Arduino Ouija Board

Ouija Board is a flat board marked with the letters of the alphabet, the numbers 0–9, the words “yes”, “no”, along with various symbols and graphics. It uses a small heart-shaped piece of wood or plastic called a planchette. Participants place their fingers on the planchette, and it is moved about the board to spell out words. The Ouija board is also called the spirit board and the talking board.

It was regarded as a parlor game unrelated to the occult until American spiritualist Pearl Curran popularized its use as a divining tool during World War I.

This board seems spooky! But how about combining it with Arduino? This project will introduce Arduino as the mind of this board with the planchette vibrating when it approaches certain letters plus opening a lock!

This project uses Radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology that uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. The board has some RFID tags on its back at the exact positions of the letters and the planchette has RFID reader to be able to open the lock while choosing letters the same as the pre-configured password. Thanks to wireless technology used in this project, a radio receiver will control the lock when a password match happens!

In order to build this project you need to get a Ouija board or make one by yourself. Plus you need the following parts and materials:

• 2x SparkFun Arduino Pro Mini 328 – 5V/16MHz
• 1x RFID Reader Generic
• 1x SparkFun RFID Tag
• 1x Li-Ion Battery 1000mAh
• 1x SparkFun LiPo Charger Basic – Micro-USB
• 1x SparkFun Step-Up Voltage Regulator – 5V
• 2x NRF24L01 board
• 1x Reed switch
• 1x Vibration Motor
• 1x RobotGeek Relay
• 1x Linear Regulator (7805)
• 1x Electronic lock
• 2x LED (generic)
• 1x 12V Power Supply

You have to use Arduino IDE to program the Arduino mini.

The RFID reader is located within the planchette and it is attached to an Arduino and a battery, keeping in mind providing a place for the antenna in the planchette design. In the other side, the receiver is attached to the actuator and it contains an Arduino Pro Mini, a relay module, an NRF24L01 with a 1117-3.3 regulator attached, a separate 7805 linear regulator with some capacitors and LEDs.

You can check this board in action, the password here is “ Rose”

The sky’s the limit when it comes to choosing an actuator and the lock here in this project is just an example. You can check designs, code snippets, schematics and more detailed information about designing and programming this haunted Ouija board at the project’s page.

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