August 16, 2021

Color ESP8266 Tetris Clock

from hackster.io

Do you like clocks that keep themselves synchronized? Do you also enjoy Tetris and perhaps even the ESP8266 module? If so, then the Tetris Time clock is a great build to put on your list!

Creator Tobias Blum had an RGB LED matrix just waiting for a project, and after trying it out with an Arduino Mega (no Internet connection) and a Raspberry Pi (too much overhead and startup time), he decided to try running it using an ESP8266.

This turned out to be the perfect solution, as it starts up immediately, has Wi-Fi connectivity, and can be shut down safely simply by disconnecting power.

He used this module programmed with a matrix library available here to construct a clock that keeps accurate via NTP (network time protocol). After seeing a monochrome clock that displays time using Tetris blocks, he was inspired to devise his own version in glorious RGB color.

The results, shown in the video below, feature blocks falling from the sky and magically combining into the correct characters, along with a blinking colon in the middle.

Aside from the coding and electronics, he constructed a nice frame for the design for display. If you’d like to replicate the build yourself, code is available on GitHub.