GLIMPO

Game Design / Physical Computing · 2025 · Built with Malaz Elbadri

Overview

Glimpo is the classic Plinko game rebuilt as a small arcade cabinet. A ball drops through a neon peg board on screen, and when it lands, the LED for that slot lights up on the cabinet itself. The game runs in Unity, the lights and button run on an Arduino, and the two talk to each other in real time.

Concept

Plinko is a big wooden board with physical pegs and chips. We wanted to keep what makes it fun, the unpredictable bounce and the wait to see where it lands, and fit it into something small enough to carry. The physics move into Unity, and the LEDs bring the result back into the real world so the game isn't trapped on a screen.

The look comes from neon arcade games: glowing pegs, bright color-coded slots, and a cabinet that frames the screen with the controls in front.

My Role

Malaz led the digital side in Unity. I was the lead builder, responsible for the physical cabinet and all the hardware integration:

Designed and assembled the cabinet that houses the screen, Arduino and wiring
Wired and soldered the LEDs and the push button to the Arduino
Programmed the Arduino to receive serial data from Unity and trigger the right LED
Lined each LED up with its slot in the game
Painted and finished the cabinet, and troubleshot every hardware issue along the way

We worked closely the whole way through, including on the code.

Design

I sketched the cabinet first: a screen tilted back like an arcade machine, with a sloped control panel in front holding five LEDs and one big button. The final cabinet is 3D-printed and painted black, with a secondhand monitor mounted inside.

Line sketch of the cabinet: a tilted screen with five LED holes and a button on the front panel — First sketch of the cabinet

The finished black cabinet showing the Game Over screen with a score of 35, five LEDs and a red button — The finished cabinet

Build

The button connects to pin 4 on the Arduino, and the five LEDs run from pins 9 to 13 through resistors on a small perfboard. When Unity detects which slot the ball landed in, it sends that over serial through Uduino, and the Arduino lights the matching LED. Everything had to fit behind the screen, so the board and wiring sit tight against the back of the cabinet.

Hand-drawn wiring diagram: button on pin 4, LEDs on pins 9 to 13 through a perfboard — Wiring diagram

The cabinet with the screen removed, showing the perfboard, wires and Arduino behind the LEDs and button — Inside, before the screen goes in

Back view of the cabinet showing the screen's circuit board, the perfboard and the Arduino — Back of the screen, with the perfboard and Arduino

Gameplay

Once the hardware and Unity were talking reliably, we added what makes it feel like an arcade game: a scoreboard with instructions, a sound for each slot, a time limit, and a Game Over screen. In testing, the time limit and Game Over screen made people play more rounds and stay longer.

Reflection

Glimpo taught me how to make hardware and software agree in real time. The hardest part was timing and alignment, making sure the LED that lights up is the slot the ball actually landed in, every time. It was also my first time designing an enclosure around a screen, where every component has to fit in a small space.

Technologies Used

Arduino
Unity and C#
Uduino (Unity to Arduino serial)
LEDs, push button, perfboard
3D printing (PLA), paint