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Hardware Hump Day: DIY Game Buzzer for National Trivia Day

Happy National Trivia day, ya nerds! In honor of this very special day dedicated to the great institution of trivia, we have built a four-person game buzzer interface to bring some game show action into your very own living room! The year 2017 has finally arrived, and we all want to do better this year. Why not start by breathing some new life into your game night? An extra competitive edge is guaranteed! This DIY game buzzer uses the SparkFun RedBoard connected to four momentary push buttons—each representing a player or team: red, yellow, green and blue. There is an LED for each team in its corresponding color and one speaker. When your game night host asks a question, each team has the opportunity to buzz in. When the first team pushes its button, the corresponding LED will light up for five seconds and a unique tone will play on the speaker for one second. There will also be an indication on the serial monitor as to which team succeeded in buzzing in first. Once the first team manages to press its button, the rest of the players or teams become “locked out” for five seconds so there is no confusion regarding who hit the button first!”

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