The Etch A Sketch is a classic children’s toy resembling a picture frame where artwork can be made by turning two knobs attached to a stylus inside the frame. The stylus scrapes off an aluminum powder, creating the image which can then be erased by turning the frame upside down and shaking it, adding the powder back to the display. It’s completely offline and requires no batteries, but in our modern world those two things seem to be more requirements than when the Etch A Sketch was first produced in the 1960s. Enter the Tilt-A-Sketch, a modern version of the classic toy.

Rather than use aluminum powder for the display, the Tilt A Sketch replaces it with an LED matrix and removes the stylus completely. There are no knobs on this device to control the path of the LED either; a inertial measurement unit is able to sense the direction that the toy is tilted while a microcontroller uses that input to light up a series of LEDs corresponding to the direction of tilt. There are a few buttons on the side of the device as well which allow the colors displayed by the LEDs to change, and similar to the original toy the display can be reset by shaking.

The Tilt-A-Sketch was built by [devitoal] as part of an art display which allows the visitors to create their own art. Housed in a laser-cut wooden enclosure the toy does a faithful job of recreating the original. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Etch A Sketch is a popular platform for various projects that we’ve seen before including original toys modified with robotics to create the artwork and electronic recreations that use LED displays instead in a way similar to this project.

If you’ve ever seen those cheap LED fiber optic wands at the dollar store, you’ve probably just thought of them as a simple novelty. However, as [Ancient] shows us, you can turn them into a surprisingly nifty little display if you’re so inclined.

The build starts by removing the fiber optic bundle from the wand. One end is left as a round bundle. At the other end, the strands are then fed into plastic frames to separate them out individually. After plenty of tedious sorting, the fibers are glued in place in a larger rectangular 3D-printed frame, which holds the fibers in place over a matrix of LEDs. The individual LEDs of the matrix light individual fibers, which carry the light to the round end of the bundle. The result is a tiny little round display driven by a much larger one at the other end.

[Ancient] had hoped to use the set up for a volumetric display build, but found it too fragile to be fit for purpose. Still, it’s interesting to look at nonetheless, and a good demonstration of how fiber optics work in practice. As this display shows, you can have two glass fibers carrying completely different wavelengths of light right next to each other without issue.

We’ve featured some other great fiber optic hacks over the years, like this guide on making your own fiber couplings. Video after the break.

[Thanks to Zane and Darryl and Ash for the tip! This one was all over the tipsline!]

Like so many of us, [aforsberg] found themselves fascinated with the WOPR computer from WarGames — something about all those blinking LEDs must speak to nerds on some subconscious level. But rather than admire the light show from afar, they decided to recreate it at a scale suitable for a 1U server rack.

So what goes into this WOPR display? In this case, the recipe simply calls for three MAX7219 dot matrix LED modules and a Raspberry Pi Pico, although you could swap that out for your favorite microcontroller if you wish. You should probably stick with something that at least runs MicroPython though, or else you won’t be able to use the included Python code to mimic the light patterns seen in the film.

What we like most about this project is how simple and inexpensive it is to recreate. There’s no custom PCB, and all the parts are mass produced enough that the economies of scale have made them comically cheap. Even at Amazon prices, you’re looking at around $50 USD in parts, and quite a bit less if you’ve got the patience to order everything through AliExpress.

Critics will note that, in its current state, this display just shows gibberish (admittedly stylish gibberish, but still). But as we’ve seen with similar projects, that’s simply a matter of software.