Weird Ouya Controller Piece? Huh?

DaytonaUSA · August 21, 2013

So I was playing my Ouya today, and having fun (while pulling out my hair trying to make the last non-working emulator work (the neo geo one)) and all of a sudden my controller started to rattle. No no, not the buttons which do tend to rattle, but an object which I could tell was about the size or so of a jelly bean was rattling around in my controller. I checked all my buttons, and everything worked. So I decided to have a look.

This made me research how to dissect the controller. I wouldn't recommend it unless you have to. Between the magnets wanting to grab hold of the screws, the battery connections which are a pain to reset back in place, and the trick of not dumping your face buttons all over the place (like I did), it wasn't fun.

In case you're wondering though, unlike many other controllers, the trigger buttons don't fall off once the case is off, which is nice.

Anywho, once I got literally everything taken apart (which means it was between the motherboards of the controller), this little piece finally fell out. What struck me as odd immediately was that it wasn't a broken piece of plastic. Meaning, there was no stress mark where it was obvious broke off from something... it was just there, perfectly molded with no place in the controller for it to be. Even the disassembly video is missing this part. It's like it doesn't even belong in there.

One side has a perfectly notched divot in it, and oddly enough the opposite side has a "3" engraved in it.

All my buttons work perfectly. In fact, the squeakiness of my left joystick has completely vanished after this part's removal. Anyone care to guess what it is? Was it some part from the factory that accidentally fell in or something? It seems to have no reason nor place to be in this controller.

Edited August 21, 2013 by DaytonaUSA