Pixels Are LED and Bluetooth-Equipped Dice for Your Next Game Night
These smart dice were designed around an nRF52810 microcontroller, APA102 2020RGB LEDs, and several sensors to track orientation.
Systemic Games unveiled their signature smart dice on New Year’s Day and are now set to crowdfund them on Kickstarter around June of this year. According to the creator of the polyhedral playing dice, Jean Simonet, “They light up all different colors, know which way they roll and are configurable with an app on your phone. The electronic dice are the same size as regular polyhedral playing dice and are meant to be used as a drop-in replacement in your favorite board or role-playing games.”
On the hardware end, the Pixels cram quite a bit into a small package, which includes an nRF52810 microcontroller, 20 APA102 2020RGB DotStar LEDs (2mm x 2mm), and a crystal (32MHz ±15ppm 8pF) oscillator. They also contain an omnipolar Hall effect sensor, a 3-axis accelerometer, a full bridge rectifier (200mA/80V), and an LDO regulator (200mA/5V). Power is handled by an internal 60mAh LiPo battery, linear battery charger controller (Li-Ion/Li-Pol 15mA to 500mA 4.2V), power distribution switch, and a 7uH wireless charging coil.
Features of the smart dice include the ability to customize the LED color for each face, animate each face, and even program the time every RGB LED illuminates using the Pixels app. The dice are recharged wirelessly, similar to Apple’s AirPods, by placing them in their case. Additionally, Systemic Games states their dice offer uniform density, making them balanced enough to be a drop-in replacement for user’s favorite games, including DnD Online. They can keep track of rolls and play sound effects when thrown via the user’s smartphones as well.
The Systemic Games team mentions they are working hard at preparing their Kickstarter campaign, and plan on offering single die and a polyhedron set that will include D4, D6, D8, D10/100, D12, D20 dice respectively. A single die is expected to run $25 and $35 apiece, and there’s no word yet if there will be a discount for a full set. More information can be found on the Pixels website.
