I recently visited relatives that frequent casinos at Niagara Falls. I decided to brush-up my Blackjack skills (or lack thereof). I was also looking to enhance my Python (CircuitPython, that is) skills by developing projects, such as this Blackjack game 😉
The Adafruit PyPortal IoT Device with display has everything you need to connect to the internet, build rich GUIs, connect various sensors AND is easy to program in CircuitPython using Adafruit libraries. The “Explore & Learn” area on the Adafruit website is filled with great sample code, nifty apps and lots of inspiration.
When not working on a personal project, I install various projects from Adafruit on my PyPortal. A few of my favorites are the PyPortal Weather Station, the PyPortal ISS Tracker, and the PyPortal NASA Image of the Day Viewer. I also examine and learn techniques from other projects such as the PyPortal Alarm Clock.
After examining the code for these projects and reading documentation for the PyPortal and CircuitPython Libraries, I started developing my Blackjack game. Code examples were great but I had a harder time finding the libraries I needed in order to understand how graphics were displayed. A short guide, “CircuitPython Display Support Using displayio” really helped me understand the use of sprites, graphics as bitmaps, groups, etc. Definitely worth checking out.
