How to Build a Giant Floor Mat Nintendo Controller
Remember the good old days before “aerobic gaming,” when you could just sit on your butt and wiggle your thumbs? Well those days are gone; time to get up, stand up, and put your feet to work.
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You Will Need
- A Nintendo game system and controller
- A 3-feet by 5-feet piece of cardboard
- About 40-feet of insulated red wire
- 6-feet of insulated black wire
- A roll of aluminum foil
- A roll of clear packing tape
- 32 sheets of construction paper
- Some gray, red, and black felt
- A soldering gun
- A screwdriver
- Some scissors
Steps
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Step 1
Take apart the controller
Take apart the controller, and remove the green circuit panel. Each of the 8 controller button terminals has 2 leads - one that connects to ground, and the other that goes to one of 8 poles. Make a mental note of which button leads to which pole.
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Step 2
Solder wire to poles
Flip the board over and solder a length of red wire to each of these 8 poles. Solder a length of black wire to the ground terminal.
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Make sure you attach at least 5 feet of wire to each pole; they’ll need to stretch a long way.
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Step 3
Cover cardboard with foil
Cover the large piece of cardboard with aluminum foil, and tape the single ground wire to this base layer.
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Step 4
Stack construction paper
Stack 4 pieces of construction paper together and cut several holes in them. Tape the stack along its edges to the aluminum foil in the same location as the button you’re creating.
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Step 5
Tape foil over paper
Tape a smaller piece of foil over the construction paper – but make sure it’s not touching the base layer of foil.
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Step 6
Tape wire to foil
Tape the corresponding button wire to the small piece of foil.
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Step 7
Repeat
Repeat this process for the remaining seven buttons.
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Step 8
Cut out felt
Cut out felt in the shape of the actual controller buttons.
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Step 9
Attach oversized buttons
Flip the cardboard over, attach the oversized buttons, and get ready to hop around like Super Mario himself.
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The Nintendo company was founded in 1889 and originally produced handmade Japanese playing cards.
