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Mini golf game Score on board?

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stuee

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Hi.
I have a friend whos opening a mini golf and wants to make the final hole a game to get on the leaderboard.
I said using my semi knowledge of electronics should be able to make something.
The idea is to have like the carnival game with bowling ball to the rings for points but using a golf ball.
This will be designed like the attached image.
What i would like is to have the score show on a 7seg 3 digit display and then also log onto a pc (xl spread sheet or something like that)

What my idea was to put a micro switch in the tubes so when the ball goes through it will trigger the score, then the second ball triggers the second score and the third ball (3 balls will make the scores more different than 1 or 2) then add all 3 together and display the total then log via serial (if thats the simplest ) so we can see behind the desk scores then when they return the club tells us the name etc so we can add to the xl spreadsheet. then at the end of the week the winner gets a prize.

Im hoping this isnt too hard to make and some kind person will help :)

cheers
Stu
 

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So, the ball goes in the air to jump over the lower rings and try to hit the center cup?

Mechanically, if the target is tilted so no matter where a ball enters a ring it rolls down to a drain hole, then each drain hole can have a microswitch to sense a ball going by. Once you have all of these switches, then something like an Arduino can be used to sense them, do whatever arithmetic you want, and drive a display. The idea is fine, but I think it will take quite a bit more than "semi-knowledge" to achieve. How big/bright a display?

ak
 
you might also need a proximity sensor if someone is near the target when the ball goes down.
 
define all inputs including player # and reset .
Then define all outputs in BCD?
Then accumulate the inputs until the next reset.

Take care of contact bounce, time limit, watch dog timer, fault detection, Weather effects, false triggers, noise.

I once did something like this for a calculator using just SPST external switches to sequence numbers followed by the + key and interfaced large LED buffers from the LED calculator. It is trivial for an expert but a not a simple job to make.

Your requirements are more involved with database and external inputs.

This requires a couple weeks (months if newbie) of effort to do with a remote monitor and excel interface. I doubt anyone has this time.
 
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Thanks all for you replies.
I intend to have it angled so the ball will always go to the bottom and in 1 hole per score.
The display i was going to use wither 3 seperate displays 3 digit 7 seg and make from plastic as my friend owns a laser cut business then use opaque acrylic and a strip of 3x 3528 leds.

As for the adrino program i have no idea. Ive just ordered the module from ebay.

I know im a novice and hoping i would get some great help from experts here.

Cheers
 
start working on a logic diagram.

such as;
- latched or edge triggered event switch contact closure to PISO register, serial out and reset latches every second mux'd to each unit.
- then process input to compute new value and send out on SIPO register to BCD display.
- terminate count after 3 balls or a timeout with flashing BCD alert. in case of lost ball.
- repeat for each player.
 
12 target rings is a lot. Consider reducing the total to 8 or fewer. A lot of the electronic components you will be using come in multiples of 2, such as an 8 bit latch or a quad switch debouncer. Plus, the I/O ports on microcontrollers are almost always 8 bits wide (if the device has enough pins). Note that Skee-Ball has only 5 targets.

ak
 
Hi.
I have a friend whos opening a mini golf and wants to make the final hole a game to get on the leaderboard.
I said using my semi knowledge of electronics should be able to make something.
The idea is to have like the carnival game with bowling ball to the rings for points but using a golf ball.
This will be designed like the attached image.
What i would like is to have the score show on a 7seg 3 digit display and then also log onto a pc (xl spread sheet or something like that)

What my idea was to put a micro switch in the tubes so when the ball goes through it will trigger the score, then the second ball triggers the second score and the third ball (3 balls will make the scores more different than 1 or 2) then add all 3 together and display the total then log via serial (if thats the simplest ) so we can see behind the desk scores then when they return the club tells us the name etc so we can add to the xl spreadsheet. then at the end of the week the winner gets a prize.

Im hoping this isnt too hard to make and some kind person will help :)

cheers
Stu
Hy stuee,

Where are you from? Care to put it next to 'Location' in your user page so that it shows in the window on the left of your posts.

You haven't asked this, but just try this on for size:

Use a monitor or TV for the display and drive the display, ideally via HDMI, with a PC of some sort: laptop, Raspberry Pie, Beagle Bone.

In developed countries, certainly the UK and US, both items are available extremely cheaply if you shop around.

The program could then be written in a high level language: Python, C, Basic, for example.

This approach would give you unlimited flexibility and would require no electronic hardware design or construction for the display, although you would still need some hardware to detect golf balls dropping into the holes. Naturally, the display would need to be protected from the elements, but a simple case would take care of that.

This approach would also give you a far superior development environment, much more memory, and much more processing power. It would also give you easy access to the vast libraries of functions available and standard PC applications, like Excel, that you mentioned.

Another suggestion is that the ball detector could be a miniature battery powered wireless transmitter located in/near the last hole, or even in/near all the holes in an enhanced system. This would avoid the need for wires from the holes to the host processor located in the owners office, although you would need an HDMI cable from the host processor to the display and also a power cable.

Later, all sorts of extra functions could be added to enhance your friend's mini golf course: sound for example.:)

spec
 
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