As a kid, I would always play the wire loop game at my local carnival. The game involves guiding a loop through a series of pattern of a wire without touching the loop with the wire. My own version of the game uses an Arduino Nano 2040, coupled with the MPR 121 in order to remake this game. If the loop touches the wire, then the light strip lights up red and makes a noise. There is also a green timer in order to pace the user. This was extremely fun to build and well worth all the planning and effort.

Supplies

You will need:

About 3 feet of stripped wire
Arduino Nano 2040 (with Circuit Python installed)
Breadboard
Hamburger Speaker
Light Strip
Button
MPR 121
Alligator Clips
Male-to-Male Jumpers
Sandpaper
1/8 inch Birch Wood
Laser Cutter
Portable Phone Charger w/ USB cable
Wood Glue
Hot Glue
Double-sided Tape

Step 1: Draft Design

Before I started, I knew I had to draft a rough sketch of my box before laser cutting. I thought about everything, including holes for the wire, the light strip, the USB Cable, the button, etc.

It was really helpful to think about the logistics of my idea before moving on and actually executing on it.

Step 2: Laser Cut/Glue Box

I used a website called MakerCase.com in order to design my box. I used Adobe Illustrator to put all the holes and cuts into my box that I had planned out in my sketch. In addition, I engraved the title of my project, "The Wire Loop Game" onto the top and front of my box.

Then, I imported the svg file into Trotec Ruby and used the laser cutter to cut out my box in 1/8' baltic wood.

Finally, I glued all the parts of the box together using wood glue and let it dry for a couple of hours.

Step 3: The Wire

Getting the wire to conduct electricity was one of the more difficult tasks of the projects.

I realized that the copper wire I was planning to use was galvanized, meaning that I had to sand down the entire wire for it to properly conduct electricity and make it conductive to touch. Thus, I instead had to strip down a steel core wire using a wire stripper for the entire 3 length feet.

As for the remaining copper wire I had, I decided to use it for the "loop" for the game. I used sandpaper to expose the inside of the copper wire and created a loop with it.

Step 4: Assembly

In order to assemble the entire project, I utilized the portable phone charger in order to to power up the Arduino board. I used jumper wires and alligator clips to connect everything. There is a pinout diagram of the Arduino Nano 2040 online. In my code, I used different pins as the signal for the speaker, the MPR 121, the button, and the strip.

I used double-sided tape to tape the light strip to the box, and used hot glue to glue the button onto the box.

Step 5: Code/Sound Wav File

The code and the sound file is attached above.

Feel free to customize the sounds!

It is important to note that my sounds folder is called "sounds". If you have a different sound folder, then you should change that accordingly in the path = "sounds/" variable.

Step 6: Have Fun!

That is it! Have fun with your completed build!

Feel free to customize the difficulty of your wire, or give yourself more time on the light strip timer.

Introduction: THE Wire Loop Game