Vellman - MK112 Brain Game (Simon Says)

Kit took about 20 minutes to put together. Had only 1 issue. The Battery compartment isn't set up like the package shows. It does use all 3 AA batteries, but the taps are on opposite ends instead of next to each other. I wired up the negative directly below the tap to the PCB with the included wire, but the positive had to come off the other end. I used a small jumper to work that and ran it under the battery compartment to the positive pad. It didn't work. After some continuity testing, I found that the negative pad on the inside of the battery compartment wasn't connected to the spring that holds the negative end of the battery in place. With a small jumper from the internal spring to the pad, it lit up and was a lot of fun to play. If you want to build kits like this, be sure to have a simple multi-meter with you that allows for continuity tests with a beeper / buzzer. Saves a ton of time. Other than that, it was a nice kit.

As a 74 year old ex-engineer I really enjoy assembling Velleman kits and the MK112 Brain Game was no different. The somewhat cryptic assembly instructions are accurate and complete but assembly does require some basic experience with electronic circuit boards and their components. I took me about an hour to assemble the MK112 and it worked immediately after installing the three AA batteries (not included). The Brain Game has four levels of difficulty (remembering a light pattern 5, 10, 15 or 20 flashes long) and is fun to play, especially for the grandkids when their iPad needs charging (sorry, but nothing competes with an iPad for the younger set).

I can't say enough good things about this little item! Soldering everything to the board is a cinch, except for the battery pack. If you buy this for your kid, chance is they're probably going to need an extra hand in soldering the jump wire from the battery pack to the circuit board, not to mention holding the board and battery pack together due to the spacers that are included in this. So it's not exactly for beginners. However, it only took me about 30 minutes to assemble. Used 60/40 solder since this kit doesn't come with any lead-free solder. It's actually a very challenging game on any level you play. I'd like to replicate this item on a larger scale and use some of my own mods to make it bigger. The actual circuit board is only about 2.5" tall by 2" wide. My only wish, is that they had included 4 different colored LED's instead of making them all red. Once my new shipment of LED's comes in, I might desolder & remove 3 of the red ones and put in different colors. But a really cool and simple DIY kit.

As others have said, this isn't really a "beginner" kit. Advanced beginner to intermediate would be more like it. The instructions are clear enough if you can identify a typical zener diode. If you don't know what a zener is, this kit is a good one to learn with.My kit didn't match the battery holder that was mentioned in the directions. The directions make it seem like you only use two of the three AA cells, and you can solder tabs right at the pads. However, my kit had tabs on the holder for three cells, which puts the positive lead on the opposite side of the board from the pad. A simple bit of hookup wire (not included) got it working. I used one of the included jumpers to bend a path to the negative power terminal, as that is still in the right position. Start by soldering the jumper to the negative tab on the holder. Then, use small needle nose to shape the wire directly to the ground pad. It looks really nice and also adds some stability to the battery holder.

This was really nice for a beginner - I bought it for my 6 year old grand daughter to build and she really liked it! - she loves to solder and is VERY VERY good at it - It's hard to believe how well she solders but again, I digress - this was not her first kit but I wanted it a little harder for her to build and added a small single IC to her skill set - I bought "a toy" so she would have something she'd like and play with when finished - she loved playing with it and carried it around for quite a while (may still for all I know) - no issues, all parts were there, very easy assembly, and is "fairly" well protected when built - it "might not be" a good first soldering project if there is no prior soldering experience available - I am a component level technician/instructor and she is a very quick learner - but all you really need is very basic soldering experience

I liked assembling this kit and playing the game was better than I expected.The instructions are sort of sparse. You should be understand how to orient integrated circuits and diodes and read the resister codes - I'm not sure someone could figure that out starting from these instructions. I scanned the instructions and added them to this review. Caveat Emptor.You need to be able to solder neatly - a lot of pins are fairly close together.

This is a nicely designed game and a good project for my grandson, (a future engineer). Unfortunately, although it was assembled correctly, it didn't work. Close inspection showed that the PC board was incompletely etched, causing numerous short circuits under the solder mask. Finding and scraping away the excess copper between the pads and traces (an hour's effort) corrected this problem, but the game would quit after just a few button presses. It turns out one of the rivets in the battery holder was loose, causing an intermittent contact. Staking the connection tight with a punch fixed that problem. Now, the game occasionally failed to register a button press on the #3 position - a faulty switch was to blame. I replaced the switch with a similar part and a pair of jumper wires. Success!Novice kit builders have enough challenges to overcome - the kit seller has an obligation to provide a high level of quality control in the parts provided.

Fun to assemble with grandson.

The kit included two lead wires for connecting battery contacts to PCB. Even when cut to their longest length, the wires are too short to complete the connection, and they are...

These are fun little kits to put together. They're great for people wanting to learn something a little different.

Mini simon. My son (age 10) build and soldered this entirely by himself. And it works great! This is an excellent kit and all parts seem to be of high quality.

It didn't work, the 555 timer shortened, the instructions on how to connect the wire to the batteries wasn't clear .

Fun solder kit and fun little game to play.

Very simple

Instructions dont match what comes in the box. The leads were on opposite sides instead of on the same side like in the picture.

it worked!

This is a great beginner project! It was my first ever electronics kit, and it worked perfectly. (Well, once I put the IC in the right way, at least!