Mini Tetris cabinet commands waitstaff to fetch more water and coffee
Remembering to refill water and coffee cups at regular intervals certainly has to be a challenge for restaurant waitstaff, but not for servers at one diner thanks to Mark Wilson’s “TetrisWaterRun” project.
Wilson’s device takes the form of a miniature arcade cabinet, with two “players” named H2O and JOE controlling Tetris playfields.
As each block drops, some complete a line, while others leave spaces, eventually stacking up to a yellow warning level, along with a red section for overdue. Each game/timer is started with its interface button, which also lights up intermittently to indicate drink warnings. A buzzer is included, so that there’s even less of an excuse for unfilled drinks. The build was prototyped on an Arduino Uno and now runs on a Nano for space savings, with a 320×480 LCD screen displaying the falling tetrominoes.