Micro:arcade — a Cheap, Micro:bit-based, Solderless "game Console" (featuring 5x5Squash)

Micro:bit is very powerfull out-of-the-box. You just link it to your computer's USB, and you can already write an accelerometer-controlled game (like 5x5Squash here).

Once you try to actually play it (e.g. powering it via USB cable to a portable charger), the cable makes your movement cumbersome. So I tried to tape it to a LiPo battery. Was fun (because I was cautious enough to stop before the battery discharges completely and dies), but in order to make it kid-safe I'd also need to add a LiPo charger into the thing (at least as a guard against irreversible discharge), and then put all dangling components in a box yada yada.

I've found a breadboard-based solution with:

• 2*AA battery pack
• Sound ✌
• Power switch
• Mute switch

It also leaves enough breadboard space for buttons/leds/joystick/etc. and feels nice and balanced to play with.

Materials

• 1 x Micro:Bit board.
• 1 x Micro:Bit breadboard breakout.
• 1 x "half size" self-adhesive breadboard.
• 1 x Micro:bit board.
• 1 x Micro:bit breakout board.
• 2 x SPDT switch (for power and sound).
• 1 x thin 8Ω speaker.
• Breadboard jumpers (or solid-core wires, if you want it to look neater).
• [recommended] 2 x 2-pin screw terminal (for batteries and speaker).

Assembly

See breadboard diagram and photos [including the tooltips] for [hopefully] all you need to know (including what to do if you don't have screw terminals). It takes <5 minutes, and no soldering is required.

Code

See attached 5x5Squash.py

Now sit back and imagine an alternative history where accelerometers were invented before TV screens ;)