Certamen practice quiz machine

cults3d

The Certamen Quiz Team Competition from the Junior Classical League involves quiz questions on Greek/Roman subjects. Contestants press buzzer buttons when they have an answer, and a machine keeps track of the order in which buttons were pressed, adhering to the team-lockout rule that once a player on a team presses a button, their teammates' presses don't count. Our machine was designed for three teams of four players each, with an option to disregard teams and just keep track of button order. The school's Certamen team needed a practice machine but couldn't afford the official one, which costs $545 for the standalone system or $435 for the variant that plugs into a computer - both prices being out of budget. Clearly, these prices were also overpriced! So I created a much cheaper alternative using an Arduino Mega. Although it's not approved for official tournaments, it serves as a great practice tool. This machine consists of two main parts: the main box and the button boxes. The firmware can be found here, while the build instructions are located here.