Gamedex Pay-to-Play IoT Platform

live

An IoT pay-to-play platform for pool tables — custom hardware, embedded firmware, cloud API, owner dashboard, M-Pesa payments, and real-time device notifications.

gopocketbasempesaiotembeddedfirebasepaymentshardware

Source code

What it does

Gamedex turns pay-to-play gaming equipment — starting with pool tables — into connected, self-service revenue units. Players pay from their phone, the table unlocks automatically, and owners monitor everything from a cloud dashboard.

Hardware design and prototyping for table-side control units
Embedded firmware (PlatformIO / C++) on Wi-Fi modules — Firebase sync, SMS fallback, signed command handling
Cloud backend: PocketBase + Go extensions for tables, sessions, and settings
M-Pesa STK Push integration — initiate payment, handle callbacks, unlock the table on success
Firebase Realtime Database for live device messaging and cloud-side analytics
Owner-facing web dashboard and SMS notifications to clients

Why I built it

Arcades, pool halls, and gaming lounges often rely on cash, manual timers, and staff to run pay-to-play tables. Gamedex automates the full loop — payment, unlock, session timing, and remote monitoring — so owners can run unattended tables and see revenue data in one place.

How it works

Hardware: custom control electronics designed and prototyped for pool-table automation
Device (gamedex-embedded): C++ on embedded Wi-Fi hardware — connects to Firebase RTDB, validates signed messages, executes unlock/timing actions, with SMS as a backup channel
Server (gamedex-server): Go + PocketBase API, Docker deployment, M-Pesa STK Push routes, Firebase Admin SDK for device messaging, bulk SMS hooks
Cloud dashboard: web frontend for owners — table status, payments, usage analytics, and client notifications
Data flow: player pays via M-Pesa → server confirms callback → cloud notifies device → table activates; telemetry and revenue stored for analysis

What I learned

Pay-to-play IoT is really a payments product with hardware attached — getting M-Pesa callback handling, idempotent unlock logic, and tamper-resistant device messaging right matters more than any dashboard polish. Designing the hardware and cloud protocol together from the start avoids painful retrofitting when field conditions differ from the lab.