Maker SHED

This kit has been discontinued. Sorry about that.

Mignonette is a do-it-yourself electronic game console to learn about soldering, microcontrollers and game programming. Inspired by the Mignon Game Kit done in Germany several years ago, this version extends their wonderfully simple design to include a bicolor display as well as a completely new software library for making games.

• Instructions

Mignonette is an electronic kit. Anyone, even someone with no soldering experience, can assemble the kit in less than an afternoon. Most people can complete the kit in one to two hours. The design features a microcontroller, a 5x7 LED matrix, a small speaker, and a few other miscellaneous components (resistors and capacitors).

The microcontroller comes pre-programmed with a fun game we wrote called Munch. It also comes pre-programmed with a program to test the hardware.

One of the fun aspects of Mignonette is that you can program it with your own game! Starting from scratch, or starting with our Mignonette Game Library, you can develop your own program on a PC (or Mac or Linux) and then download into the Mignonette using a special adapter. Once programmed, it no longer needs to be connected to the PC. (Please see the question below about programming.)

The Mignonette kit comes pre-programmed with a test program and the Munch game. To re-program it, you will need a special adapter called a "programmer". One end connects to a PC via a USB cable. The other end has a 6-pin connector which connects to the Mignonette (that connector is labeled J2).