# Retro games on a Pico, out through an HDMI sock

A Raspberry Pi Pico W and a $4 Adafruit DVI Sock turn an old laptop-era Halloween project into a handheld game box that plays on a TV, controlled by a mic and an ultrasonic sensor.

- Category: Hardware (build)
- Made by: [Majed Abouhatab](https://www.hackster.io/abouhatab) on Hackster.io
- Original: https://github.com/MajedAbouhatab/Interactive-Games-on-Raspberry-Pi-Pico-and-DVI-Sock
- On Afterware: https://afterware.xyz/p/retro-games-on-a-pico-out-through-an-hdmi-sock

## Can I build this?

- Difficulty: Intermediate
- AI-buildability: 4/5 (Most of the work is Arduino-Pico firmware using PicoDVI, mic and ultrasonic input, which AI handles well, while the header soldering, Dupont wiring and fitting everything into a case are hands-on.)
- Time: A weekend
- Cost: $30–50
- Parts: Raspberry Pi Pico W, Adafruit DVI Sock for Pico, Ultrasonic Sensor - HC-SR04, SparkFun Electret Microphone Breakout
- Tools: soldering iron, solder

Estimates based on the original write-up. How the AI-buildability score works: https://afterware.xyz/ai-buildability

## Starter prompt

```
Based on "Retro games on a Pico, out through an HDMI sock" on Afterware: https://afterware.xyz/p/retro-games-on-a-pico-out-through-an-hdmi-sock

Write CircuitPython or Arduino code for a Raspberry Pi Pico W with an Adafruit DVI Sock driving an HDMI TV at 640x480. Read an HC-SR04 ultrasonic sensor on GPIO pins to move a player sprite up and down, and use a microphone's sound level to fire. Draw a simple classic arcade game with a title screen and score display.
```

## Story

A Python meetup talk about showing images on a TV from a $4 DVI Sock was the dare. Majed Abouhatab built his own version: a Pico W with the Adafruit DVI Sock on headers, so the sock can be pulled off and reused, and the whole thing is driven by a microphone and an HC-SR04 ultrasonic sensor instead of a keyboard.

The build is wired with Dupont jumpers, which eat space in the case, and it gets micro-USB pass-through, a boot-button hole, and a power switch for easy resets during development. HDMI doesn't supply enough power to run the Pico, so a power bank handles that. Code was written mostly with Gemini and then tuned in PlatformIO, with the Arduino-Pico core and Adafruit's PicoDVI library.

The honest takeaway: fitting everything into a small case meant cutting dividers and drilling holes, and the maker admits removing more plastic than they should have. If you want a cheap way to get a microcontroller onto a TV screen, the DVI Sock on headers is the reusable part here.

## Resources

- [Project repository](https://github.com/MajedAbouhatab/Interactive-Games-on-Raspberry-Pi-Pico-and-DVI-Sock)
- [Adafruit DVI Sock guide](https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-dvi-sock-for-pico/)
- [PicoDVI library](https://github.com/adafruit/PicoDVI)
- [arduino-pico core](https://github.com/earlephilhower/arduino-pico)

Tags: raspberry pi pico, dvi sock, hdmi, retro games, ultrasonic sensor, microphone, power bank, vibe-coded

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