After we ran the story about British criminals and their PS2s yesterday, I got an email from a reader who works at a Super Max prison in the US. He says that a lot of American prisons also have PS2s, which the prisoners have purchased using the small amounts of money they earn from prison work. And that that's all good. The N64, though, was a different story. Correctional Officers hated the N64. Why? Because they were real popular with the crims, who would take the rumble paks and use them to make...tattoo guns. I asked how this was done:

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.

Next time you're ticking off the list of firsts for the Nintendo 64, remember to include the fact it was the first home console to give incarcerated, dangerous criminals access to a sweet-ass, DIY tattoo gun.

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