“Looking for a fun way to bowl at home?
This instructable walks you through how to make a completely functional tabletop bowling game. Developed by an avid bowler for a school project, this Arduino-controlled at-home bowling game brings the bowling alley right to your house!
The game works by hooking up photoresistors to sense lights mounted under each pin to tell the game whether or not the pins have been knocked over, which allows the game to keep an accurate score through all ten frames. And as a bonus, the LEDs light up the pins to give them a glowing effect - so turn on your black light and have your own cosmic bowling party!
Supplies:
Structural
3/4” wood, plywood, or MDF (at least 5.5 feet long)
1/8” plywood or MDF (at least 5 feet long)
1” x 3” lumber (pine was used for this project)
Electronics
1 Arduino Uno
2 standard size breadboards
11 white LEDs
11 photo-resistors
11 10k Ohm resistors
1 4-pin I2C LCD display
~ 70-75 jumper wires (This can vary slightly depending on exactly how close wires are to the breadboard and where you place your Arduinos. For the model shown, 73 wires were used.)
Other
Table saw (or circular saw)
Jigsaw (or heavy-duty utility knife)
Palm sander (or sandpaper)
Wood glue
Clamps (or heavy books)
Hot glue gun and glue sticks
Mini bowling pins
Mini bowling ball”