Lots of gamers around these parts need an expensive PC to play games, often spending thousands of dollars on a gaming machine. Believe it or not, games have a whole class of games that don’t require electronics, but that doesn’t mean they don’t benefit from adding some neat gadgets. This Settler of Catan game uses custom LCD tiles with a built-in custom mesh network.
The tiles for the game board themselves use hexagonal and magnetic pogo pins to snap together to create a board of any shape or size. The pogo pins allow communication for a pseudo-mesh network to work with each tile’s built-in PCB so that the game board can see exactly where the tiles are placed and display the exact image in each. Each tile has its own RP2040 microcontroller, keeping the overall cost of each tile to a minimum.
For those who regularly host Game Night, such a project could really change the dynamics of traditionally analog games for the better. That it was mostly a project [Colin Iuliano] Made just for fun, and if he ever makes a second he plans some improvements, but we’ll say it already seems to be successful. For other Catan-based electronic design inspiration, check out this complete and non-modular electronic game board.