I built a piano out of cardboard (and a Nintendo Switch), and it's awesome

You've played with cardboard, right? For years people of all ages have used the popular packing material in imaginative ways, with the common joke being that children are more likely to play with the cardboard box a toy comes in than they are to play with the toy itself.

But have you ever turned cardboard into a working piano?

Granted, to pull that off you'll also need to use some reflective tape and the Nintendo Switch video game system, but playing "Chopsticks" on a cardboard piano that you built with your own hands is a wonderful moment nonetheless.

It's possible with Nintendo Labo, a new series of products the popular video game company recently debuted. There are two kits on sale right now: The Variety Kit and the Robot Kit. What's in the box? Software for the Nintendo Switch and some odds and ends (like string, stickers and tape), but mostly? Cardboard. Sheets upon sheets of thin-yet-durable cardboard, waiting to be punched out, folded up and combined into fun, interactive toys.

...

4 images

View Gallery

The Variety Kit is the more interesting of the two. In addition to the aforementioned piano, the Variety Kit allows you to build a small remote-controlled robot, motorcycle handlebars, a birdhouse and a fishing pole. The Robot Kit lets you build only one thing: A robot suit. But then you get to stomp around your living room pretending to be a robot, so that's pretty cool in its own right.

Putting together each project is reminiscent of building a toy model or putting together a set of Lego bricks, with detailed, well-written instructions on-screen that walk you through each step carefully (complete with animations detailing each step, which is very handy).

There's an added bonus, though, in the form of education. Labo doesn't just walk you through building a pulley system with cardboard and string (yes, really), it also takes a minute to show you how it works. The instructions often pause and ask you to open up a compartment and watch carefully as you hit a piano key or pull a string. "See this piece move?" Labo asks. "That's how this toy works."

There's something magical about that. Simply putting together an intricate cardboard toy is fun on its own, but it's incredible to press down on a cardboard piano key, hear a musical note come out of the Switch tablet and realize, "I made this thing. And I know how it works."

What makes these magical moments possible? The key ingredient in most Labo products is an infrared sensor that's built into every Joy-Con (R) controller (the one designed to be used in your right hand), which is able to see the reflective tape that you place onto specific pieces of cardboard.

If you want to take things even further after building a toy, you can check out additional modes that offer more advanced options. With the piano, for example, you can start laying down drum sequences, toying with wave forms and tweaking reverb, allowing you to make musical masterpieces.

Not enough? You can also head into the Toy-Con Garage mode and essentially program entirely new toys for yourself, using some simple coding techniques and the power of your imagination. For instance, you can make more instruments, as you might have seen on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, when Fallon, The Roots and Ariana Grande teamed up to perform "No Tears Left to Cry" using only Labo instruments.

Now there's the downside: As toys go, Labo has a fairly high cost of entry. In addition to needing a Nintendo Switch system (which retails for $299.99), the Labo Variety Kit and Robot Kit are $69.99 and $79.99, respectively. That sounds like a lot of money to pay for a bunch of cardboard and string, but remember that you're also paying for the fancy software that makes the whole thing work.

Labo is an ingenious idea from top to bottom, and the execution is impeccable. It's not surprising that Nintendo developed smart software that can be enjoyed by all ages —they've been doing that for decades, even before the original Super Mario Bros. game. But there are so many small, meaningful touches in the Labo package that it's hard not to be impressed. It's an enjoyable package for all ages, but younger audiences in particular will get a lot out of building their own toys out of something as seemingly simple as cardboard.

The Nintendo Labo Variety Kit and Robot Kit are available now for $69.99 and $79.99, respectively. They require a Nintendo Switch console to play.