Unfortunately our time with the TinyArcade was cut short. We put it together and we had fun playing the installed games.

Then we followed these instructions in order to set up Arduino in my son's computer:
https://tinycircuits.com/blogs/learn/158833543-tinyscreen-setup

Board showed up, port showed up fine. We initiated the upload of the TinyScreenExample. Arduino said it was completed. But our TinyArcade shows nothing. In fact, now the TinyArcade doesn't work anymore. On/off/on again, nothing.

The instructions point to another page on the oWatch web site, where it explains how to reset the TinyScreen:
http://theowatch.com/start/troubleshooting/reset-tinyscreen/

But the web page says:
To reset the TinyScreen, power off the TinyScreen using the slide switch. Use a pencil or some other similar object to slide the switch down to the OFF position.

"Then press and hold the button closest to the usb connector while sliding the switch to the ON position. Then try uploading your program and it should work. Repeat this step if it doesn't. If it still doesn't resolve the problem please contact us for support."

Excuse me? What button closer to the USB port? Well, we tried both buttons. We held them as we turn the TinyArcade back on. Nothing.

Can anybody recommend us what to do?

Hi John,

I'm myself pretty new to the TinyCircuits hardware, but knowing from my TinyScreen+, these devices have a bootloader mode that you can reach to upload sketches regardless of what is uploaded right now.

For your case with TinyArcade I've found the following post by Ben that might be helpful for you and your son:
http://forum.tinycircuits.com/index.php?topic=1676.msg3157#msg3157

TL;TR:
- Set your Arduino IDE to "Internal 32KHz Oscillator" (should be in the build menu)
- switch the Arcade off, then while pressing both buttons, switch it back on

Usually this should show up a black screen with a white text saying someting about "Bootloader Mode"

Note: Even if the screen is still black at that stage, try uploading anyway.
One of four TinyScreen+ I own have a different bootloader and do not show that text screen, while still being in the bootloader mode.

Cheers
Andreas

Hi John,

Sorry to hear about your troubles with the Tiny Arcade. It seems as though you found information on resetting the TinyScreen into Bootloader Mode but not the Tiny Arcade. To put the Tiny Arcade into Bootloader Mode, hold down the two buttons to the right of the joystick; while holding these buttons, power on the Tiny Arcade with the power switch in the rear.

Please let us know if this resolves your issue.
Thanks!

Hello everyone! Thesko and Hunter, thank you for your replies. I'm happy to report that I made it work with your help. Thank you!

Just to make sure I did all the right things, I basically started again with a fresh new install of Arduino. Also, I did not have the build option as "Internal 32KHz Oscillator".

As of yesterday, on my work laptop, even when the settings were correct and based on all the articles I read, the machine was not showing up as a port in Arduino, when it was on and in Bootloader Mode. I'm going to try to see if I can fix the other laptop and post back if I find a solution.

For now, I'm happy that at least we've got the machine back in one of our laptops and start coding.

Thanks again.