100 Pounds of Rotten Potatoes Is All That’s Needed to Play Doom on a TI-84 Graphing Calculator
One hundred pounds of potatoes were boiled, sliced, and wired together to produce 100 to 120 mA (@ roughly 4.5/5V) to play Doom on a TI-84.
ID Software’s original Doom can run on nearly every piece of hardware imaginable, including ATMs, pregnancy tests, edge beveling machines, and more. In other words, it doesn’t take much to play the game, at least in terms of hardware, but what about alternative power sources? Could Doom be played using a Raspberry Pi powered by potatoes? That’s a question YouTuber Equalo was determined to answer, and set about looking to see just how many potatoes it would take to accomplish that feat.
Ordinary Russet potatoes are loaded with phosphoric acid, a crystalline liquid found in many drinks to provide a tangy flavor. When potatoes are jabbed with copper and zinc electrodes, it creates a chemical reaction that produces a voltage on a small scale. To produce enough voltage to power a Raspberry Pi, Equalo laid-out an 11 x 6 grid of halved spuds to generate roughly 10 mA, which was nowhere near enough juice to power the Pi, much less game on one. This meant he would need around 770 pieces of potato to generate around 4.5 to 5V, the bare minimum needed.
Equalo figured he would need about 100 pounds of potatoes to make the magic happen, then set about boiling them for a better chemical reaction, slicing them, and wired them all together. The setup process alone took several days and nights, and anyone who has ever placed potatoes in a dark, humid enclosure knows the tubers will grow mold almost instantly.
After enduring the rotten potato smell, Equalo hit a brick wall; there just wasn’t enough voltage to power the Pi. Not to be undone, he ditched the Pi in favor of a TI-84 graphing calculator, which provided enough juice to play Doom finally. Check out the video above for a more in-depth walkthrough of his project and revise Will Smith’s The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.