A self-contained arcade cabinet with three original games, powered by an Arduino Uno and 2.4" TFT touchscreen.
// drop your arcade photo here
I was short on cash for robotics, but I didn't want to stop building. I took the last of my budget, bought a 2.4" TFT Touchscreen, and slapped it onto an Arduino Uno. The goal was simple: build a machine that could pay for its own upgrades.
I coded three games from scratch:
Simon Says — A classic memory tester.
Tower Stacker — Timing-based physics game.
Tic-Tac-Toe AI — This was the real challenge. I implemented a Minimax Algorithm so the AI would play perfectly. It was basically unbeatable.
I ran the project like a business over three days to see if I could turn a profit:
Day 01: Slow start. Only one student played. Earned 50 NRP.
Day 02: I invested that 50 NRP into prizes. People saw they could win stuff and started playing. Earned 150 NRP.
Day 03: Peak traffic. Earned 500 NRP.
After buying all the prizes, I made a 300 NRP clean profit.
Eventually, the hardware gave out. The screen went white, and since I lost the original code, the project is officially "retired." Even though the hardware died, it proved I could build a working product, handle complex algorithms like Minimax, and actually make money from my code.
Brain — Arduino Uno Clone running all game logic.
Display — 2.4" TFT Touch Shield (L3939 / ILI9341).
Power — 2x 18650 Li-ion batteries (7.4V) via Barrel Jack.