Handheld Farkle Really Sparkles

Farkle is a classic dice game that only requires 6 dice and a way to write down scores based on the numbers rolled. Even so, this type of game isn’t inherently portable — it would be fairly difficult to play on a road trip, for instance. [Sunyecz22] decided that Farkle would make an excellent electronic game and got to work designing his first PCB.

This little game has everything you could want from a splash screen introduction to a handy scoring guide on the silkscreen. After choosing the number of players, the first player rolls using the momentary button and the electronic dice light up to indicate what was rolled. As long as the player rolled at least one scoring die, they can take the points by selecting the appropriate die/dice with the capsense pads, and either pass or keep going. The current player’s score is shown on the 7-segment, and the totals for each player are on the OLED screen at the bottom.

The brains of the operation is an Arduino Pro Mini. It controls two MAX7219s that drive the 42 LEDs plus the 7-segment display. A game like this is all in the code, and lucky for us, [Sunyecz22] made it available. We love how gorgeous the glossy 3D printed enclosure looks — between the glossy finish and the curved back, it looks very comfortable to hold. In the future, [Sunyecz22] plans to make a one player versus the computer mode. Check out the demo and walk-through video after the break.

The capsense modules are a great touch, but some people want a little more tactility in their handheld games. We say bring on the toggle switches.

4 thoughts on “Handheld Farkle Really Sparkles

  1. Farkle really is best suited to play on a touch-screen GUI where you can move the dice left or right into the hold columns. Plus, in standard Farkle you win when your score gets to 10,000, that would require three five-digit numerical displays, one that shows your accumulated score, one for your opponent’s accumulated score, and one for the current turn score.

    You can play Farkle online for free here:

    http://www.playonlinedicegames.com/farkle

    Here is a video tutorial for that online version of Farkle:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB9JWZsAneI

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB9JWZsAneI

    This Farkle Wikipedia page on is fun, it even describes the odds involved.

    Don’t get Farkled!

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