demonstration video.

Comment if you have any questions or if I missed anything.

Step 1: Materials/Tools/Cost

Materials:

• 3 Construction Helmet
• 3 Momentary Switches
• 3 Flashlights (or just use regular LEDs)
• 3 AAA batteries (came with flashlights)
• 4 Phone jacks (pulled them out from old phones)
• 4 Bolts & 4 Nuts
• 1 Arduino Uno Board
• Lots of Wires (I took apart and used left of ethernet cables)
• 1 ON/OFF Switch (any on/off switch will do)
• 1 Buzzer (RadioShack 6VDC Mini Buzzer)

Tools:

• Drill
• 1/4" & 1/2" drill bits
• Marker
• Sharp Kni fe
• Dremel
• Cut off bit for Dremel
• Sanding bit for Dremel
• Hot Glue
• Soldering Iron and Solder
• Electric Tape

Cost:

• 3 Construction Helmets @ $7.88 ea (ebay.com) = $23.64
• 3 Momentary Switch @ $5.49 for 5 (ebay.com) = $3.29
• 3 Flashlights & AAA batteries (HarborFrieght) $1 ea = $3
• 4 Phone jacks $3.16/old phone (Goodwill x 2) = $6.32
• 4 Bolts & 4 Nuts = FREE (had some)
• 1 Arduino Uno Board (amazon.com) = $27.97
• Wires = FREE (use ethernet cables or any other cable)
• 1 ON/OFF Switch = FREE (had some, can take it off an old device too)
• 1 Buzzer (Radio Shack) = $3.99
  
  My Total Cost: $68.21

Step 2: Programing the Arduino Uno Board

Program Basic Set Up

So the way the Arduino program is coded is as follows:

Switches: S1 = Pin 2
S2 = Pin 3
S3 = Pin 4

Lights: L1 = Pin 5
L2 = Pin 6
L3 = Pin 7

Buzzer: B = Pin 8

Arduino Code (feel free to copy and paste)

// define pins to be used

int S1 = 2; //switch 1
int S2 = 3;
int S3 = 4;
int L1 = 5; // light 1
int L2 = 6;
int L3 = 7;
int B = 8; //buzzer

void setup() { // initialize the digital pins. // assume switches will wire from ground to input pins
pinMode(S1, INPUT_PULLUP);
pinMode(S2, INPUT_PULLUP);
pinMode(S3, INPUT_PULLUP);
pinMode(L1, OUTPUT); // leds wired from output pin to ground }
pinMode(L2, OUTPUT);
pinMode(L3, OUTPUT);
pinMode(B, OUTPUT); // buzzer wired from output pin to ground }

void loop() { if (!digitalRead(S1)) { digitalWrite(L1,HIGH); // turn on lamp 1
digitalWrite(B,HIGH); // turn on buzzer
delay(500); // wait 2 seconds
digitalWrite(B,LOW); // turn off buffer
delay(5000); // wait 28 more seconds
digitalWrite(L1,LOW); // turn off lamp 1 }
if (!digitalRead(S2)) { digitalWrite(L2,HIGH); // turn on lamp 2
digitalWrite(B,HIGH); // turn on buzzer
delay(500); // wait 2 seconds
digitalWrite(B,LOW); // turn off buffer
delay(5000); // wait 28 more seconds
digitalWrite(L2,LOW); // turn off lamp 2 }
if (!digitalRead(S3)) { digitalWrite(L3,HIGH); // turn on lamp 3
digitalWrite(B,HIGH); // turn on buzzer
delay(500); // wait 2 seconds
digitalWrite(B,LOW); // turn off buffer
delay(5000); // wait 28 more seconds
digitalWrite(L3,LOW); // turn off lamp 3 } }

Step 3: Actual Building/Wiring Schematic

For actual building instructions see the attached youtube video.

Attached is the wiring schematic that I used to set up the arduino board.

I don't have the phone jack in the wiring schematic since they act just like connectors from one helmet to another. If need any assistance comment below.

Comments

[colinhayward21]

Hi there
I have copied and pasted the code but i'm getting this error:
exit status 1
a function-definition is not allowed here before '{' token
Unfortunately I don't understand the programming side of this project, so I don't know how to fix it.
Any help would be much appreciated

[DionW2]

Hello! I am looking to make this in a 12 player system. Is there a single arduino that could handle a system of this size, and if so, what would be a sample code. Greatly appreciated in advance for anyone's response.

[robosensei]

Arduino Mega would be able to handle this. over 30 I/O pins available on this board, however it is nearly 2x the size of the Uno. You could buy a knock-off version from china for fairly cheap (roughly $10-12)

[hrttele]

I'm not sure if there is but I think you might be able to use maybe multiple uno boards but not sure. Never played with a lot of them. Hope you can find it some where online.

[PBengineering]

Thanks Hrttele for your work. I actually made one and it worked great. I have since modified it to work with 5 users and it works just as great. I used pins 2-6 for my pushbuttons, pins 7-11 are for my LED's and pin 12 was for the buzzer. here is the code for 5 users. it's basically the same code with some minor changes to reflect the 2 extra players. I will try to post pics of my build when I get a chance.

// define pins to be used

int S1 = 2; //switch 1

int S2 = 3;

int S3 = 4;

int S4 = 5;

int S5 = 6;

int L1 = 7; // light 1

int L2 = 8;

int L3 = 9;

int L4 = 10;

int L5 = 11;

int B = 12; // buzzer

void setup() {

// initialize the digital pins.

// assume switches will wire from ground to input pins

pinMode(S1, INPUT_PULLUP);

pinMode(S2, INPUT_PULLUP);

pinMode(S3, INPUT_PULLUP);

pinMode(S4, INPUT_PULLUP);

pinMode(S5, INPUT_PULLUP);

pinMode(L1, OUTPUT); // if using leds please remember to use series resistors with them

pinMode(L2, OUTPUT);

pinMode(L3, OUTPUT);

pinMode(L4, OUTPUT);

pinMode(L5, OUTPUT);

pinMode(B, OUTPUT); // buzzer wired from output pin to ground

}

void loop() {

if (!digitalRead(S1))

{ digitalWrite(L1,HIGH); // turn on lamp 1

digitalWrite(B,HIGH); // turn on buzzer

delay(500); // wait 2 seconds

digitalWrite(B,LOW); // turn off buffer

delay(5000); // wait 28 more seconds

digitalWrite(L1,LOW); // turn off lamp 1

}

if (!digitalRead(S2))

{ digitalWrite(L2,HIGH); // turn on lamp 2

digitalWrite(B,HIGH); // turn on buzzer

delay(500); // wait 2 seconds

digitalWrite(B,LOW); // turn off buffer

delay(5000); // wait 28 more seconds

digitalWrite(L2,LOW); // turn off lamp 2

}

if (!digitalRead(S3))

{ digitalWrite(L3,HIGH); // turn on lamp 3

digitalWrite(B,HIGH); // turn on buzzer

delay(500); // wait 2 seconds

digitalWrite(B,LOW); // turn off buffer

delay(5000); // wait 28 more seconds

digitalWrite(L3,LOW); // turn off lamp 3

}

if (!digitalRead(S4))

{ digitalWrite(L4,HIGH); // turn on lamp 4

digitalWrite(B,HIGH); // turn on buzzer

delay(500); // wait 2 seconds

digitalWrite(B,LOW); // turn off buffer

delay(5000); // wait 28 more seconds

digitalWrite(L4,LOW); // turn off lamp 4

}

if (!digitalRead(S5))

{ digitalWrite(L5,HIGH); // turn on lamp 5

digitalWrite(B,HIGH); // turn on buzzer

delay(500); // wait 2 seconds

digitalWrite(B,LOW); // turn off buffer

delay(5000); // wait 28 more seconds

digitalWrite(L5,LOW); // turn off lamp 5

}

}

[ssellery]

Could you make for 4 buzzers and integrate a different light? Maybe use an LED strip?

[hrttele]

I'm sure it's possible. But probably be setup a little bit differently.

[james_urry]

dont you need 1 board for each helmet and if not which helmet do you put the board in

[hrttele]

one board is fine. And it doesn't matter which one you put it in as long as you wire them all toghther.

[SandyC66]

Hi,

Thanks for this, it's very cool.

By the way, how do i change the code if I need 4 switches to work?

thanks again.

[hrttele]

I might have an extra { in there. But play with it. This should work for 4 as long as you wire light 4 into pin 9 and switch 4 into pin 10. Let me know if it works.

[hrttele]

// define pins to be used

int S1 = 2; //switch 1

int S2 = 3;

int S3 = 4;

int S4 = 9;

int L1 = 5; // light 1

int L2 = 6;

int L3 = 7;

int L4 = 10;

int B = 8; // buzzer

void setup() {

// initialize the digital pins.

// assume switches will wire from ground to input pins

pinMode(S1, INPUT_PULLUP);

pinMode(S2, INPUT_PULLUP);

pinMode(S3, INPUT_PULLUP);

pinMode(S4, INPUT_PULLUP);

pinMode(L1, OUTPUT); // if using leds please remember to use series resistors with them

pinMode(L2, OUTPUT);

pinMode(L3, OUTPUT);

pinMode(L4, OUTPUT);

pinMode(B, OUTPUT); // buzzer wired from output pin to ground

}

void loop() {

if (!digitalRead(S1))

{ digitalWrite(L1,HIGH); // turn on lamp 1

digitalWrite(B,HIGH); // turn on buzzer

delay(500); // wait 2 seconds

digitalWrite(B,LOW); // turn off buffer

delay(5000); // wait 28 more seconds

digitalWrite(L1,LOW); // turn off lamp 1

}

if (!digitalRead(S2))

{ digitalWrite(L2,HIGH); // turn on lamp 2

digitalWrite(B,HIGH); // turn on buzzer

delay(500); // wait 2 seconds

digitalWrite(B,LOW); // turn off buffer

delay(5000); // wait 28 more seconds

digitalWrite(L2,LOW); // turn off lamp 2

}

if (!digitalRead(S3))

{ digitalWrite(L3,HIGH); // turn on lamp 3

digitalWrite(B,HIGH); // turn on buzzer

delay(500); // wait 2 seconds

digitalWrite(B,LOW); // turn off buffer

delay(5000); // wait 28 more seconds

digitalWrite(L3,LOW); // turn off lamp 3

}

if (!digitalRead(S4))

{ digitalWrite(L4,HIGH); // turn on lamp 4

digitalWrite(B,HIGH); // turn on buzzer

delay(500); // wait 2 seconds

digitalWrite(B,LOW); // turn off buffer

delay(5000); // wait 28 more seconds

digitalWrite(L4,LOW); // turn off lamp 3

}

}

[18ocram]

The code appears wrong. Can someone please upload the correct code in full?

It keeps failing while using circuits.io

[hrttele]

Someone said that there was an extra } at the end of the code. Try removing it and see if it works. Sorry about that. Something must of got lost in coping and pasting the code to here.

[PhilipS30]

Are resitistors needed before the LEDs?

[hrttele]

I didn't use any because I got the leds from a flashlight and applied same current as the flashlight and it was fine.

[Clapoti]

Yes they are... if you send too much current to an LED, it will burn.

[moppyking]

hey... could someone tell me how to mke this for 8 people?

[Soren_77]

The error in the code was a } was needed on the line below the last entry.

Thanks

[hrttele]

I'm glad you were able to figure it out. Did you build one? Post a picture.