Kotaku
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.
Comments
Considering there is a kid I know who stuck one of these up his...well you know where, that's where I thought this was going. Thank god it's just about tattoos.
That is one great post... Would of never thought of that.
this is a brilliant article
That is sooo freaking awesome! Hahaha Go Nintendo!
Go smart,incarcerated, dangerous criminals!
Maybe not the criminals
Now how would the keep the rumble on long enough for that?
lol at "When 'on'..." and "...dipped in 'ink'..."
So how does that work? You just run around and around with the Stone of Agony until the tattoo is finished?
Nintendo must be so proud at this moment.
Best bit of random gaming trivia ever. EVER.
Someone should get a Manhunt 2 tattoo with the N64 pack. Its irony.
@sxp151: That was hilarious.
All in all, it seems like a pretty bad way to get a tattoo. I'd just take the ballpoint pen and redraw it every few hours.
I remember in my Street Law class we learned how jail men make little money,and they have a store where they can buy like black and white TVs and stuff :3
People would be amazed as to what convicts or jailmen can do. THey are smart when they need to get around somethings. THey are very intelligent and that kind of stuff. Now if they only applied else were. It sucks that most people that leave prison end up going back. Still i would own them online.
You think this is bad? Try making prison wine.
FYI another way to make a prison tattoo is to cut yourself and then put pen ink into it.
In sweden, people in jail get rich. Yep, its true.
We pay criminals with our tax money.
And becouse they are in jail and cant spend any of it really, they've got quite alot to spend when they actually get out.
Also, 'lifetime' in sweden is about 14 years (7 if you behave well).
I guess crime does pay.
@vagrantwade: This is more fun.
Homer: Now, this next one's for the ladies. How many times have you gals been late for a high-powered business meeting, only to realize you're not wearing make-up?
Marge: That's every woman's nightmare.
Homer: That's why I invented this revolutionary make-up gun. It's for the woman who only has four-fifths of a second to get ready. Close your eyes, Marge.
Prison is sad.
Nintendo: Not just printing ink on money anymore.
that is so awesome...
i'd imagine that if you were in prison, you could just use a needled to do a really, really, time consuming tattoo... =)
clever convicts... it's good to know our greatest analytical minds are using n64 rumblepaks to tattoo themselves in maximum security prisons =)
I still have mine. Maybe I should set up shop.
So thats why Nintendo stopped using rumble packs on next gen >_>
nintendo: innovative, even when were trying not to be, and really woudlnt want to be.
I'll have Mario tattooed on a Peach with a Dagger through it, please :)
@Plunkett:
No argument here. I didn't actually read the whole title of this article, so you can imagine what I was thinking when it got to "take the rumble paks and use them to make..."
I just had to click to read more!
@sxp151:
That was a good read. Laughed my ass off.
I assume that they just rig the rumble part directly to a power source. Maybe wire the rumble into your desklap. Turn the lamp on, the tattoo gun goes to work. Turn lampoff, and off goes tattoo gun. The rumble pack isn't hooked up to the N64 at all when tattooing I'm sure.
Often times jailhouse tats are just done with a safety pin and a pen. Takes a while, and certainly doesn't leave a professional looking tattoo, but it gets the job done. Also remember tattoos have been around a lot longer than modern tattoo guns, and many cultures still don't use the guns.
uh oh, doesn't the ps2 use rumble controllers?, should've gone for the sixaxis instead.
now i'm gonna have to dig out my n64 stuff and just try this
@Havok154: Agreed! :D
I manage an EB Games, and the prison in my city buys a lot of stuff from me. They have 8 Xboxs up there. 2 amusing things though. They aren't allowed to play 'M' rated games, lol. And they buy 3rd party controllers and take them apart and take all the rumble motors out for this very reason.
@debloon: People have been doing that with Dual Shocks for years.
@Jigen: Read the article again. They hook em up to batteries.
@Plunkett: Forgot it said battery. Thats kinda stupid though. Most likely they have to buy their own batteries, while juice from the wall is free. Though that may produce too much juice and make the needle go crazy.
Too bad guy I know doesn't get out of Attica for another 4 years or I'd just ask him what they do for tattoos.
Someone on my dorm floor made a tattoo gun with a ball point pen, a CD motor, (the thing that spins the disk) and a guitar string. It worked to he put a small star on is ankle.
Where did you think Peter Moore got those baadasssss tats?
@Krellie:
I've seen pics of the prisons you guys have. They look like a frigging day spa. Big spacious sunlit rooms, TV's in every room, etc.
That is so awesome! Lol!
gawker should set up the first n64ink shoppe ... i would go get my princess peach done there for sure.
@debloon:
Man... me too. Inmates in prison with colostomies will "rent" them out to other inmates... so I assumed from the title that this might be about rumble packs being "packed".
I just threw up in my mouth.
I wonder if they let the inmates have wii-motes?
:P
@sxp151: "This one's aroma was slightly more earthy. Do you know that smell of grass right after it's cut? That's nice. I was just making chit-chat, because this smelled like rotten eggs tucked into the anus of a dead cat."
Oh wow XD
That whole article was awesome.
As for the topic: prison really seems to turn people into MacGyver. I'm sure they've had ways of giving each other prison tats before they started disassembling the Rumble Pak, so why someone decided to is beyond me. The premise is simple enough, once the idea has already been thought of, but never in my experiences have I held an N64 controller or a Rumble Pak and thought "time to upgrade my tats!"
Necessity is the mother of invention, I suppose. Were I in a situation where I needed to dish out tats at a relatively incredible pace, or be crushed by the Cell Block D competition, I may have come up with it as well.
Shindoki's absolutely right. My gf's dad has told me about some pretty amazing stuff that went on while he was locked up.
cant you do this with all rumble controllers?
but then you ruin a controller and you cant play.i wonder how bad the beatings would be if you broke a controller to get the motor out.
@VoldtaEngler:
Just so you're clear, Sony rejected Manhunt 2 from the AO rating also, and MS would have if it was going to be on the Xbox
A buddy of mine I went to high school with is an aspiring tattoo artist and he made tattoos with like everything. (including rumble paks)
He got pretty good results from taking apart a cd player and using the thing that spins the cd to make the needle go up and down. Don't remember how he did it though.
@sxp151:
Great article. I was laughing so loud.
@Cell9song:
Yeah, some US prisons look better than my university dorms.
Got to watch out for those prison tats when you get out. Ever get in one of those CAT scan machines? Giant magnets. A lot of prison tats have heavy metals in them. Rips them right out of your skin.
In some Italian prisons you can serve time [url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/05/20/wmafia20.xml]and dinner[/url].
That's why Sony removed the tatooing device from the sixaxis.
I wonder if they tatooed Mario & Co. on their arms...
@Ghede: House?!
Necessity is the mother of invention.
Yeah, a tattoo machine isn't exactly a necessity, but as anyone who has seen that Mythbusters episode about the crossbow built out of a food tray, Styrofoam cup, and underwear elastic, it's obvious that some prisoners can MacGyver some seriously clever tools.
Of course, to quote the inimitable Maxwell Smart, "If only they used their powers for good, instead of eeevil."
Inmates are so innovative... they could probably find a solution to PS3 sales by using everyday materials.