Time Bomb ⏰💣

Highlights

• Fun card game as tested by our classmates and friends
• Implemented I2C communication between RFID reader, OLED screen, and microcontroller
• Custom card designs for the game

Components

• micro:bit v2 with nRF52833 microcontroller
• RFID Reader ID-12LA
• 52 RFID Cards
• 1.3in OLED display SSD1306
• 2 PulseSensors

How to Play Time Bomb

The hit game Time Bomb is a fast-paced 1v1 card game where the objective is to get rid of all your cards. When a black card is played, the next player must play a higher (or equal) card. When a red card is played, a timer begins and the next player must play a lower (or equal) card before the time is up.

If the timer goes off or you play the wrong card, the bomb explodes and you must pick up the discard pile. Whoever gets rid of all their cards first is the winner!

But... the timer is not just a regular old timer -- it's based on player heartbeat! The faster your heartbeat is, the faster a 'tick' of the countdown is, ranging from 0.5s to 1.0s.

So, stay calm and don't explode that bomb!

Development

Developed Time Bomb on the micro:bit platform as part of a partner project for Microcontroller System Design (COMP_ENG 346). The game runs on the nRF52833 microcontroller and uses physical RFID cards (designed and decorated as a custom playing card deck) as the primary input mechanic.

Collaborated with my project partner to integrate the RF reader and pulse sensor, enabling physical card detection and player interaction. Primarily owned the OLED display subsystem, engineering custom black-and-white graphics from bitmaps using bit manipulation and masking techniques to render visuals within the constraints of the low-level C environment.

Outcomes

It was a lot of fun to play at the final class demos, and we are very happy that our classmates and friends enjoyed it. This is a great code basis to implement any sort of dynamic card game.