How to Make a Laser Car Game

Have you ever played with toy cars before? How about making them? Now what if you could make your own car and move it with a joystick all while turning it into a fun game using lasers! That is what this instructable is here to help you do.

Here are the materials you will need to actually make the Laser Car

• Arduino
• Mini Breadboard
• Car Chassis
• Wires
• Arduino Joystick
• 2 LaserX Guns
• H-Bridge
• Cardboard
• Tape
• Scissors
• Battery + Battery Cap

After the entire build in complete it will be very hard to upload code to the Arduino so try to upload the code now and attach the wires and such to accommodate the code later. Download the code below and upload it to the Arduino.

In this step you want to put all the wiring onto the breadboard so that it can be attached to the Arduino soon. Please wire the breadboard the same way you see in the picture.

In this step you want to make sure that the wheels are screwed onto the car chassis correctly then attach the Arduino using screws that come with the car. Make sure the Arduino does not touch the metal chassis directly as it may short circuit. You also want to attach the small breadboard here with some tape so that it stays on. I added some carboard under the breadboard just to bring it higher, you do not need to do this though.

In this step connect the wires on the breadboard to the Arduino, make sure you put them as seen in the picture as the car will not work otherwise. Make sure that you connect the motor wires to the small inputs that are connected to the wheels.

Attach the joystick with its wires as seen in the picture so that you are able to move the car. The wire connected to the button on the joystick does not need to be attached anywhere in this project. Also make sure to attach the battery by adding a battery cap to it and pushing it into the designated port on the Arduino.

Now we get to make the shell of the car. For this step cut out some cardboard and tape it together to make a shell/rectangular prism shape. Have an opening at the bottom for the car and make sure the shell fits before continuing. Also make a small hole in the top of the shell so that the joystick can fit through. If you want you can try adding some cool decorations that don't interfere with the LaserX guns

Now we need to add the laser gun and laser receiver on top of the cardboard shell. You can do this by simply taping it on. Push the cable off of the joystick hole in the shell. If the build is too heavy on one side you can try adding a counterweight on the other.

Now we get to put the two parts together with tape. Make sure that you push the joystick through the hole in the shell so that you can access it. Make sure that the shell doesn't interfere with any of the cables or wheels.

Now we get to play the game! Simply turn the laser gun on the car to FFA mode and have the shooting player put his gun on FFA mode as well. Have the shooting player stand maybe 2-6 meters away and start! The player in charge of the car can go wherever he likes but he cannot intentionally hide the laser receiver on the car.