Pop-a-ball aracde game with Raspberry Pi

[orizzle]

Hi all,

I used to play the game Pop-A-Ball when I was a kid in the arcades.  Now I want to create my own.  If you don't know what that game is, here is a quick youtube video.

My question is, what can I buy to sense the balls are on a specific card (in a specific hole) and to make the balls pop?  I am fine with coding the software behind but trying to get a feel for what hardware I need.  I found some weight sensors for around $10 each, but with 25 or so holes, the project gets expensive quickly.

Any suggestions would be appreciated - thanks!

[Change the "https" to "http" and the video will embed instead of being a link.     -- Scott]

[05SRT4]

This video you speak of?

[orizzle]

My bad, don't know where the link went:

[05SRT4]

Instead of doing weight sensors you can do a IR line break sensor.

Put a set in each hole,when the ball falls in it will break the beam sending a simple code (in/out) or how ever you want to do it.

I guess the hard part would be separating each set as a different card. You said your good at coding so I will leave that to you.

As far as the ball popping part it looks they could be little solenoids. One for each then a main one to push the whole playing field.

[PL1]

For the sensors, you might want to look at IR LEDs/sensors from adafruit. (<$2 each)

This one is a beam-break-style pair that have been used for skeeball builds and pinewood derby timer triggers.

This one is a reflective-style pair that might work.

For the ball "popper", you might want to look into pinball solenoids like Vertical Up-Kickers (VUKs) -- this may take some experimenting to find the right one to launch the ball with the desired amount of force.


Scott

[orizzle]

I'm looking at some cheap solenoids on eBay and watching a few youtube videos.  It seems like the cheap 12v solenoids probably won't pack enough punch to launch balls of that size. Has anyone tried anything similar?

[matsadona]

As for sensing the balls you can also use the switches that are common as coin switches.



When it comes to popping the balls, compressed air can be an alternative perhaps? You could scale it down and use standard ping pong balls...

[baritonomarchetto]

For "sensing the ball", you could use a 10 cents photosensor: when when the ball is in place, the photosensor goes low. This should work with pingpong (read "weightless") balls too

[DaOld Man]

As for popping the balls, could you use one piece of plywood, under the play field, with a pin for each hole.
Then have a solenoid move the plywood up and down. All the pins would move but would that matter?
The solenoid would have to be pretty hefty, requiring a power transistor to turn it on, and may be noisy, so this may not be desirable.
Or something like this, but you would need one for each hole:
http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-store/item/sol-102/miniature-12vdc-push-type-solenoid/1.html
And with just about any solenoid, you are going to need some type of driving circuit.

Edit: just read the customer comments on that solenoid, it may not work for what you want. I'd order just one first to try if it were me, if I decided to try them.

Edit again: If you used the one piece of plywood idea to move all the pins at once, you might could use a servo motor with a crank in the center of the plywood to move the plywood up and down in one servo revolution.
The panel wouldnt have to be plywood, it could be a lighter plastic sheet.