Honestly I’d just go low-ish tech and give them a key, or install a lock with a keypad and teach them a number. The security problems with automatic smart locks are too big, in my opinion.

Fwiw I picked up one of those aqara sensors and had trouble with it. It really doesn’t like the ceiling fan. Plus I think my bedroom is too small. There’s probably a sweet spot in room size. The light level meter worked as expected tho.

I ended up using a pressure pad wired to an aqara leak sensor and it works well. The trick is finding a big enough pad.

Edit: you could also use the states of multiple devices? We almost always use the aforementioned ceiling fan so you could make an automation like "if ceiling fan ON and lights OFF, disable (light on automation)

All of that is sick as hell, and as a fellow home assistant user I respect all the work you must have put into the automation.

For the GameCubes tilted on display, do you run them like that? I feel like it would increase the risk of damage to the discs.

This. I use zigbee2mqtt and there’s a lot of resources about what devices are supported.

I’m shocked that this isn’t everyone’s answer tbh lol