Snooze-proof, game on

Lazy Alarm

AREA OF TIME

Simon Says… Get Up

Every morning, I hit snooze before I’m even conscious. My brain seems to silence alarms before I’m even awake – and I keep waking up groggy, late, and annoyed. So I built something my half-asleep self couldn’t outsmart: a Simon Says alarm clock that forces you to wake up and pay attention – or it just keeps getting louder.
This isn’t just an alarm. It’s a mental obstacle course designed to wake up your brain.

HOW IT WORKS

Levels range from 1 to 4 – just enough chaos to clear your sleep fog.

7:00 AM: A loud, continuous tone plays.
Press any button to start the game.
A light sequence begins (Level 1). Repeat it correctly using four buttons with matching LEDs.
If you get it wrong → the game resets and drops a level.
Wait too long (12 seconds)? The alarm resumes – louder, and now at a higher level.
The longer you delay, the harder it gets.
Beat any level = the alarm stops. Only then can you go back to sleep.

BUILD PROCESS

01.

Game Logic + Sound

I started by building the Simon Says memory game using an Arduino, four buttons, four LEDs, and a speaker. Once the sequence and responses worked as planned, I integrated the alarm behavior.

02.

Soldering

To make the setup portable and desk-friendly, I transferred the working circuit from a breadboard to solderable boards, making it stable enough to live in an enclosure.

03.

Enclosure

I built a simple, custom enclosure to hold the components in place – functional, compact, and loud enough to do the job.

FINAL OUTPUT

Watch the alarm that refuses to be ignored. (annoying noise incoming)

CONCLUSION & FUTURE SCOPE

This project was chaotic, intense, and one of the most entertaining things I’ve ever built. It combined sound, logic, and interaction in a way that was both practical and ridiculous – and that’s exactly what I wanted. Building something that could fight back against my snoozing habit was deeply satisfying, and it taught me a lot about user experience in physical devices – especially under pressure (and sleepiness). In the future, I’d love to add a visual countdown to make inactivity more obvious, display the actual time, integrate vibration feedback for silent alarms, and improve the enclosure for a cleaner build. But even in its current form, this little alarm clock gets the job done – and makes sure I do too.

CREDITS

Clock Ticking Sound Effect by u_mx4xkr2bzy from Pixabay
Soldering stock image Designed by Freepik

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Explore More Work

Thanks for checking out this project! If you’re curious to see what else I’ve been working on – from motion design experiments to playful tech builds – feel free to take a look at some of my other projects below.

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