Largest Joystick in the World Atari 2600

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https://www.chron.com/culture/article/Game-on-9-foot-video-game-joystick-sets-record-16597864.php#photo-21681053

 

 

 

HANOVER, N.H. (AP) — A 9-foot-tall (2.7-meter-tall) video game joystick made of wood, rubber and steel has made it into the Guinness World Records 2022 as the largest.

Dartmouth College professor Mary Flanagan created the giant controller — nearly 14 times the size of an original classic Atari controller — in 2006 to celebrate her childhood experience of “maniacally” playing Atari 2600 video games.

She also wanted to see what it would be like when a single-player experience becomes collaborative: It takes at least two people to operate the joystick and push the button to play classic Atari games such as “Centipede" and “Breakout."

“To have this common pop culture artifact just erupt in the middle of a space and allow people to play something familiar, yet not familiar, was exciting,” said Flanagan, an artist who is chair of Dartmouth's Film and Media Studies and the Sherman Fairchild Distinguished Professor in Digital Humanities.

The joystick, which toured Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States, is now part of the permanent collection of ZKM Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe, Germany.

 

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[Melvin Missile]

That's really cool!

[+Karl G]

Cool. But it looks like she should have created the world's largest paddle controller instead.

[+D Train]

an atari joystick is 5" tall.  Nine feet is 108"

 

that joystick is 21.6x the size of a traditional joystick.

 

can't anyone do math?

 

*this* joystick is 15x the size of a traditional atari joystick...

 

 

I wonder if the nine foot tall joystick pivots on a golf ball, or whether they had to move up to a bowling ball.

[InfoMan]

13 hours ago, Karl G said:

Cool. But it looks like she should have created the world's largest paddle controller instead.

Exactly. Breakout is no fun with a joystick, even on a normal size one controlled by one person.

[RJ]