Project:Bloodbowl Scoreboard

An arduino-controlled scoreboard for the board game Blood Bowl.

Proposed Features

• Scoring for each team.
  • Single digit should suffice for each team - either a small array of LEDs or (better still) a revolving scorewheel?
  • Audible touchdown celebration?

• Turn timer (each turn is 4-minutes long)
  • Perhaps a long row of LEDs that fills up from left to right for one player, right to left for the other?
  • Audible warning as time runs short?
  • Pause button?

• Turn counter
  • Needs to be able to be adjusted for pitch invasion kick-off table result.

• Re-roll counter for each team?

Chassis

• Should contain the reserves/K.O./dead & injured boxes for each team down the front.

• 24/48 LEDs in a long row above this for the turn timer.

• Above the LEDs, a score counter on each side and a speaker or central display in the middle.
  • Central display could act as turn counter? Got an 8x8 R/G LED array that might work...

• Big, very sturdy button on top to be thwacked at the change of turn.

Progress

• I have a working 24-LED turn counter on a test board, interruptable by a button, but it uses a pin for each LED - this needs to be reduced greatly, probably using shift registers (and/or conceivably charlieplexing)

Pin Count / Components

Total available digital pins on a Uno: 14 (note: can use analog pins for digital also) Analog pins: 6

• Input (2-3 pins for a PISO shift register, or 1 analog pin for a resister ladder)
  • 1 - big red button
  • 2 - turn up & turn down buttons
  • 2 - P1 & P2 score button
  • 2 - P1 & P2 reroll buttons

• Output devices
  • P1 & P2 score - 2 x stepper motors driving score-wheels
  • 48-LED turn timer - 3 x TLC5940 LED driver
  • P1 & P2 reroll counters: 2 x 7-segment display (2 x 74HC595 shift register)
  • Turn counter - 8x8 R/G LED array (3 x 74HC595)

• Output pins (9 x digital out)
  • Common clock
  • 2 for shift registers (may split rerolls from turn counter)
  • 2 for LED drivers
  • 4 for 2 x L293D motor drivers

• Sound
  • 3-4 pins to drive a DAC
  • 3-4 pins to read from an SD card

The Next Step...

I've ordered some more LEDs, LED drivers, 7-segment displays, shift registers and IC sockets for same. I want to put together a board that contains just the 48-LED turn counter, the reroll counters on 7-segment displays, the 8x8 turn counter and the drivers/shift registers to handle all of those. I'll also need to include pin headers on the board so it can be cabled back to the main arduino board and to the power supply.

Looks like the maximum size of board I'll be able to expose is 12" long, so given the length of the finished item and the fact that the turn counter is mean to span it, I'll have to split that over two boards. I've ordered some 12" x 9" double-sided PCB laminate and am trying to design the circuit in ExpressSCH.