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Is the Game Boy the Toughest Product Ever Made?

Posted by kdawson on from the electronic-cockroaches dept.

An anonymous reader writes "CNET is running an article about tough technology, which aptly includes the Nintendo Game Boy, a device so tough that mine still works after many years. 'There's no two ways about it: the original Game Boy is one of the hardest gadgets ever conceived. Rumor has it this beige behemoth isn't made of plastic, but from the skulls of fallen Gurkhas. If you ever saw one that was broken, it's because it lost a boxing match with a nuclear bomb — on points.' So do you agree that the Game Boy is the toughest consumer electronics device ever made?"

6 of 547 comments (clear)

  1. Phones (back when the phone company owned them) by myawn · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Back in the stone age when you didn't own your phone, but just leased it from the phone company, those things were darn near indestructible.

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  2. Blah by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    http://www.aqualion.com/blog/uploaded_images/football-777893.jpg

    I've had this for over 25 years. Still works.

  3. Spent a week in the lake by NickisGod.com · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I remember my brother dropped his Gameboy in a lake accidentally when he was younger. It was under water for a week until friends of ours with scuba gear found it.

    That damn thing worked after we dried it out for a couple days and popped fresh batteries in it. It was missing a couple lines on the display, but it worked.

    Granted, it was fresh water, but still.

  4. This one survived the first Gulf War by simdan · · Score: 5, Interesting

    A bit lightly toasted. The page has a link to a YouTube video on it as well.

  5. Creative Media by techpawn · · Score: 5, Interesting
    Zen Jukebox:

    1. Dropped in bucket of paint from hip height: still worked
    2. Dropped in bucket of paint thinner from chest height: Removed paint from earlier drop, still worked
    3. No vista support... Coaxed drivers on vista anyway... STILL WORKS BABY!
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    Ask not what you can do for your country. Ask what your country did to you
  6. Nokia 5165 by theoriginalturtle · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'd vote for this as one of the toughest ever made. One time I got home late at night and somehow left the phone on the roof of the car. Overnight, it snowed about five inches. I didn't feel like shoveling the driveway, so I just got in, gunned the engine and after a few back-and-forth runs, made it out onto the road. Got to work, couldn't find the phone. Finally, after I got home again, I took my cordless house phone outside and dialed the Nokia. Underneath the packed snow, under the car, there was a green glow and a faint ring. I dug the Nokia out, wiped it off, and it still worked. Sure, the stubby antenna had broken (easily replaced) but the screen wasn't cracked and it could still make calls. I still have that phone in a drawer somewhere and in the battery on the back there are still deep grooves from the grit on the tires rubbing through the plastic.

    What really got me was that I figured I had driven over the thing about eight times.

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