Component Quality: 5
(5=Highest quality) How nice are the components in terms of materials, design, fit, and other qualities? Well-made circuit boards, computer-cut plastic and metal parts, and other precision components add to the experience.
Red Blinky POV
This kit is amazingly cool and easy to use. POV (persistence of vision) displays show words or patterns that seem to float in mid-air; if you’ve ever seen one, you know what a great effect it is. A line of LEDs flashes the Y component of what you’re displaying, and you provide the X by […]
Rainbow Cube
The Rainbow Cube is a nerdy but gorgeous accent light consisting of a 4×4×4 cube of red-green-blue LEDs. Depending on how it’s programmed, colors appear to move, pulse, or wash through the cube in all directions, which is fascinating to watch. The LEDs connect to the PCB base via an ingenious structure consisting of thin […]
Meggy Jr RGB Game Console
This pixel-scale, portable Meggy Jr game platform is fun for any gamer, especially those who know their way around an Arduino. About the size of a VHS tape, it offers an 8×8 matrix of RGB LEDs and a lot of functionality with very little setup. It comes pre-programmed with Attack of the Cherry Tomatoes, a side-scrolling […]
LEDs: electronics, Games, LEDs
Soft Circuit Sewing Kit
An introduction to sewing with soft circuits, this fantastic kit teaches you how to augment your garments or needlework with LEDs. There’s a free video tutorial as well as step-by-step instructions, and the kit includes everything you need to get started; Jawa doll not included!
Octolively
The Octolively is one of the most entertaining kits I have built in a while. It’s an interactive, tileable LED module that carries eight huge (10mm) LEDs arranged on its 4″×8″ board. Its sensors detect nearby movement using both infrared and visible light, and the LEDs, which come in a variety of colors, respond with […]
Peggy 2LE
Peggy 2LE provides a quick, easy, powerful, and efficient way to drive a lot of big, bright LEDs — up to 625 — in a matrix. With it, you can make an LED sign for your window, a geeky valentine for your sweetie, one badass birthday card, the next generation of low-pixel-count video games, or […]
LED Video Light
Have you tried taking video using your digital camera but never seem to have enough light? Does your camera have trouble focusing in the dark? LEDs are cheap, and so are resistors, so why not make your own LED Video Light? With this second-generation kit from ProdMod, you’ll transform a simple battery holder into a […]
Trippy RGB Waves
Do you like interactive art? Imagine a bunch of little lights on a table, each about the size of a chess piece, each independent of the others. Arrange them any way you want. Each light continually and slowly changes colors on its own — but when you wave your hand over them, they create waves […]
Mignon Game Console
Although 5×7 pixels aren’t a lot to work with, it’s easy to get lost in Olaf Val’s Mignon Game Kit. This minimalist handheld gaming system is hands-on in more ways than one. The first step is to put it together; second is to hack code for the Atmel ATmega8 microcontroller that powers it; and third, […]
Conway’s Game of Life
Our family reunions have become quite an affair now that my mother can tally 21 grandkids. Aged from 1 to 20, keeping them busy is a challenge. At last year’s reunion I brought a small LED craft project for the little kids, but I needed something more challenging for the older ones. Luckily, I came […]
