“The reason a started my electronics hobby was that I wanted to build a chess clock. Lacking a proper LCD display, I chose to multiplex several 7-segment displays. Most sources in the net did not specify hardware at all, and those that did were driving the segments with a 74HC595 shift register and using NPN transistors to enable one common cathode display at a time. However, if you look at 74HC595 specs you’ll notice that it’s not designed to source the amount of current that is required to drive several multiplexed 7-segment displays. It might work, but no one can say for how long!”