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A riddle wrapped in an enigma… made easy, with Arduino Plug and Make Kit

Arduino TeamNovember 15th, 2024

The Arduino Plug and Make Kit was designed to open up infinite possibilities, breaking down the idea that technology is a “black box” reserved for experts. With its snap-together system, this kit gives everyone – beginners and seasoned makers alike – the power to create and innovate without barriers. Forget being a passive user! With the Plug and Make Kit, technology is accessible and ready to bring your ideas to life.

Meet Giulio Pilotto, Plug and Make Kit Star

Giulio Pilotto is one of Arduino’s senior software engineers and works closely on Arduino Cloud projects. When we held a “Make Tank” workshop at our Turin office to showcase the potential of the Plug and Make Kit, he joined in with inspiration from a recent escape room experience. 

The result was Riddle Treasure, a puzzle-based game that allows you to recreate the excitement of an escape room anywhere you are.

At this year’s Maker Faire, Pilotto had the opportunity to present Riddle Treasure at the Arduino booth. While he had showcased his own creations at previous Maker Faire editions, this time felt special: “The Maker Faire is always a wonderful high-energy event,” he says. “I was happy to represent the Arduino team as we focus more than ever on the community: all our products were presented in the light of what people can do with them.” 

Riddle Treasure

To be honest, this is probably the most advanced project our in-house “Make Tank” came up with (so far!). After all, it has to be somewhat complicated to emulate intricate escape room puzzles! However, following Pilotto’s step-by-step instructions on Project Hub and leveraging the easy snap-together mechanism of Modulino nodes, anyone can recreate Riddle Treasure – or even invent a personal, unique variation.

The goal of the game is to unlock a safe. But to get there, you need to complete three steps in order. 

1. Combination Lock: First, you must rotate the encoder in Modulino Knob like a safe’s combination lock. When you hit the right position, one of the lights on Modulino Pixels turns from red to green. When you get all five LEDs to turn green, you can move on to the next step. 

2. Secret Sentence: Use the banana cables to connect the words in the panel. When you get them all in the right order to form the secret sentence, a password is revealed on the LED matrix of the UNO R4 included in the Plug and Make Kit. 

3. Final Unlock: Input the password via Modulino Buttons, and watch the safe unlock! 

We take care of the complexity, so you can simply plug into tech!

Arduino has done the hard work so you can play and have fun even with deliberately complex projects like this one. 

“Building this without having to solder, or even worry about settings or any electronics aspect at all, is a game changer. With Plug and Make Kit, Arduino has already selected and optimized the Modulino sensors: all you have to do is put them together to get started on your ideas,” Pilotto says. 

Search Project Hub for “Plug and Make” to find Riddle Treasure and many more ideas, and get inspired to create your own amazing projects with the Plug and Make Kit!

Categories:Arduino