← TEMPT ME AGAIN
THE DEVIL SUGGESTS

Build a button that does absolutely nothing 99% of the time

Unnecessary · Use what you have · Easy

Make a button that usually offers only suspense, but very occasionally rewards persistence with a light, sound or message. It is an exercise in expectation management disguised as electronics.

Do it

  1. Choose the rare reward for a successful press.
  2. Connect a button and an output to a microcontroller.
  3. Program a one-in-a-hundred chance of doing something.
  4. Add a response for the other ninety-nine presses, or none at all.
  5. Let someone else press it repeatedly.

What next?

Keep the useful notes, photograph the result if there is one, then go and find something else to do.