Handheld Tic-Tac-Toe with Raspberry Pi Pico

Kat Canavan, Drew Pang, Miranda Pietraski

Inspired by the handheld games we played growing up, we decided to add a new twist to a timeless classic by making a bluetooth-enabled 4x4 tic-tac-toe game with the Raspberry Pi Pico and Pimoroni RGB keypad base.

Features

• Onboard Computing: Our system is self-sufficient, handling all computations internally. The only cable you'll need is for power.

• Bright LED Display: Play in any lighting condition- even outside!

• Effortless Connectivity: With automatic pairing and a Bluetooth range of up to 30 meters, you're free to move around without losing connection.

• Instant Response: Experience real-time interaction. The moment you press a button, the action is mirrored on both devices.

• Endless Play: Once the buttons flash red, blue, or green (for a tie), the board automatically resets for the next round so you can enjoy endless competitive rematches.

Materials

Each unit requires the following hardware:

• [Raspberry Pi Pico W](Raspberry Pi Documentation - Raspberry Pi Pico and Pico W)

• Male Headers (to mount the Pico to the base)

• Micro USB cable with (with data transfer capability)

• [Pimoroni RBG Keypad Base](Pico RGB Keypad Base)

Build Instructions

Create a folder called pico. From within this directory, clone this repository.

SDK

From the pico directory, install the C/C++ SDK Repository:

$ git clone https://github.com/raspberrypi/pico-sdk.git --branch master
$ cd pico-sdk
$ git submodule update --init

Make an environment variable with this path. If you followed the structure above you can do this with the following, otherwise use an absolute path.

export PICO_SDK_PATH=../../pico-sdk

Optionally, update the include path for the C/C++ extension in VSCode.

Optionally, install example Pico code from Raspberry Pi:

$ cd ..
$ git clone https://github.com/raspberrypi/pico-examples.git --branch master

Toolchain

Follow the Official Raspberry Pi Setup Guide to configure your operating system to build. Replace instructions for the pico-instructions repo with this repo when applicable.

• Section 9 for Mac/ Windows.

• Section 2.2 for Linux

Build

Create a build folder. From there run

$ cmake .. -DPICO_BOARD=pico_w
$ make

Alternatively, configure VSCode to build explained here in section 7

Load and Run on the Picos

Option 1: Use the flashing script

Build and install picotool, available here. Note that using picotool with the flash script requires building from source, adding to path, and setting neccesary udev rules. Full details are available in the picotool README.

Plug in both Picos to the computer with a micro USB cable, and run ./flash.sh from the root directory.

Option 2: Manual flashing

Plug in both Picos to the computer with micro USB cables while pressing and holding the BOOTSEL buttons. Release the buttons when the Picos is plugged in.

Find and copy the UF2 files from build/src to the Pico (it should appear as a storage device named RPI-RP2). The default file names are player_0.uf2 and player_1.uf2.