Original Gameboy

Here is the entirety of my first restoration, rather than being broken up in individual blog posts.


I grew up on a GameBoy. I found my old one in storage box while cleaning. Right now it is not functioning.

The battery compartment has signs of corrosion and won't turn on. On Monday, March 18th I visited thrift and pawn shop stores in the area looking for parts.

At the fourth one I went to, I found one. For $5 I got one to start using to rebuild the handheld unit from my childhood.

In first picture is the one I bought (dirtier one on the left) and my original one. The one bought featured Phillips head screws so I could easily take it apart and clean it (other picture).

Though they are both stamped as coming from 1989, my old one features some of Nintendo's triwing (y-shaped) screws.

Wednesday I should have the screwdriver I need to get my original one open and a soldering iron to repair the screens.

While waiting for some supplies I ordered, I got some extra cleaning done and took a long at the screen.

There are several lines that have to repair. But I'm waiting on a soldering iron, which I should have today. From what I have read, that will help reattach the screen lines to the ribbon cable and make it look brand new. So far this is all on the new one. Well, it's not "new," it's the one from the pawn shop, so it's new to me. I should also have the triwing screwdriver to open up my old handheld. Cheers!