This my first time using MakeCode Arcade, I have a budge for this course, what are some resources to help the learning process? Is microbits a good tool to use with MS Makecode Aracde?
Hi Sonia! Welcome to the Forum! Hardware devices are a great supplement to MakeCode Arcade - see Hardware (makecode.com). There are hand-held game devices that students can use to download their games to and share with others. There’s also game controller projects like the MakeCode Arcade Shoebox Controller and students can even create their own full arcade game kiosks/cabinets. Micro:bits could also be used as a supplemental device - take a look at this Code a Carnival unit that uses micro:bits - http://aka.ms/carnivalteacher. Hope this helps!
Jacqueline
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Hi, @SoniaLegg ! Welcome!
There is a separate MakeCode environment specifically for the BBC micro:bit.
If your school already has micro:bits and you want to use them with MakeCode Arcade, then you can purchase adapters specifically for that from ELECFREAKS.
Separate hardware, though, is not strictly necessary to use MakeCode Arcade, which is one of its appeals. Hardware is nice, for sure, but it’s not necessary!
Let us know what age group and style of class you are targeting, and we can try to offer you options for curriculum and other resources.
Hi Alex
I am teaching 9th - 12th-grade students, regular Computer Science, and AP Computer Science to 9th graders.
I would like to order micro-bits and the hardware I need to allow us to work in the MakeCode Arcade environment with the hardware.
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Hi, @SoniaLegg !
You also can order a kit with the ELECFREAKS adapter and a BBC micro:bit together.
Be sure to read the instructions at the ELECFREAKS wiki page. To use the BBC micro:bit with MakeCode Arcade, you will need to activate a feature that is still in beta.
I just checked this out and Code a Carnival is a real nice and comprehensive activity pack. Nice work!
I also see there are assignments for the micro:bit:
“Guess My Age
Player enters their age into the micro:bit. Once done, the host makes a guess about the user’s age. If the host’s guess doesn’t match the micro:bit, the player wins.”
Did not quite figure it out, but is this a crossover challenge, where the player inputs on the micro:bit and the host somehow is on MakeCode Arcade, communicating somehow from the micro:bit program to the Arcade game?
I am aspiring to, similarly to Code a Carnival, to have mixed coding sessions in classes, with Arcade and micro:bit, and maybe other MakeCode products. Some progression is made with using the micro:bit as a controller for Arcade games over Bluetooth(inspired by @peli), but I only get it to work with Chromebooks.
Does the @makecode team or you have other resources, examples, links or suggestions for combining Arcade with micro:bit, communicating between somehow in a fun and educating way, wired or wirelessly, with or without extensions?
Great to hear! I can’t take credit for this - @KIKIvsIT is the mastermind behind Code a Carnival. The micro:bit in these lessons are used as separate components - so no programmatic crossover. However, we just released support for downloading Arcade Games to micro:bit v2’s + game shield - see Hardware (makecode.com)
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That is amazing, thanks for the info! Got to check that out; just recently bought a micro:bit V2 for better Bluetooth support according to @bsiever, with the crossover intention of using the V2 as a controller for MakeCode Arcade or other inputs from the micro:bit to MCA games. -But this is just soooooooo 2019 compared to this, which I should have picked up on already from @AlexK’s post above!.. 
Maybe also worth it to check out the mouse and keyboard extensions, and maybe the data logger, for using hardware as input to the computer.
But these are all from hardware and to the computer/MCA. Apart from the planned mouse/keyboard support in MCA, are there any ways to get data from the computer/MCA to the micro:bit other hardware?
Here is a project sending serial data from a physical keyboard to a micro:bit:
http://www.suppertime.co.uk/blogmywiki/2020/08/ps2-keyboard-microbit/
But I have not yet found or figured out how to send data(maybe serial, Bluetooth or USB) from the computer, or even better, from a MCA game, to a micro:bit.
Would this be possible or does anyone have examples of this already done?
(Wish I had a faster brain and more time…)