BrickStation makes the Lego PlayStation actually work

Substance Labs in Zug has made a business out of getting Lego models to work. The team's BrickBoy kit for the Lego Game Boy raised over 1 million euros on Kickstarter from about 5,500 backers. Next in line is the 1,911-piece Lego PlayStation (72306), which came out on 4 October at $179.99. BrickStation is a kit that goes in where the Ape Escape diorama sits on the left side of the set. According to the press, installing it takes five minutes, and when you take the kit out the set goes back to the way it was.

Inside, PS1 emulation does the work. The picture goes to the TV over HDMI, and games load from a microSD card. Original PS1 memory cards work too. The kit doesn't read discs. There's talk of copying your own discs to the card with an external USB CD drive, but how that will be done isn't settled yet. The Lego power button works with a magnet and lights a green light. A small speaker and a vibration motor also imitate the CD spinning up (a charming bit of stubbornness). The kit adds 83 pieces to the set, for 1,994 in total.

No price has been announced, and the campaign's start date isn't known either. For now only Kickstarter's "notify me" page is up. The Lego set doesn't come with the kit. That the kit has a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W inside appears only in the press; the maker hasn't confirmed it. Nobody has one in hand yet, so there's nothing to say about build quality. Let's wait and see.