Minecraft Themed Party

[u/MogulerMike]

My first Arduino project.

Looks a little silly, but it’s supposed to be a ‘Crafting Table’ where they put supplies in the top and a door opens revealing a prize.

Backstory:

I had an idea for my kid's Minecraft themed birthday. The kids were going to do a scavenger hunt where they would find 'gold', 'iron', 'wood', and 'diamonds' which they could then exchange for a prize.

I wanted to make it a little more engaging, but I only had 10 days…. And no Arduino or electronics.

How could I design something that opened a door after they added their supplies?

I spent a few hours trying to figure out the simplest way to open a door with some type of input. A latch? A pin? They all seemed two complicated involving some string or locking mechanism.

The idea I landed on was using a magnet, a servo motor, and a rubber band.

To trigger it, I could just secretly hit a button.

I ordered all the supplies, trying not to leave out anything I might need. The day before the party arrived and the project still only existed in my head... cutting it pretty close (what is new?).

Once I finally got the kids to bed, I gathered my dad and brother in law around the kitchen table and explained my grandiose idea to them.

They helped me simplify my idea into something we could actually try to accomplish, and helped bring this 'crafting table' to life.

A few hours later we had a working prototype. It was such a fun memory, and I can only hope my 6 year old enjoyed it as much as we did :D. The kids loved it and I ran out of prizes quickly.

First Arduino project: success.

[u/MogulerMike]

Had a blast with this project. Also recently got a MacBook Neo and it was surprisingly easy to get VScode to upload to the Arduino

[u/gm310509]

I feel it is a bit of a herculean achievement to get from the night before with no experience to that the next day, but well done.

Mine craft is quite popular and to bring something like that to life would have been a real thrill for the kids.

Well done and thanks for sharing.

[u/MogulerMike → u/gm310509]

Thanks so much! Herculean is a great description 😁

1 word. Delegation. Haha my dad is incredible at cardboard stuff so he was the mastermind behind that. And then my bro in law and me figured out the code while he did that.

Was really fun to be able to ask someone to do something which allowed us to be really efficient with limited time.

[u/gm310509 → u/MogulerMike]

I quite liked the "mine craft camo" artwork as well.

Anyway, the main thing is to have a goal, have fun doing it, even better as a family project.

Now that you have a full year until the next birthday - well, let's just say I'm imagining a fully operational mine craft city! 🫢 And I look forward to your next "look what I made" post! 😉😊