Cardboard controllers are all the rage these days (just ask Nintendo), and now you can hop aboard the biodegradable bandwagon by using these gambi_abo blueprints to create your own for next to nothing.
Created by Brazilian game maker and researcher Enric Llagostera, gambi_abo is a free collection of do-it-yourself instructions for cardboard game controllers designed with accessibility in mind.
Dubbed GambiCons, each quirky contraption is cheap to make and easy to modify, and can be tweaked to fit a wide variety of games.
Llagostera hopes developers will take the chance to make modifications of their very own, and has implored his fellow creators to use the free designs to bring the political aspects of their projects to the fore.
“Let’s embrace making and playing games as a form of political action: this is the main reason behind the choice of topics and games for the GambiCons. Gambi_abo is designed to help bring a critical perspective on the capitalist world we live in. I believe alternative game controllers are great ways to challenge the way we play games and our expectations,” he wrote.
“While this transformative aspect has been mostly used to create InnovativeFun™, it also has a very political potential. In a way, if we can design controllers to change how we play, why can’t we do so in ways that politically engage with the world? gambi_abo is an invitation to do just that.”
It’s a neat idea, and one that’s sure to spark a lot of creativity and experimentation. There are currently three blueprints available, including a keyboard-based steering wheel and a curious looking bitcoin sieve.
You can find out more about the controllers themselves and the ideas behind them by checking out the gambi_abo GitHub page.