Nintendo playhouse returns us to childhood innocence

Fanboys (and girls) with enough cashflow and skill can certainly drop a few jaws with their heartfelt creations / collections, and while the Mac cathedral certainly holds a special place in the hearts of Apple freaks abroad, the Nintendo playhouse doesn't fare too badly either. While the production certainly isn't perfect from an architectural viewpoint, the creativity and sheer brilliance of such a domicile is worthy of applause, as the life-sized Game Boy, littering of characters, and barrage of retro inspirations are enough to make just about anyone show some respect. Unfortunately, we've absolutely no idea where in the world this palace is located, but until the quest to locate it finally concludes, be sure and hit the read link for homegrown Nintendo mania.

UPDATE: We've been informed that this was a part of the spring carnival at Carnegie Mellon University, and we owe this honor to Sigma Phi Epsilon, who had the hand in constructing it. Kudos!

[Via NintendoWiiFanboy]

[Sock @ Apr 21st 2007 2:18PM]

Wtf... that cartridge is upsidedown!!! Theyll never get it working now...

[Tavis Veighey @ Apr 21st 2007 2:25PM]

LOL Yea, it was Super Cool looking untill I saw the upside down cart... Everything else looks good, but the cart being Upside Down just makes me think, "NOOB!!!"

ha ha ha

[Grey Acumen @ Apr 21st 2007 10:33PM]

Sadly, it took me about 5 seconds to realize what this was, it only took me .5 seconds longer to notice the cartrige was upside down as well.

[Dave @ Apr 21st 2007 3:32PM]

NOOB?? You idiots - the cartridge is upside down and sticking out because that was one of the tricks to get the NES to play after several years of use. Since the cartridge slot had a spring mechanism inside that locked it down and into place, you had to jam another cartridge in on top of the game to hold it down.

You punks obviously didn't log many hours on the original Nintendo...

[cmonkey @ Apr 21st 2007 2:26PM]

It's a booth for spring carnival at Carnegie Mellon University. That booth was constructed by Sigma Phi Epsilon. The outside is nothing compared to some of the stuff inside the thing, including a virtual reality game.

Also, right across from that booth is a Zelda: Ocarina of Time booth complete with a 14ft ocarina connected to a working ~6ft wide N64 controller that plays it. (disclaimer: I helped build the Zelda booth :p)

[FranchiseBrief.com @ Apr 21st 2007 2:42PM]

This makes me feel 10 years younger :-)

[CMoments @ Apr 21st 2007 2:42PM]

The midway at the Carnegie Mellon spring carnival is open to the public, free, and conveniently located in downtown Pittsburgh. It should be open until 11pm EST Saturday, Apr 21 '07 (I think). Come on down and have a good time!

[drew @ Apr 21st 2007 2:44PM]

This palace is located in Pittsburgh, PA on the CMU campus for their annual carnival, it was built by a frat on campus.

[rems @ Apr 21st 2007 2:48PM]

There's a gun in the picture, bring peace not violence !

[jwhairybob @ Apr 21st 2007 3:30PM]

this is on my campus this weekend... here's an HDR shot that i took yesterday: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jwhairybob/466752764/in/set-72157600101413056/

[Shadyman @ Apr 21st 2007 4:17PM]

You could always use a Game Genie..

[Tavis Veighey @ Apr 21st 2007 6:43PM]

I never had to jam a second cart on top of one to keep it in. I was carefull with my system. (And I also used a GameGenie)

I just dissabled the switch thingy to trick it into thinking that the cart was pushed down when it was not for a friends NES.

[DKel @ Apr 21st 2007 3:51PM]

First, those who posted with C___ names, your owned by your school. I went there so I can sympathize, a little, but come on. Second, someone post some pictures of the rest of booth. Third, did DU ever get there house back (I'm a former pledge)? If any of you know Maximilian Lerner or Jordyn Melino, tell them Dylan is sorry he isn't there and misses them. Good luck to all you CMU students, the hell doesn't last forever.

[Kush @ Apr 21st 2007 6:36PM]

I have friends who made this booth

[Steve @ Apr 21st 2007 7:36PM]

you should see their star wars booth from last year
http://www.thetartan.org/2006/4/24/pillbox/indepthbooth

[Dean @ Apr 21st 2007 7:44PM]

DU got their house back, and promptly lost it again. One of the sororities is moving in instead.
http://www.thetartan.org/2007/4/16/news/fraternity

[mitch @ Apr 22nd 2007 2:55AM]

I was there in person to check it out – total props to the frat that built it. Their frat t-shirts left me at least a little bit envious.

[sakazzaz @ Apr 22nd 2007 4:56AM]

Alright SigEp! I read Engadget everyday, and as a brother in the Cal Alpha Chapter (UC Berkeley) I never expected to see Sigma Phi Epsilon's name here. Good to know our Pennsylvania Theta brothers are kickin' butt and takin' names at the carnival. Any other SigEps out there?

[Adam Pennington @ Apr 22nd 2007 12:50PM]

Sadly, this booth was torn down at some point in the last few hours (on schedule). http://carnival.andrew.cmu.edu/ shows the progress of booths being turned into dumpster material live.

[Ryao @ Apr 23rd 2007 12:52PM]

To let you know- the booth received 1st place for fraternity booths as well as the environmental award and the alumna's choice award.

If you would like to see more pictures of the entire carnival- check out
www.tcpulse.com