The BrickBoy Kickstarter campaign just dropped a bombshell on its 3,500 backers - those Game Boy buttons everyone expected to click don't actually have physical switches underneath. Instead, Substance Labs is betting everything on rare earth magnets glued inside Lego bricks, detected by wireless magnetometers. With just three days left in the campaign, this revelation raises serious questions about transparency in crowdfunding.
The gaming hardware world just got a reality check. Substance Labs has been quietly developing what looked like a straightforward Lego Game Boy upgrade kit, complete with traditional button switches. But buried an hour into a barely-watched AMA video, CEO Thomas Bertani finally revealed the truth: BrickBoy doesn't use physical switches at all.
Instead, the startup is pioneering a magnetic detection system using rare earth magnets embedded inside Lego bricks. When you press the A button or D-pad, magnetometers detect the movement wirelessly. It's an ambitious technical gambit that could revolutionize how we think about retro gaming hardware - if it works.
The problem? Early prototypes suggest it doesn't work very well yet. The Verge's hands-on testing revealed significant input lag and reliability issues, with the tester unable to reliably jump over the first Goomba in Super Mario Bros. "I keep dying on the very first Goomba because I can't stop running, or start jumping, reliably at all," noted the review.
This technical challenge isn't surprising given the complexity of wireless multi-magnet sensing. Traditional button switches provide immediate, binary feedback - you press, it clicks, the circuit closes. Magnetic detection requires sophisticated calibration and introduces potential interference between multiple sensors packed into a small Lego chassis.
What's more concerning for the crowdfunding community is the transparency issue. Every promotional image on the Kickstarter page shows domed switches underneath the buttons, creating an expectation of traditional tactile feedback. The campaign description barely mentions magnets, leaving backers to assume they were getting a conventional gaming experience.
"I believe I deserve to know what I'm betting on before I put money down," argues the hands-on tester, echoing broader concerns about crowdfunding transparency. The revelation only emerged during an AMA video with just 248 views - hardly the visibility you'd expect for such a fundamental design decision.
Bertani defends the approach, telling reporters that magnetometers actually increase production costs, contradicting any notion this was a cost-cutting measure. "I don't think people care about it being magnets or wired buttons," he explains. "They do care about it working well and about the Lego experience being enjoyable."