How do you instantly make any game better? By lighting it up and playing at night. We would normally say ‘drinking’, but we’re pretty sure that drinking is already a prerequisite for cornhole — that’s the game where you toss bean bags at holes in angled boards.
[Hardware Unknown] loves cornhole, and was gifted a set of portable, folding boards that light up around the ring for nighttime action. These turned out to be the perfect basis for reactive boards that light up and play sound whenever points are scored. Both boards have a vibration sensor to detect bags hitting the top, and an IR break-beam sensor pair across the hole. An Arduino Nano reads from the sensors and controls an amplifier and a DF Player for sound.
Players get a point and a song for landing a bag on top of the board, and three points and a different song for making it in the hole. We love the Easter egg — anyone who manages to trip both the vibration sensor and the break-beam detector at the same time will be treated to the sound of a flock of honking geese. Check out the build journey after the break.
No good at cornhole? This one doesn’t let you miss.
I prefer to call it “Bean Bag Toss”.
I’ve been doing it all wrong. Need to order a cleaver immediately. LOL
Thank you so much for writing this Kristina! Every Sunday I sit with a cup of tea or coffee and look at the results of my YouTube channel for the previous week. What a wonderful surprise it was to see that I had viewers coming from Hackaday! I wasn’t expecting anything to be written about the video, and I feel honored to have a project of mine make it onto the site. I’m delighted you enjoyed the easter egg as well. Your article truly made my morning.