Copyright Guinness World Records, Ben MacMahon It's been a while but still worth an article: A Game&Watch fan has made the world's biggest and playable(!) Game&Watch game. Tom Tilley from Australia made a huge Octopus Game for the Maker Faire Adelaide in 2017 and he made it into the Guinness Book of Records 2019.
The game measures 193 cm in width and 116 cm in height! Tom used an LCD TV, wood and various other materials.
gameandwatch.ch had the opportunity to interview Tom:
g&w.ch: Do you still own the Octopus game and if so, do you still play it?
Tom: Yes, I still own it and it stands assembled under a cover out in our garage. We only really play it now when people come to visit and they would like to see it.
g&w.ch: Why did you choose Octopus?
Tom: An aunt very kindly brought an Octopus Game&Watch back for our family as a gift after an overseas trip to Hong Kong in the early 80's. It's the only Game&Watch we ever owned and I still have it (and it still works nearly 40 years later!). When I decided to build a giant Game&Watch then this game was closest to my heart and I had one to use as a reference.
g&w.ch: Do you have any plans with it such as exposing it on exhibitions? Other plans?
Tom: It was featured in the 2019 Guinness World Records: Gamer's Edition and when that was released a local newspaper and radio station ran stories about the machine. As a result some people contacted me asking if I would be happy to bring it some events so I took it along for people to play at a street party, a library opening, and to a retro computing group meeting. Unfortunately, when I was transporting it to the Adelaide Retro Computing Group meeting I accidentally cracked the screen and didn't realise until I'd assembled it and turned it on. It took a while to track down a replacement screen but it is back up and running. I also modified the graphics and added a Santa hat to the Octopus so people could play it at a Christmas event at our church.
g&w.ch: Would you ever sell it?
Tom: My wife is very keen for me to sell it so we can reclaim the space in our garage! I'd certainly be open to selling it if someone wanted to add it to their games room or collection. I ordered a second copy of the Guinness World Records certificate so if I do sell it, the new owner can have an official certificate to say that it's the "largest playable Game&Watch" in the world.
g&w.ch: Will you build another game and Watch game? How about a Multi Screen Game?
Tom: I originally built it for Maker Faire Adelaide and quite a few people asked me if I could or would build a multi-screen Donkey Kong. I don't have any plans to build one or try and beat my own record at this stage but I did build a small proof of concept for Donkey Kong using some orange Manila folders and two iPads that could be scaled up to use much larger screens.
g&w.ch: Do you collect Game&Watch?
Tom: No. We only own the original and larger versions of Octopus.
g&w.ch: Do you collect any other handheld games?
Tom: No.
Thanks a lot Tom for the interview.
Click here for Tom’s project page with lots of information and photos.
Copyright Tom Tilley
Copyright Tom Tilley
Copyright Tom Tilley Copyright Guinness World Records, Ben MacMahon