Go to any arcade and the air hockey desk will in all probability be probably the most common video games they’ve. Everybody loves air hockey, however lots of people don’t need to go to an arcade simply to play. If you happen to fall into that class, then you possibly can comply with LloydB’s Instructables information to make your personal scorekeeping air hockey desk.

The important thing to air hockey is correct there within the identify: air. All of these little holes within the desk’s floor enable air circulate. That creates an air cushion for the puck and paddles to drift on, lowering friction and enabling knuckle-shattering gameplay. For that to work, the desk wants one thing pushing at the very least as a lot air as escapes by the holes. This desk isn’t very huge, so it doesn’t want a excessive quantity of air. Three 12V PC followers are sufficient. They push air right into a chamber beneath the hole-filled high board. Energy for the followers comes from a battery holder with 8 AA batteries.

These batteries additionally energy the Arduino UNO Rev3 that handles the scorekeeping, which is the opposite vital a part of air hockey. Every objective chute has a laser break-beam sensor to detect when the puck comes capturing in. The Arduino then updates the scores proven on a 16×2 LCD display screen. The Arduino may even emit a tone by a buzzer. That will increase in pitch with every level, so gamers get audible cues as the sport progresses.