Ever wonder what your favorite video game would look like as an analog artifact? A few enterprising engineers have gone ahead and recreated Super Mario Bros. as a physically manipulatable and actually playable game. The Video Game in a Box project is a cute, clever toy that uses old school programming to replicate the first forays into digital play.

To be fair, the game box is not a perfect replica. It doesn't follow the same gameplay as any of the titles in the long-running Mario series. To accurately translate a video game into a physical object would probably take more than what can be contained in a box. But Mario-in-a-box is indeed a playable game that can be won or lost. Once you pull a handle to begin playing, you control Mario as he traditionally appears--a blocky plumber avatar with one fist in the air--with a knob on the side of the box. You can move him up or down across a moving backdrop. Obstacles in the form of enemies, pipes, and blocks come hurtling your way, and it's up to you to avoid them. Hit an obstacle and it's game over: the lid on the box closes. Keep playing, and the reel turns faster and faster. If you reach the highest speed without dying, a victory tune plays and you win. 

The mechanism works with the power of magnets. Both Mario and his deadly foes are constructed from magnetized tape. When two magnets touch, the game knows it's time to end. It's a brilliantly simply concept made possible by the folks over at Teague Labs, who have worked with Arduino to create an open-source hardware platform that anyone can use to construct similar gadgets. 

Not bad for a setup that requires zero soldering! Mario may have graduated into the third dimension a long while ago, but it's still fun to see what people do with his original, iconic imagery. Check out the video of the box in action below.