I'm new to Raspberry Pis.
I've always liked the idea of them, but never really knew what I would build, and was hesitant to buy the parts, only to realise that I was too stupid to understand how it all worked anyways.
Finally, after far too much delay (I originally heard of these things years ago) I found a couple of really simple projects, and decided that I would give them a go.

Enter Pwnagotchi. This cute little demon scans wifi bands, conducts basic penetration tests, and sniffs handshake packets from the friends it makes.
It levels up, too, and if you choose, it can connect to an online scoreboard.
The main part though, is that it's customizable, with many styles and community made plugins, etc. I have had fun exploring different people's pwnagotchi builds, and in customizing mine just for the fun of it, I have learned a little bit more about how the Pis work in general, which is exactly what I was hoping would come of this.
And so, whilst I have a cute little Pwnagotchi on my desk, it's actually running a bunch of different scripts in the background, as whenever an idea strikes, I test it on 'Little-T3rr0R'. Part of the fun of this project has also been designing and printing a custom case for the little guy, too.

To get up and running with your own Pwnagotchi is extremely easy, and a great introduction to using Pi as well as a Waveshare screen, and other ancilliaries that you chose to plug in (such as external wifi antennas, fans, battery packs...)
I'd recommend one as a startup project, as it's almost entirely software based, and can get up and running with nothing but the Pi itself, if you choose to go minimalist. I reccommend a screen, at minimum, though, so that you can run other projects off of it too, and learn how to output graphical/visual data.


Eventually, I think my Pwnagotchi will be retired, as I plan on repurposing the Pi. Dont get me wrong, the Pwnagotchi has been fun (and made a great pocket heater on some cold night strolls!) but it has served its purpose as the introduction that I needed, and when my other projects get off of the ground, I will update them here.
I'm thinking of a digital picture frame that displays poetry and quotes, and maybe refreshes for each day. Slowly, throughout the course of the day, vines or fractal art will grow across the frame, starting at the edges. In my mind, it looks cool.
We will see how we go.

Example Pwnagotchi