10/3/2025 - Simple draft of the project

I drew a simple draft of the project.
For this project, I would like to have the following features:

• MCU (maybe Wi-Fi for future mobile/web integration)
• NFC reader
• TFT display
• Speaker
• Action buttons
• Battery (at least a few hours of battery life, maybe an 18650 or multiple AA batteries)

10/4/2025 - Research possible parts

I've been searching for the possible parts I could use for my project. I've seen many options, some more expensive, others cheaper. I have ended up selecting most of the parts from Digikey, due to the huge variety and fast shipping.
I've created a digikey list with all the parts that will be used.
https://www.digikey.es/en/mylists/list/QVK6J72RAV

10/6/2025 11 AM - Work on the Power/battery part of the schematic

I have been working on the battery part of the schematic.
I have wired most of the BQ25895RTWR, and USB-C port. Only the 3.3V buck is left.
I arrived to the conclusion about not needing the 5V from the BQ25895RTWR, as everything will be running from 3.3V, so I disabled it.

10/6/2025 8 PM - Work on the Logic part of the schematic

I've been working on the Logic part of the shematic. The programming part should be done, I used a vertical USB-C port I'll have hidden inside, and regular UART as a fallback.
I also added an I2S Audio driver (MAX98357A) as I didn't want to just use PWM, but didn't need something too fancy for simple sound effects.
Now I'll just need to add a display, which I'll be changing to a bigger one. Maybe, I'll get one with touch support

10/7/2025 - Find a possible suitable LCD

After all, I decided for an SPI TFT LCD. I'll be going with a 3.2" touch ST7789 SPI display. it seems to be big enough, and have more than enough resolution for my project. Also, it seems to be supported with some libraries.
It also has touch, just in case I ever want to use it.

10/8/2025 - Finish Schematic routing

I finished all the schematic routing (PCB, NFC, etc). The display seemed hard, but it really was just two SPI devices (Display and Touch).
I think everything should be done now. I only need to select all components (resistors, capacitors, etc) so I can use the correct footprints.

10/10/2025 - Assign footprints + backlight driving options

I assigned all the necessary footprints to the symbols, and I also chose which parts I will be using for the PCB. I added all of them to the Digikey BOM.
Also, as I don't currently have the display, nor, know how the LED backlight is connected, I added multiple driving circuits. They are all disabled by default (have to use jumpers). And when I get all the components, I will use the correct driver method.

10/11/2025 10 AM - Groups to the schematic and start placing components

I have reordered the schematic so I can more easily reference the components and, at a glance, find them.
I've used rectangles and text so I can name all the groups.

Then, I've started placing the components in the PCB. I'll start with what I always do, group the components and try to place them with their "ideal" placement.
This is what I've got so far:

10/11/2025 8 PM - Finish placing the components

I finished placing all the components in their "ideal" place. Due to the bigger than firstly planned display, the PCB ended up being 93.3 x 128.35 mm. which isn't a lot bigger than intented, but it will make the final device bigger, not a huge dealbreaker, though.

10/12/2025 - Start routing top part of the pcb

I have started routing part of the pcb. as I already had all the components placed, I only have to connect them, which isn't too hard. I'm also using copper pours for some parts of the pcb, eg. buck.
For now, I've routed the usb charge connector, battery circuit and charger and buck.

10/13/2025 - Finish routing the PCB

I finished routing all the PCB. It should now be done. I will now start designing the case. I will try to make it similar to the drawing I did before (first journal entry), while also having the essence of the original Monopoly Electronic i have.

10/15/2025 11 AM - Start Cadding

I have started the CAD design. I've added a speaker grill (spent too much time making it look good, battery pocket for easy battery replacement (if necessary) and pcb "rails" so the pcb can easily be mounted.
For now I'll be doing only the "raw" parts of the case. then I'll add more complex/visual features.

This is what I've got so far:

10/15/2025 7 PM - Finish base and design clipping mechanism

I've finished designing the base, and I've started designing the cover of the case. I'm going with a "slide and click" mechanism. This way it will be easy to assemble, and also, there won't be any visible screws, which is a must (if I can) for this design.

PS: this is going to be VERY overengineered... 😭

10/17/2025 - Finish CAD (Hopefully)

It took longer than expected, but, finally, after a lot of time and overengineering, I finished all the CAD!
I tried to keep as many of the visual features as I could while making sure it actually works.
I think know it could have been made a lot simpler, but I wanted to challenge myself.

This is the final result.

10/18/2025 - Prepare GitHub Repo for submitting

I got the repo ready for submitting. Luckily I alredy had most of the files, exports, etc done. I just had to copy them to the correct folders, write a README.md, add images, check, export and convert to MarkDown the BOM, and write this journal entry.

REPO: https://github.com/Pegoku/Monopoly-Electronic-V2

10/19/2025 - Learning LVGL

I had to have some code for this project, so I could submit it, so I started to learn LVGL, so when I receive the parts, I can assemble them and can start to use it to test the display. I didn't do the full game for now, as I don't want to build it in regular cpp (not arduino framework) due to it maybe not working as intended on the final device.

For now, I did a simple 5 button test. When a button is pressed, a random number is generated. This is a start, and I will be able to use what I learnt for this for the final build.

10/31/2025 - Tests before order

Before I order the PCB, I wanted to do some tests with the display, so I bought an esp32-S3 devboard and a display so I could learn LVGL, and check the schematic is correct.

I was able to get the display to work!

2/11/2026 - PCB assembled + problems

I assembled the PCB and uploaded the code I had before, and it didn't work...
I did some tests, and I found the problem, the display header was rotated 180º...

Same with the NFC, the holes are inverted. Hope I can fix it by just drilling.

Then, after testing the PCB, I did a test code to check if it worked, and it did.
Now I just need to have a working game logic and display graphics.

2/17/2026 - MVP game and NFC cards

After many, many, game prototypes, I have a good-enough MVP for the game. I know the game is yet far from finished, but most basic functions are there. I also did a card programming page, so the device can be used as a programmer, no need to use a separate device.

One of the problems I've had, is having cards, the original Monpoly game had cardboard cards, which had a cool design. Sadly, due to obvious reasons, I can't just do a 1-1 copy of them, so, as a good programmer, I made a tool to generate the designs. I didn't know much how to do it, so I asked Claude for some help. It did a good job, sadly the designs weren't quite right, so I did quite a few changes to it, and I think they turned out pretty well.

THE PROBLEM

I don't have a card printer, so... I had to manually, and painly cut the printed paper, spread white glue over the card and paper, but don't use too much, as that will wet too much the paper, and it will break.
After doing +20 cards, I noticed a problem, they were peeling off... ended up finding a working solution: scratch the card with a blade so the glue can have something to stick to, and... that worked!

PS: I spent + 10h doing the ******* cards. It was quite so tiring...

3/3/2026 - NFC Cards + Tried to flip the display

• # NFC CARDS

Ok, so you may remember the NFC cards I did,, well... they're quite bad, tbh. They started to peal off the next day 😭. so I decided to laminate them. something that mostly worked, but was quite hard, as the laminator I have isn't designed to work with cards so there would be a lot of margins, and I had to manually cut them out, and using a hotplate bend them to the correct shape, so there wouldn't be borders. That gave surprisingly good results, but took a LOT of time.

Display

So... I designed the PCB wrongly and I flipped the display connector 180º. so previously I've been having to use the display hanging from the connector, something I don't like, and also, I can't present the project like this... So, I tried to fix that connecting 14 tiny wires to the display routing them through the mounting holes. It was a PITA, but it seemed to work for a moment.

The display turned on and did the init color sequence, and the main display worked, but it seems like there may be some loose wire or emi, and it doesn't really work. maybe bc of the buck? idk...

Well, I'll try to fix it...

3/4/2026 - Final parts + Video

I mostly finished the project, I also did a video demo and reddit post showing it.
I also did the README.

This is the final game console, hope you like it.: