Switch & Lever's Sega-Inspired Egg Carton Controller

Do you like retro gaming? Do you also like eggs that come in the little six-packs? Well then, Daniel Jansson of the Switch & Lever YouTube channel shows you how you can combine the two into a surprisingly usable controller. In fact, the build can probably be made for ~$10 or so in parts.

To create this "eggcellent" controller, the carton is first reinforced with a strip of cardboard using adhesive spray. From there, Jansson glues on three light-up momentary buttons, a smaller fourth non-light-up button, and a joystick, emulating the standard Sega Genesis controller from back in the day.

The project also employs a strip of copper tape that appears to act as a bus, though one could see the same sort of setup used for a capacitive touch setup. Inputs are sensed and interpreted via an Arduino Pro Micro, along with the joystick library found here.

While you might not want to enter a gaming competition with this sort of controller, it’s a fun build that requires a minimum of tools (hot glue, a soldering iron, and knife). You could even make your own in an afternoon!

For a more involved Switch & Lever build, check out this beautiful wooden synth!