Build Your Own One-Dimensional, Two-Player Pong Game with an Arduino

Lately we’ve seen a strong trend towards homemade electronic hardware games. That’s not surprising when you consider that triple-A video games aren’t always approachable, and that, well, makers like to make. If you’re interested in diving into the world of electronic hardware games, YouTuber GreatScott! has a fantastic video tutorial on how to make a Pong game with an Arduino.

In contrast to the most video games, these hardware games don’t run in software on an operating system and don’t display graphics on TVs or monitors. In this one-dimensional version of Pong, the “screen” is a just a WS2812B LED strip. The ball moves back and forth along the LED strip, and the players attempt to push a large button at the exact moment that the ball reaches the last LED.

Building your own only requires some wood, an Arduino Nano (though any Arduino would work), the LED strip, two buttons, and a power supply. The WS2812B LEDs are the same that you’d find in Adafruit NeoPixels, so programming the Arduino to control them is easy with the Adafruit library. All you need to do is program them to light up in sequence, and then setup the buttons with the correct timing to register a hit or miss. It may not have the 4K graphics of a top-of-the-line video game, but this is a fun project that’s inexpensive to build and that would be great for your coffee table.