Nick Bild transformed Nintendo’s iconic Zapper, the orange plastic gun from Duck Hunt, into a functional telephone that makes and receives calls using a laser beam. What was once a nostalgic 8-bit gaming relic that can still easily be picked up today from places like eBay, is now a wildly inventive communication device. And not just a gimmicky prop—this thing actually makes and takes calls, using a freakin’ laser beam to do it.
Driven by curiosity about the Nintendo Zapper’s light gun mechanics, which detect specific light patterns on a CRT screen when triggered, Nick Bild transformed the nostalgic controller into a functional telephone in a wild blend of retro charm and mad-scientist innovation. When you fire at those pesky ducks, the game flashes a pattern of pixels for a split second, and the Zapper’s sensor picks it up to determine if your aim was true. It’s a clever system, but it’s tied to outdated CRT technology, rendering the Zapper useless on modern TVs. Bild saw potential beyond gaming. By bypassing the Zapper’s anti-cheat mechanism—originally designed to prevent players from pointing at a light bulb to score easy hits—he turned the gun’s light sensor into something entirely new: an analog receiver for audio signals.
- Build an interactive, 1980s-style TV set displaying the classic Super Mario Bros. game & activate it with LEGO Mario figure (not included)
- Authentic details of the NES console are recreated in LEGO style, including a controller and an opening slot for the buildable Game Pak
- The TV has a handle-operated scrolling screen, Mario figure reacts to the on-screen enemies, obstacles and power-ups when placed on the top

Here’s where things get delightfully weird. Bild’s setup hinges on a laser-based communication system. The phone’s base station, a separate device, modulates audio (like your voice) onto a laser beam. This beam shoots across the room to the Zapper, where its light sensor, now freed from its CRT-only constraints, picks up the laser’s fluctuations.

Those fluctuations are decoded back into audio, allowing the Zapper to “hear” the incoming call. To transmit your voice, Bild added a microphone to the Zapper, which sends audio back to the base station via a wireless RF link. It’s a hybrid of old-school gaming tech and sci-fi ingenuity, like something out of a Back to the Future prop shop.
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