With Halloween just around the corner, makers all over the world are trying to figure out ways of combining electronics with pumpkins. The crew from Gurgle Apps - a family-run coding shop - have a fantastic Raspberry Pi Pico -based solution that’ll terrify trick-or-treaters with a jack-o-lantern’s mysterious flashing eyes.

Gurgle Apps are no strangers to the best Raspberry Pi projects. We've featured them before, showing us how to play Pong on a Pico and on the Pi Cast . The MicroPython code they’re using, available on the Gurgle Apps website, was written with the Pico in mind but should run on any RP2040 board .

Each eye is made up of a MAX7219 8x8 LED matrix, commonly found in call center status boards. The Gurgle team has a handy online tool for designing your own 8x8 sprites and the corresponding hex values you’ll need to incorporate them into your Python code. Animations are stored in a JSON file, and can be completely edited too.

All the code and a parts list can be found on the Gurgle Apps website, and there are some wonderful whiteboard-based wiring diagrams in the video above.