Winners of Engadget's Halloween Costume Contest!

We know it's a little late to be talking about this year's Halloween, and we didn't mean to keep everybody in suspense any longer over our annual costume contest. So we've finally tabulated our results; click on to check out the winners and costume gallery!

First place

Eric V's Pac-Man costume! Seriously, who would have thought the top to positions would be taken by Pac-Man costumes? We had to give it to Eric though; unlike second place, he actually fit inside his costume (instead of strapping it on), and while his build quality wasn't as impressive, dude did hand-craft his own arcade joystiq and hook that up to his laptop. Mad props Eric, we hope you like your new Vidabox SLIM home theater PC!

Second place

Russ L also made a helluva Pac-Man costume, right down to the arcade cabinet change box decal and fake keys. Nicely done, Russ, we bow before your cab-building skills. Care to build Engadget a sweet MAME box for HQ? Well, even if not you're walking away with an unlocked Motorola PEBL. More here and here.

Third place

A tie! Kristof E.'s mech suit is so insane we don't even really know what to make of it. Bonus points for looking a little like Tommy Lee Jones, too. Third place with a bullet! (Pun intended.) He'll snag an HP Photosmart E317 digital camera.

The other third place winner...

Joe M's working original Game Boy, complete with yellowy-tinted LCD! Hod damn that brings us back. Joe's gonna walk with a set of V-Moda Remix m-class headphones, and a wireless Xbox 360 headset. Nice job, dude!

Ok, now click on to see higher res versions of the winners and the rest of the costume contest gallery!

[eagletg @ Dec 27th 2006 4:18PM]

I found the second-place costume on Make... Anyone have a build-log for the first guy (Eric V)? Can't seem to find his...

Here's 2nd Place:
http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2006/11/how_to_pacman_a.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890

[eagletg @ Feb 13th 2007 2:54PM]

I found what I was looking for about the first place winner's rig... I knew about all of the other interfaces, but had never seen the Hagstrom one in-person. It's all clear now.

http://arcadecontrols.com/arcade_ke72.shtml

[eagletg @ Dec 27th 2006 4:32PM]

I figured out what the card is... It's a Hagstrom. I had never seen one of those before. (I'm more familiar with the Ultimarc stuff...) Here's a link:

http://arcadecontrols.com/arcade_ke72.shtml

[Chris @ Dec 27th 2006 4:31PM]

I like ot know more about Eris'c build too, like what that pci card is and how it all hooks to the laptop

[3rdsun @ Dec 27th 2006 5:42PM]

Ryan you guys must have a weak spot for pac-man cuz that guy with the voltron suit looked totally sick.

[gid @ Dec 27th 2006 6:26PM]

how in the world did that mech suit not win!

[ben @ Dec 27th 2006 6:32PM]

Go Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Paul @ Dec 27th 2006 6:39PM]

Hard to believe the first 2 people had the exact same retarded idea.

3rd place should have been 1st place, that thing is awesome.

[matt @ Dec 27th 2006 7:12PM]

Gameboy Luigi is HOT!

[Nate P @ Dec 27th 2006 8:45PM]

Anyone who shaves a six pack into their stomach should win by default...

[BrandonLehman @ Dec 27th 2006 9:14PM]

That mech should have been first place, honestly. It looks so much better than the *cough* lame looking pacman things.

[Nick @ Dec 27th 2006 9:31PM]

Halloween contest results... photo contest results soon?

Nice costumes, by the way. I don't know who that mech-guy is, but it looked awesome.

[jeff Foster @ Dec 28th 2006 12:12AM]

looks like you guys have some ridiculous hardon for "functioning games" costumes. - but i agree with everyone else, 3rd is much better than that tired functioning-gadget costume thing.

[apeguero @ Dec 28th 2006 1:34AM]

First place would've gotten my vote boys. Can't believe he didn't win based solely on originality since the first two were copies of each other.

[qbix @ Dec 28th 2006 2:05AM]

Well this is discouraging. I think the mech is a much, MUCH better costume than 1st and 2nd place. I mean, a working pac-man, ipod, gameboy, etc. is cool and I understand it requires a lot of work but it has been done before. If I was at a halloween party and these four people showed up, I'd be like "Oh look, a pacman arcade! That's really cool!... Oh wow, look at that, other pacman machine, that's cool! ...and here comes a gameb... HOLY SH%#!!! What the F#&% is that!!??" So yeah, I think the mech should've won, but at least I know how to get the top prize next year.

[cuby @ Dec 28th 2006 10:41AM]

i'd say the most imaginative costume was evan's LCD bullet wound. that was some phenomenal thinking!

and yeah, umm ... a guy builds a mame cabinet and just straps it to his chest? how is that even a costume? what's he supposed to be? "guy carrying arcade cabinet for some reason"?

bullet wound and naked mechman deserve the top honors without a doubt.

[Tom @ Dec 28th 2006 12:51PM]

With all those Pac-Man costumes, I can't help but post the one I made for a recent 80's party:
http://www.stainlessvision.com/junk/pac-man/final2.jpg

Construction:
http://www.stainlessvision.com/junk/pac-man/

[GaryT @ Dec 28th 2006 2:04PM]

I agree with the others - the Voltron guy should be first place.

[mitch @ Dec 30th 2006 11:28AM]

I think that the reason the Voltron guy didn't win is because this costume contest was gadgetry oriented. While Voltron may look the coolest, it doesn't seem to have a lot to do with gadgetry.

[rab0402 @ Jan 2nd 2007 10:24PM]

Yeah, this might have been interesting two months ago.....

[scott @ Jan 3rd 2007 3:50PM]

first off, that mech suit looks like it took alot more work than the "look, you can play me costumes." second, it should've won. third, all of them should try to market their ideas...mass-marketed playable costumes are probably gonna be here within 10 years or less.

If the wiimotes lit up, that would've been awesome, or if the ipods played.

[Joe McNabb @ Jan 17th 2007 7:58AM]

Here's some pics from Gameboy's night on the town.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/87215627@N00/sets/72157594365564079/

[Joe McNabb @ Jan 17th 2007 1:47PM]

Here's a couple of pics of the mech costume that I found on Flickr.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vuthy/283792195/in/set-72157594352198569?#comment72157594485116039

http://www.flickr.com/photos/vuthy/283792072/in/set-72157594352198569/

[Eric Vass @ Jan 22nd 2007 4:27PM]

We don't know each other. Pretty random coincidence though.

[Russell @ Feb 8th 2007 10:51AM]

Never did get my prize. Hell, I was never even contacted.

[Russell @ Feb 8th 2007 10:54AM]

And no, I did not know the other Pacman. I remember making my costume and thinking, "Well, at least it's unique." Opps! I think mine is prettier but he has the nice controls, so he deserved to win. Did you ever get your prize, Eric?

[Eric Vass @ Feb 21st 2007 4:50PM]

Russell, it was finally delivered today. With CES and all, they got kinda slack on us. Who's complaining though? The best kind of gear is the free kind.

[Russell @ Mar 21st 2007 10:45AM]

Well, I've never even received an email from them yet, so I'm very disappointed in the whole situation.