DP MYTHBUSTERS : Blowing in NES Cartridges

[Nick Goracke]

While most people who do this believe that they're "blowing dust" off of the cartridge contacts, what they're actually doing is increasing conductivity on the cartridge contacts by lining them with a thin (on in some cases a thick) layer of moisture by way of human breath (spit, bacteria, and whatever else is in the person's mouth doing the blowing ... yuck).

I like the experiment, but I'm curious to hear how you reached this conclusion. Increasing the conductivity and, therefore, rendering the game playable seems pretty far-fetched; the magic, I would argue, is simply reseating the game (which one has to do after blowing on the cartridge each time).

Sounds like a second science experiment that could be done...

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

I like the experiment, but I'm curious to hear how you reached this conclusion. Increasing the conductivity and, therefore, rendering the game playable seems pretty far-fetched; the magic, I would argue, is simply reseating the game (which one has to do after blowing on the cartridge each time).

Sounds like a second science experiment that could be done...

I reached that theoretical conclusion, because moisture inarguably increases conductivity.

And while I agree that repeatedly re-seating a cartridge in a toaster NES could probably yield an above average level of success in getting it to boot ... I believe that the act of "blowing" (moisture) into games likely yields a level of success above and beyond JUST re-seating them repeatedly, or else this phenomenon wouldn't have become the practice of hundreds of thousands of Nintendo users during the life of the system.

Here's a diagram of exactly what I'm describing ...



Figure A. No moisture, no contact being made.



Figure B. Moisture, contact being bridged.

[Cornelius]

Awesome! Love the diagrams.

I'd just like to add that it isn't necessarily spit that is on those contacts, and I think it rather unlikely one would be able to disperse their spit evenly enough onto the contacts to have a reliably positive impact on performance. Much more likely is that it is simply condensation from the person's hot humid breath onto cold metal contacts, which would mean it is pretty clean water. Granted, if you are coughing into your games or otherwise incapable of blowing without adding a bunch of phlegm, then a little something extra is being added to the mix!

[Ed Oscuro]

I'm not looking to discover the "cause" ... I just want to see what type of external visible damage that blowing into cartridges causes.

It wouldn't be a difficult extra step to have NESes set up (using the dry cartridge first, if you only have one NES) and test how often they work, as well.

You're already doing one step, why not the other?

[alexkidd2000]

Awesome! Love the diagrams.

I'd just like to add that it isn't necessarily spit that is on those contacts, and I think it rather unlikely one would be able to disperse their spit evenly enough onto the contacts to have a reliably positive impact on performance. Much more likely is that it is simply condensation from the person's hot humid breath onto cold metal contacts, which would mean it is pretty clean water. Granted, if you are coughing into your games or otherwise incapable of blowing without adding a bunch of phlegm, then a little something extra is being added to the mix!

My cousins condensation was anything but clean... All his carts smelt like that stale saliva smell when kids suck on their toys haha.

[Apollo]

uuhm, what have i missed?

Nothing. Just move along and close your eyes. I've seen them. Once you see it...


But in much less scarring news, this is all news to me. Growing up, everyone always assumed that blowing on a cartridge was to get dirt or dust off, but considering how often they were used, dust never really had much time to accumulate. Hindsights 20/20 I suppose.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

It wouldn't be a difficult extra step to have NESes set up (using the dry cartridge first, if you only have one NES) and test how often they work, as well.

You're already doing one step, why not the other?

As I said, for starters I don't have a toaster NES.

What I really want do to is simply see if moisture via blowing causes surface damage.

Once we figure that out, there have already been volunteers to continue the experiment/test with actual NES systems, and measure the functionality of both games.

[Rob2600]

Cool experiment. I'm curious to see the outcome. A quick thought:

When a child turned on a game and got a blinking screen, how often do you think that was because of the lockout chip being out of sync with the game and not because of dirty contacts or bent pins? Then, when the child removed the cartridge, blew on it, put it back in, and turned it on again, maybe by coincidence sometimes the lockout chip was now in sync with the game, making it boot up just fine.

How big of a problem/coincidence do you think the lockout chip was vs. dirty contacts/bent pins?

[Cornelius]

How big of a problem/coincidence do you think the lockout chip was vs. dirty contacts/bent pins?

You weren't exactly asking me, but the answer is very little. Back in the day I remember we'd turn it on and off a few times, take it out and put it back in and have very little success. One quick blow, and bam, it would work. Pretty much anyone that played/plays it a lot will tell you that blowing definitely works well, though like someone said, we used to all think it was dust.

As an adult trying to get these games playing it is even clearer that corroded contacts are the main problem, since taking them apart and cleaning them thoroughly is the single most important way to get them going.

[Nick Goracke]

And while I agree that repeatedly re-seating a cartridge in a toaster NES could probably yield an above average level of success in getting it to boot ... I believe that the act of "blowing" (moisture) into games likely yields a level of success above and beyond JUST re-seating them repeatedly, or else this phenomenon wouldn't have become the practice of hundreds of thousands of Nintendo users during the life of the system.

Placebo effect. Take the cartridge out, blow in it (no effect, but you saw some other kid do it so...), reseat it, watch it work, conclude that the "blowing" was the difference...

Also, you would need the contacts to stay moist for hours... or you would start to see games "glitch" during play.

It'd be an interesting experiment, none-the-less. Not saying your theory is impossible, but it certainly needs some data to back it up.

[madman77]

Thirty days to show the long-term effects of blowing on a cartridge? I don't think we will see any difference in that time period. Did you happen to take any high resolution scans of the contacts of the boards, or just the slightly blurry digicam pics?

[Chuplayer]

Thirty days to show the long-term effects of blowing on a cartridge? I don't think we will see any difference in that time period. Did you happen to take any high resolution scans of the contacts of the boards, or just the slightly blurry digicam pics?

I can attest to the scans idea. Stick those suckers in gutted CD cases and stick them in your scanner. It's a great way to do this sort of thing. I was telling an engineer at work a few weeks ago about that when I saw him using a digital camera to take pics of PCBs, and he's still using the camera

But I do think 30 days will be enough to get some results. I've got N64 games that are in horrible shape, and they have been around for less than half the time. It's funny how nearly every used game I ever got is in piss-poor condition as far as cart contacts go, and every single game I bought new and sealed has excellent pins. It's like everybody has poured acid on their carts.

That's not to say I'm innocent of cart blowing. I still do it sometimes.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Just the slightly blurry cam pics for now ... at 1 week I'll do scans.

I'm really glad this has people interested/talking.

Maybe we can make it a regular feature/segment!

Can anybody think of any other gaming myths that we could theoretically do experiments on?

[TheDomesticInstitution]

That's not to say I'm innocent of cart blowing. I still do it sometimes.

Just because you blow a little cart every now and then, doesn't make you...



Seriously though... I'm anxious to see what's gonna happen. I get some carts that are in horrible shape... but it doesn't seem to be limited to NES games, as I've found corroded carts on the SNES and N64... which are systems that I thought people didn't blow in. At least I didn't...

[Ed Oscuro]

Another random idea:

Blowing on contacts vs. being kept in a damp basement (no idea how to emulate that effect, unfortunately).

I guess the long and short of it is that NES games like to be dry, if you want to keep them for the long haul.

[blue lander]

Are you sure electricity running through the cartridge contacts when it's plugged into a NES isn't vital to the experiment? Who knows what effect that has on how fast the metal oxidizes. And are we sure that the cartridge contacts are what's getting corroded, not the contacts within the NES itself? An average NES game might be blown on once or twice a week, but if that NES gets several spit covered NES games inserted into it on a daily basis, the wear-and-tear might be even worse inside the NES than inside the cartridge.

Another interesting indicator to see if the spit works would be to use an ohm meter with a cartridge that's been blown on recently versus a dry one versus one that's been blown on for 30 days. Which one has more resistance, or does it make any difference at all?

Here's how I'd test this theory after the 30 days:

1: Take the circuit board out of a toaster NES

2: Plug the cartridge into the NES and power it up. If the game runs, pull the cartridge out and put it back in until you get the blinking light or corrupt graphics or whatever.

3: Once you get the blinking lights, use an ohm meter or a cable tester to check connectivity between each pin on the cartridge circuit board and the NES circuitboard.

4: If all the pins make connection, then obviously the problem has nothing to do with how the cartridge was seated or corrosion on the contacts.

5: If some of the pins didn't make contact, visually inspect them. Are they physically touching the connector in the NES, or is the pin bent back too far, or is the cartridge in at an odd angle?

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Again.

While I appreciate all of the interest and input, all of the suggested variables are specifically why I'm running this test and only this test.

I need it to be simple to start.

Simple, basic, moisture-by-way-of-human-breath-on-cartridge-contacts.

If after 30 days this yields zero results in terms of damage, then we can move on to try other things... but I reiterate, I won't be the one continuing the experiments at that point.

I'm doing a simple environmental test. That's all.

[blue lander]

Okie dokie. Considering how spotty cartridges have been the bane of NES Gamer's existance for the last 20 years, I'm suprised nobody's done a meaningful version of this test already!

[TonyTheTiger]

Again.

While I appreciate all of the interest and input, all of the suggested variables are specifically why I'm running this test and only this test.

I need it to be simple to start.

Simple, basic, moisture-by-way-of-human-breath-on-cartridge-contacts.

If after 30 days this yields zero results in terms of damage, then we can move on to try other things... but I reiterate, I won't be the one continuing the experiments at that point.

I'm doing a simple environmental test. That's all.

You're doing it right. The most basic rule of any experiment is to change only one variable at a time.

[wkdr3d]

Well what can i say i fell upon this forum looking for retro game info during a board half hour at work, i think what your trying to do should be commended and encouraged soooooo many forums waffle on and on about crap offering nothing original or new to the scene.

This thread alone breaks this trend and i eagerly await the results (I still blow my carts to this day NDS) and just about every other nintendo console that has been released (I think i have an example of each nintendo console in my collection barring the virtua boy)

I added this page to Stumble i suggest more do the same im sure it will bring some new blood to the forum with original content like this

Regards WKD Long term video game addict