Grid Masters

This is the project repository for the EE2026 Project for group S1-03.

Grid Masters is a Tic-Tac-Toe game running entirely on a Basys 3 Artix-7 FPGA. It comes with a fully-onboard artificial intelligence as an opponent.

Controls

• Centre Button: Confirm selections
• Left Button: Reset to Title/Menu screen
• Right Button: Reset Round (only for 1 v 1 Mode)
• Switches: Select grid square to place move

Game Modes

The game comes with 2 game modes.

1 v 1 Mode

This mode allows for 2 players to compete in Tic-Tac-Toe.

The 7-segment display will show the scoreboard. The first player to 3 wins will win the round.

Vs AI Mode

This mode allows one player to compete against an AI.

There are three levels:

• Level 1: Randomised moves.
• Level 2: AI will try to achieve a win and block your win, but it cannot defend against a double threat.
• Level 3: AI can now defend against double threats. Designed to be unbeatable.

Level Progression:

• If you beat the AI in a level, you will progress to the next level.
• If you draw with the AI, you will remain on the same level.
• If you lose to the AI, you will restart from Level 1.

References

This project makes use of the following sources and open-source libraries:

Bad Apple!! PV - Anira (あにら) et. al.

This animation is commonly used in computing as a graphical and audio test.

Grid Masters uses three 5-second clips of the animation, seen in the Game Over screen in 1 v 1 Mode and the level result screen in Vs AI mode.

PixilArt

Used to create some of the graphics for the game's UI.

Picture2Pixel - Chen Guoyi & Fang Sihan

Used to convert graphics into Verilog code for this project.

Super Pyxelate - Richard Nagyfi

Used to scale frames of Bad Apple into images with a height of 64 pixels, preparing them for bitmapping.

Python Imaging Library (Not Pillow!)

Used to bitmap the images produced by Pyxelate into a 96x64 image, to be input into Picture2Pixel to ensure maximum efficiency of Verilog code.