Bopit Extreme Speed / Cheat Hack

 by jhalfmoon
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A hack for the Bopit Extreme to make the game speed selectable. It's a bit tricky, because there are springs and wires everywhere, so you might want to consider not doing this hack, if you are afraid of breaking your Bopit. Re-assembling this thing can be considered by some as somewhat of a nightmare.

Background: This really cool game is just a little too fast for my 3 year old kid. If it were only a bit slower, it would be playable for the little bugger. So I modded it and now the game has the ability to have its speed set from reeeaaalllly sllllooowww to frickin' fast. A switch selects between default and custom speed. The custom speed is selectable with a potentiometer.

WARNING: You might break the game if you try this mod. Only do this if you are quite sure that you are capable of handling springs and wires jumping all over the place. If you doubt your own technical prowess, then you might be better off not screwing around. Stuff will shoot off in every direction if you're not careful, and even then. Pay attention and work slowly.

Required:
- 1x small 1Mohm potmeter
- 1x make-break-make sliding switch
- 1 meter of wire (I used wire salvaged from an old CAT5 ethernet cable)

- philips screwdriver
- soldering iron
- solder
- drill
- 3mm drill bit (for metal is good, for wood is better)
- hot glue gun (or epoxy, if you don't have a glue gun)
- fine sandpaper
- cleaning agent (alcohol, ammonia, or something similar)
 
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Step 1:

This is the most scary bit: Take the game apart. You do not need to remove the batteries to do this.

- Take note of which side has the big yellow button and which has the big green button.

- Remove the 8 screws on the front of the game

- Remove the 4 screws on the bottom. NOTE: One of the screws is longer than the rest. Make note of it.

- Carefully seperate the two parts containing the speaker and the batteries. NOTE: The big buttons will pop of and the two springs on each button will too. Catch everything before you loose it.

- Carefully remove the front and back halves. NOTE: Take special care with the 'twist it' knob, as it will jump apart when so much as looking at it. Also take a good look at how it should look when properly assembled, because sooner or later it *will* pop apart.
Thegr8wizard says: Dec 4, 2011. 6:47 AM
Awesome Hack - My son has this game nailed - now I can make it more difficult for him. You didn't mention the original value of R1 -- do you happen to know it? Thanks for a wonderful hack.
jhalfmoon (author) in reply to Thegr8wizardDec 22, 2011. 11:17 AM
Thanks for the tip! Though I don't quite think the Bopit's circuit would fry because of a runaway resonator. What could happen is that the processor might enter an undefined or illegal state, which a power-cycle would easily remedy.
Robot Lover in reply to Thegr8wizardDec 4, 2011. 10:07 AM
This is cool! I love these kind of hacks, simple, elegant and awesome!
jhalfmoon (author) in reply to Thegr8wizardDec 4, 2011. 10:02 AM
The original value of R1 is 333Mohm. Glad you like the hack!
ZPapaGeek says: Dec 6, 2011. 6:36 AM
Great Idea - may use it to keep my 90 year old In-Laws occupied over Christmas! May I suggest one improvement that may help keep you from frying your Bop-It? Keep is some resistance always in the circuit for the clock oscillator to see. Otherwise the clock could free-wheel and do funny stuff while you are switching the switch.

Assuming the higher the resistance, the slower the Bop-It, place the pot in series with the original resistor and use the switch to short around the pot.

OR If a lower resistance makes for a sluggish Bop-It, place the pot in series with the switch and place this combo is parallel to the original resistor.
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