Meggy Jr RGB is a handheld platform for developing your own pixel-scale video games.
Featuring a fully addressable 8x8 RGB LED matrix display, big fat comfy button switches, customizable handles, a lo-fi audio transducer, and even 8 extra LEDs for lives, score, ammo, or level, Meggy Jr RGB is a little kit you won't want to miss. Meggy Jr is fast, programmable, open source and hackable. And fun.
Meggy Jr RGB is a little sister to our Peggy and Peggy 2 LED display kits, and was designed with a different focus-- less soldering, more pixels in your palms. The 8x8 RGB matrix display provides a whole lot of pixels (192 LED elements), and the 8 auxiliary LEDs bring the grand total up to 200. The six tough buttons have excellent click-feel, and multiple programming interfaces let you take control of exactly what you're playing with.
Building it
Meggy Jr RGB is sold as a soldering kit [?]. Basic electronic soldering skill is required, and you provide standard soldering tools: a soldering iron + solder and small ("flush") wire clippers, as well as a small pair of pliers (e.g., needle nose). If you have them, a hot glue gun and wire strippers will also come in handy. No additional knowledge of electronics is presumed or required. Easy "through-hole" construction ("No surface-mount nothin' nowhere!") and clear, full-color printed instructions.
Assembly time: 1-2 hours typical, depending on soldering skill. Kids (ages 10+) who have soldered before should be able to build their Meggy kits with minor assistance and supervision. An extended introduction to the project and its design is available here.
Meggy Jr RGB includes a battery box and can run on batteries (3 'AAA' cells) or you can get an optional ac adapter. (Meggy Jr RGB uses the same power supplies as Peggy 2.)
Interchangeable Handles
Meggy Jr RGB is designed to be mounted inside a "handle set" -- a wooden or plastic case that's more pleasant to hold than a bare circuit board. You can make, mod and customize your own handle sets to suit your taste-- These are like faceplates in that you can switch whenever you want to suit your mood or the game that you're playing, however different handle sets can completely change what the Meggy Jr looks and feels like.
Above, you can see what our basic handles (left) look like, as compared to a set of custom smoke-colored batwing handles (right).
You can design your own custom handles, starting from our templates which are available here-- either to make them on your own or to have them fabbed by laser shops like Ponoko!
Programming it
The microcontroller in the Meggy Jr RGB kit comes pre-programmed with "Attack of the Cherry Tomatoes," a pixel-blasting side-scrolling shoot-em-up with bombs, lasers, and ever advancing (red) dots that aim to ruin your whole day. Once you've built the kit, you can get started playing immediately-- Absolutely no computer access or programming is needed between opening the box and blasting vicious vegetables.
If you should be interested to do some programming, Meggy Jr RGB can do a whole lot more: it is designed as a platform for programming your own games. The default game is actually installed on top of the Arduino bootloader and Meggy Jr can be programmed through a USB-TTL cable, using the popular Arduino software environment. (Mac, Windows, and Linux computers are all well supported.)
To get a head start, you can download the Meggy Jr RGB Arduino Library (including sample programs) here. This library provides an interrupt-based screen redraw at a default rate of 150 Hz, multiple brightness levels, and simple functions to write data to the video buffer. So easy a kid could do it. (Proof: Attack of the Cherry Tomatoes was written by a 14-year old.)
The library is an evolving open source project and your own code contributions are welcome; we expect to have a number of user-contributed games in the near future.
AVR-GCC users: Programming through an AVR ISP programmer (e.g., the USBtinyISP) is also supported.
Kit Configurations
This is an open-source project. In keeping with that spirit, we are offering these kits and the parts for them in different configurations for flexibility.
1. Meggy Jr RGB Standard Kit ($75) includes the printed circuit board, preprogrammed microcontroller, LED display, 8 extra LEDs, battery holder, buttons, and all the other components to build the Meggy Jr, plus
basic handles (made of laser-cut clear acrylic).
2. Meggy Jr RGB Super Kit ($95) Contains everything in the Meggy Jr RGB Standard Kit plus a USB-TTL Cable and a bonus resistor lead forming tool.
3. Meggy Jr RGB Sub-Standard kit ($65) includes what's in the Standard Kit except that it doesn't come with a set of handles-- plan to get or make your own separately.
4. Options and accessories: AC adapters, USB-TTL cables, and other related items.
5. You can also get the Meggy Jr PCB separately, or the LED matrix display separately, as well as laser-cut acrylic handle sets.
Get a Meggy Jr RGB kit!
Kits are in stock and shipping now!
Meggy Jr RGB:: Standard Kit
Meggy Jr RGB + Basic Handle Set |
$75 |
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Meggy Jr RGB:: Super Kit
Meggy Jr RGB + Basic Handle Set,
USB-TTL Cable, and Lead Bender
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$95 |
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Meggy Jr RGB:: Sub-Standard Kit
(no handle set) |
$65 |
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Options, Accessories, and Parts for Meggy Jr RGB:
Major parts, a la carte
You can get the Meggy Jr RGB printed circuit board, LED matrix display, and laser-cut handle sets separately, either for building it on your own or as spares. Handle sets are available in two different shapes (basic and "batwing") in different colors of laser-cut acrylic.
Meggy JR PCB
Circuit board only |
$12 |
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Basic Handle Set
Clear |
$15 |
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Basic Handle Set
Fluorescent green tint |
$15 |
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Basic Handle Set
Smoke |
$15 |
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Batwing Handle Set
Clear |
$22 |
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Batwing Handle Set
Smoke |
$22 |
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Basic Handle Set (Scratch/Dent)
B-grade merch. Dig? |
$5 |
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AC Adapters
Meggy Jr RGB is designed to run on batteries and the kits come complete with a battery holder. You can also power Meggy Jr with an energy-efficient wall-plug AC adapter, 4.5 - 5 V DC, regulated, 600 mA+. Two versions are available: one for US/Canada, and an international multi-plug version that comes with four separate plugs. Both versions come with the appropriate power jack to solder onto the Meggy Jr circuit board. (Note: Meggy Jr uses the same power supplies as Peggy 2, so your power supply may show up labeled for either one.)
| US/Canada AC adapter |
$12 |
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International AC adapter
Includes plugs for US,
UK, Europe, Australia
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$20 |
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USB-TTL Cable
This FTDI model TTL-232R-5V converter cable can be used for programming Meggy Jr RGB, Peggy 2.0, and many other Arduino compatible devices through the Arduino programming environment. One of the cable fits into the USB port on your computer, and the other end has a 6-pin header socket that hooks up to the Meggy Jr. This is actually a "smart" converter that contains the USB interface chip within the cable itself. 1.8 meter (6 foot).
| USB-TTL Cable |
$20 |
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Resistor Lead Bender
Handy high-productivity tool for making neat bends in the leads of your resistors when assembling kits. Read more about these here.
| Resistor Lead Bender |
$7 |
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About our kits
We take great pride in our kit designs; we believe in clear instructions, unambiguous labeling, goodies, and where appropriate, including extras of small, easy to lose and/or break components. Assembly of the kit is straightforward with our clear instructions. If you would like a preview, you can download a copy of the instruction packet here (3.9 MB PDF file).
You should have prior experience soldering and, as mentioned above, basic soldering tools. Read more about what to expect in our kits here.
Lead Free
Meggy Jr RGB circuit boards, components, LEDs and power supplies are all RoHS compliant (lead free). If you're building one of our kits, you'll find that everything works well with either regular or lead-free solder-- whichever you care to use.
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