Whether you're trying to write an Arduino game, drive a robot, or simulate the control of a rocket ship, there are lots of fun reasons to use a joystick with your Arduino or Arduino-compatible device. This easy-to-use, fully assembled Arduino shield lets your Arduino sketches access any old-style PC joystick with a 15-pin (DB-15) game port interface.

The shield comes with an Arduino library and example sketch demonstrating how your program can read the joystick's position. The X and Y movement of the stick are returned in steps from -100 (fully up or left) to +100 (fully down or right). Your sketch can also detect button-pushes for up to two joystick buttons.

The Joystick Shield comes with Arduino Stacking Headers, making it easy to combine with other shields to build more complex sketches. Our shield also lets you pick which analog and digital pins it uses -- the X and Y position can use your choice of analog inputs A0, A1, A2 and A3; the buttons can use digital inputs 6, 7, 8, or 9. This flexibility ensures maximum compatibility by letting you avoid pin conflicts if your sketch is using other Arduino pins. You can even stack two of the Joystick Shields on top of each other and use two separate joysticks from your sketch -- perfect for two-person games!

The shield also comes with a prototyping area consisting of a 15x8 matrix of 0.1" spaced holes, useful if your project needs space for other discrete components.

A joystick with a 15-pin (DB15) game port interface is required, and not included with the shield. (USB Joysticks are not supported.) If you don't have a game-port joystick in your junk drawer, many are available at low cost from your local thrift store, PC recycling shop, and auction web sites such as E-Bay.