Summer is almost over in the northern hemisphere, which means one of the only universally good parts of summer—in-season produce—is almost behind us, too.
Combine the boredom of a season spent largely in lockdown due to a global pandemic with the poster-fruit of summer, and for at least one college student, you get a playable Game Boy housed inside a fresh watermelon.
Videos by VICE
The Melon Boy (not its official name) is a Raspberry Pi connected to buttons, a small LCD screen, and an external battery pack, all jammed into a hollowed-out grocery store watermelon.
Cedrick, an information systems student at the Singapore Management University, said in the description for the YouTube video of the MelonBoy that he was inspired during Covid-19 lockdown to build a gaming console.
“Making a console has always been a favorite project for the rpi [Raspberry Pi] community, it’s one of those things you definitely need to try if you are in the scene,” he wrote. “I decided to attempt the project myself with an added personal twist :)”
The watermelon actually makes a nice casing for the hardware, as it’s malleable enough to make a snug fit for jamming the buttons into the rind.
He plays Pokemon Emerald on the MelonBoy to the grocery store watermelon bin and records people’s befuddled reactions, and then takes it on the city train and plays it next to some slightly concerned commuters. It does kind of look like a fruit-shaped bomb, though.
Cedrick uses a small watermelon that can be held easily with two hands—important for the portability of the MelonBoy. As we know, hauling too-heavy melons from the store is a serious concern for some people, and a normal-sized 20 pound watermelon would simply be too much of a workout on the forearms.
