Puzzle Bobble on a screen with a physical gadget in front

Crafting A Cardboard Tribute To Puzzle Bobble

January 2, 2025 by Heidi Ulrich 2 Comments

What do you get when you cross cardboard, deodorant rollers, and a love for retro gaming? A marvel of DIY engineering that brings the arcade classic Puzzle Bobble to life—once again! Do you remember the original Puzzle Bobble aiming mechanism we featured 12 years ago? Now, creator [TomTilly] has returned with a revamped version, blending ingenuity with a touch of nostalgia. [Tom] truly is a Puzzle Bobble enthusiast. And who could argue that? The game’s simplicty makes for innocent yet addictive gameplay.

[Tom]’s new setup recreates Puzzle Bobble’s signature aiming mechanic using surprising materials: deodorant roller balls filled with hot glue (to diffuse LED colours), bamboo skewers, and rubber bands. At its heart is an Arduino UNO, which syncs the RGB LED ‘bubbles’ and a servo-driven aiming arm to the game’s real-time data. A Lua script monitors MAME’s memory locations to match the bubble colours and aimer position.

But this isn’t just a static display. [Tom] hints at a version 2.0: a fully functional controller complete with a handle. Imagine steering this tactile masterpiece through Puzzle Bobble’s frantic levels!

Need more inspiration? Check out other quirky hacks like [Tom]’s deodorant roller controller we featured in 2023. Whether you’re into cardboard mechanics or retro gaming, there’s no end to what clever hands can create.

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Bust-a-Move Physical Controller

November 8, 2012 by Mike Szczys 7 Comments

This set of PVC cranks make you work for your game of Puzzle Bobble, also known as Bust-a-Move. It uses a little cannon centered at the bottom of the screen to pop bubbles based on like colors. There is a cartoon character that cranks as hard as it can to aim that cannon, and this hack brings that effort into the real world.

The controllers are made from PVC. A bit of creative use of joints and different pipe diameters make for a freely rotating rig. Rotation is monitored via the optical encoder wheel from an old mouse. Above you can also see the plastic container that hosts the ‘fire’ button. Since the mouse is already an input device, there’s no other electronic work to be done. Just plug the controllers in and map the wheel/buttons to the game you want to play. Make sure to check out the demo video embedded after the break.

If Angry Birds is more of what you’re playing these days you should consider building your own slingshot controller.

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