Kotaku reports on another cool DIY console mod: turn your Nintendo 64 rumble pack into a tattoo gun.
Anonymous Kotaku reader-slash-prison guard says:
It is actually pretty easy. There are no workshops in maximum security. They do it in their rooms with a battery (power) taped to a tube (could be a pen or a tightly wound piece of paper). The motor from the rumble pack is taken out and attached to the top of the tube. A needle or pin is run down the middle of the tube. When “on” the needle will move up and down like a sewing machine. The needle is then dipped in “ink.” This is made a number of ways; the easiest is to use ball point pen ink, but they could use other items to get different colors or looks.
Tattoo-making materials are forbidden in US prisons, but prisoners can purchase old N64s with the money they earn. Why video game controllers with rumble packs aren’t simply forbidden is unclear; perhaps there is a rehabilitative component to Diddy Kong Racing.
I set out to make a prison tattoo gun here in the office, using a pen, a battery and an Xbox controller. But I couldn’t find a tiny screwdriver to get the controller open. I’ll send an exclusive, collectible GGL wrist warmer to the first reader who sends me a picture of their homemade tattoo/rumble gun.
