Papier Macheniacs: The Chubby Atari Episode

Stand back, people! I'm doing a vintage post!

My little boy --whom I'm pretty sure is a reincarnated ancient soul-- has a thing for old stuff. His latest subject of fancy are old gaming consoles. Obviously, hitting the top of that very short list is the Atari. While I'm still looking for a local museum that actually showcases one, a little Papier Macheniacs just has to happen.

TA-DAAAH!

To shake things up a bit, we decided to go with a Chubby Chibi-type Atari. That, and the fact that we only had chubby household boxes to work with. Teehee…

So how did we get from here…

…to here? Sit back down and I'll tell you.

Perpetually running with the recycling theme, we got drinking straws and folder clips to make our console switches.

And another box, a plastic dome, and an empty Push Pop for the joystick,

Oh! And coins for buttons. Shinyyyy...

We slathered those babies up with PVC glue and paper towel strips. Then, we twisted the clips through the holes we made on the switchboard. The console won't be working for real, so the least we could do was make the switches toggle. :) Ah, simple joys.

The same manner of folder clip sorcery was applied to the joystick. We slipped it through a hole we bored through the dome. So when you move the stick, it toggles, too.

Then, we went on to add the killer details to our soap box game cartridges. My boy chose the games himself. Not that he's played any of these games in his young life… but yeah.

Next was just a whole lot of painting and nitpicking. The operative word being 'nitpicking'. And quite possibly 'a whole lot of'. But then, that would already be an operative phrase. Hmm…

And before you can say 'PONG!', we were done!

We even had the time to work the back features. Family Fist Bump!

Now, I wouldn't know if you'd like to make your own paper mache Atari console. I don't think half the population is as nuts as my brood. :P But if you do get the itch, just follow this step-by-step DIY, get messy, and have fun!