Momir Basic Printer (MBP)

Momir Basic Printer (MBP) is a set of Python scripts designed to run headless on a Raspberry Pi connected to a thermal receipt printer for playing the Momir Basic MTG format.

Table of Contents

• About
• Momir Basic Rules
• Examples
• Hardware
  • Components
  • Diagram
  • Photos
• Installation
• Service Management
• Configuration
• Disclaimer

About

Downloads card data from the Scryfall API, including card art which is dithered to monochrome on-device, and prints a random card within a set CMC value on demand via thermal printer. All settings are configurable via config.ini, and the software can run as a background service on any Linux-based SBC with GPIO. The complete hardware setup is designed to be compact and portable, with all components housed in a waterproof case.

Momir Basic Rules

• Number of Players: 2
• Starting Life Total: 24
• Game Duration: 10 minutes
• Deck Size: 60+ basic lands

Each turn players discard a basic land to activate Momir Vig's ability and get a random creature from throughout Magic's history!

Examples

Physical Card	Printed Card

Hardware

Components

• Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+
• Adafruit T-Cobbler Plus GPIO Breakout
• REXQualis Electronics Component Kit
• Maikrt MC206H Thermal Printer
• PAPRMA 57mm x 30mm Thermal Paper
• MakerFocus 20200330-SD8V OLED Display
• KY-040 Rotary Encoder Module
• Nilight 12V 20A SPST Rocker Toggle Switch
• SHNITPWR 60W Universal Power Supply
• LM2596 Buck Converter
• KeeYees 4 Channel IIC I2C Logic Level Converter

Diagram

Photos

Installation

1. Clone this repository and navigate to the project directory.

git clone https://github.com/MoritzHayden/momir-basic-printer.git
cd momir-basic-printer

2. Open src/config.ini in a text editor and update the configuration variables to add your specific settings (like printer connection details, GPIO pins, and other hardware settings) before proceeding.

nano src/config.ini

3. Make the setup script executable and run it. This will automatically install dependencies and configure the systemd background service.

chmod +x setup.sh
./setup.sh

Tip

If you are running a minimal setup and explicitly require the service to run as root, you can bypass the safety check by running: sudo ./setup.sh --allow-root

Service Management

View live logs and print statements:

sudo journalctl -u momir-basic-printer.service -f

Check the current status of the service:

sudo systemctl status momir-basic-printer.service

Restart the service (required after making code changes):

sudo systemctl restart momir-basic-printer.service

Stop the service:

sudo systemctl stop momir-basic-printer.service

Configuration

All configuration variables are stored in src/config.ini. Update the values in this file to match your specific hardware setup and preferences. After making changes to the configuration, restart the service for the changes to take effect.

Section	Variable	Type	Description
APP	booting_status	string	Status string shown while services initialize
APP	ready_status	string	Status string shown when the appliance is idle/ready
APP	refreshing_status	string	Status string shown during initial data refresh
APP	fetching_status	string	Status string shown while selecting/fetching a card
APP	printing_status	string	Status string shown while sending output to printer
APP	cancelled_status	string	Status string shown when active work is cancelled
APP	error_status	string	Status string shown when fetch/print fails
APP	reset_status	string	Status string shown after long-press reset
APP	done_status	string	Status string shown briefly after a successful print completes
APP	done_status_seconds	float	Duration in seconds to show done_status before returning to ready state
APP	services_unavailable_status	string	Status string shown when printer/Scryfall services are unavailable
APP	no_cmc_status_template	string	Template used when no card exists for selected CMC (supports {cmc})
APP	shutdown_join_timeout_seconds	float	Max wait time for worker thread during shutdown
FILESYSTEM	cards_path	string	Directory path where card JSON files are stored
FILESYSTEM	art_path	string	Directory path where card artwork images are stored
FILESYSTEM	default_card_art_path	string	File path to default placeholder image for cards without artwork
FILESYSTEM	access_rights	octal	File system permissions for created directories (octal notation)
HARDWARE	serial_port	string	Serial device path for the thermal printer (e.g., /dev/serial0)
HARDWARE	serial_baud_rate	integer	Baud rate for the serial printer connection (e.g., 9600 or 19200)
HARDWARE	printer_dtr_enabled	boolean	Enables GPIO-based DTR flow control; disable if the printer does not wire DTR reliably
HARDWARE	gpio_encoder_clk	integer	BCM GPIO pin for rotary encoder CLK signal (default: 13)
HARDWARE	gpio_encoder_dt	integer	BCM GPIO pin for rotary encoder DT signal (default: 6)
HARDWARE	gpio_encoder_sw	integer	BCM GPIO pin for rotary encoder push-button switch (default: 5)
HARDWARE	gpio_printer_dtr	integer	BCM GPIO pin for printer DTR hardware flow control (default: 17)
HARDWARE	printer_dtr_active_high	boolean	Whether the printer asserts DTR HIGH when its receive buffer is full
HARDWARE	i2c_address	hex	I2C hex address of the SSD1306 OLED display (default: 0x3C)
HARDWARE	i2c_port	integer	I2C bus port number (default: 1)
HARDWARE	oled_width	integer	OLED display width in pixels (default: 128)
HARDWARE	oled_height	integer	OLED display height in pixels (default: 64)
HARDWARE	display_font_size_cmc	integer	Font size for the main CMC text on OLED
HARDWARE	display_font_size_status	integer	Font size for the status text on OLED
HARDWARE	display_status_y_offset	integer	Vertical Y offset (px) for status text region
HARDWARE	display_status_default	string	Default status text shown during display initialization
HARDWARE	display_font_cmc_path	string	Font file path used for CMC text rendering
HARDWARE	display_font_status_path	string	Font file path used for status text rendering
HARDWARE	display_cmc_prefix	string	Prefix label used before current CMC value (e.g., CMC:)
HARDWARE	display_padding_x	integer	Left/right OLED padding in pixels for CMC and status text layout
HARDWARE	display_cmc_value_gap	integer	Horizontal pixel gap between the CMC prefix label and numeric CMC value
HARDWARE	hold_time	float	Seconds the encoder button must be held for a long-press action
HARDWARE	cmc_min	integer	Minimum selectable CMC value (default: 0)
HARDWARE	cmc_max	integer	Maximum selectable CMC value (default: 16)
HARDWARE	dtr_poll_interval	float	Seconds between DTR pin polls when printer buffer is full
HARDWARE	printer_dtr_timeout_seconds	float	Max time to wait on DTR before bypassing hardware flow control until restart
LOGGING	log_level	string	Logging verbosity level (DEBUG, INFO, WARNING, ERROR, CRITICAL)
LOGGING	log_format	string	Format string for log messages
LOGGING	log_date_format	string	Format string for timestamps in log messages
PRINTER	paper_width_mm	integer	Physical width of thermal paper in millimeters
PRINTER	paper_width_chars	integer	Maximum number of characters per line for text wrapping
PRINTER	card_art_enabled	boolean	Whether to print card artwork images on receipts
PRINTER	qr_code_enabled	boolean	Whether to print QR codes linking to Scryfall card details
PRINTER	qr_code_size	integer	Size of QR code in printer units (larger = bigger QR code)
PRINTER	dpi	integer	Printer resolution in dots per inch for image rendering
PRINTER	vendor_id	hex	USB vendor ID for the thermal printer device
PRINTER	product_id	hex	USB product ID for the thermal printer device
PRINTER	printer_profile	string	ESC/POS printer profile name for compatibility
PRINTER	printer_media_width_px	integer	Media width in pixels for image processing and scaling
PRINTER	min_title_spacing	integer	Minimum spaces between card name and mana cost on title line
PRINTER	paragraph_spacing	string	Escaped spacing appended after wrapped oracle text paragraphs
PRINTER	text_replacements_json	json	Character replacement map for printer-safe text normalization
SCRYFALL	base_url	string	Base URL for Scryfall API requests
SCRYFALL	bulk_data_endpoint	string	API endpoint path for bulk card data download
SCRYFALL	header_accept	string	HTTP Accept header value for API content negotiation
SCRYFALL	header_user_agent	string	HTTP User-Agent header identifying the client application
SCRYFALL	header_accept_encoding	string	HTTP Accept-Encoding header for compression support
SCRYFALL	request_delay_seconds	float	Delay between consecutive API requests to respect rate limits
SCRYFALL	max_retries	integer	Maximum number of retry attempts for failed API requests
SCRYFALL	art_width_px	integer	Target width in pixels for downloaded card artwork
SCRYFALL	excluded_sets	list	Comma-separated card sets to exclude (e.g., funny, memorabilia)
SCRYFALL	excluded_layouts	list	Comma-separated card layouts to exclude (e.g., token, emblem)

Disclaimer

Neither this project nor its contributors are associated with Hasbro, Wizards of the Coast, or Magic: The Gathering in any way whatsoever.

Copyright © 2026 Hayden Moritz