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)

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.

Step 2:

Locate the circuit bord and locate the resistor labled 'R1'. On my Bopit it has the value of 333Mohm. You can see it highlighted on the image. De-solder this resistor and save it, because you'll be using it again in the next step.

Step 3:

Build the circuit as indicated by the schematic diagram, using wires and solder. Re-use the resistor that was previously removed from the circuit bord.

The wiring should look approximately like that shown in the second image.

Step 4:

Solder the two loose ends of the wires of circuit you built in the previous step to the bottom of the circuit bord, in the place where resistor R1 used to be. The polarity of the wires is irrelevant, so it doesn't matter which wire goes in which hole. Check that you don't accidentaly create any solder bridges / short circuits.

If possible, try to turn the Bopit on and test this setup. Make sure everything works before continuing.

Step 5:

Now use a small drill to make some hole in the bottom of the casing, next to the 'spin it' wheel.

- A hole for the potentiometer
- A slot about 1 cm wide for the switch

Depending on the size of your potmeter and switch, you may want to make the holes a bit bigger.

Also use a bit of sandpaper to make the inside of the casing around the holes a bit rough. Then clean the inside using alcohol, amonnia or some other cleaning agent. You need to make sure the glue will stick properly.

Step 6:

Use a hot glue gun to glue the potmeter, the switch and the resistor in place.

Check that...
- the potmeter is aligned nicely with the hole
- the switch has enough space in the slot to be switched completely one way and the other
- the wires are long enough, but not too long
- the components are glued tightly to the casing

NOTE: The picture and red text quality is horrible. Fortunately it's not rocket science.

Step 7:

Once the components are glued in place, you can start guiding the wiring such that it will not jam anywhere once the casing is closed up. This part is a bit tricky. The image illustrates how I wired it.

NOTE: Try not to let any wires rest against the lever attached to the 'spin it' wheel. If you do, then the wheel might not spin as easily as you might like. Also, you might want to hide the resistor in a less-visible place than I did. In the first image you can't see it, because it's behind the 'spin it' wheel. The second image shows how it was placed. It doesn't really look very nice there, so you might want to find a better place for it.

Step 8:

Once the wiring is in place, the casing can be closed again.

- Join the front and back of the casing. Watch out that no wires get jammed between the casing.

- Replace the big yellow and green buttons with their springs and hold them in place with your hand

- Replace the top and bottom halves over the buttons

- Check that every mechanical thing works

- Screw all screws back in place

Your done! When the machine is all closed up and the screws are all in place, this is what the modification may look like on the outside.