Game Chamber

Written by Dan Keener on 2/18/2008 for DS  

When we went to CES in January, I booked myself almost solid over the three days we attended. Although I made it to almost everyone I wanted to, because I left myself with zero walk about time and a completely booked schedule, I missed a handful of those companies I wanted to meet with. Fortunately, I was able to get a review unit from one such company (Daze Products Inc.) on their latest product, The Game Chamber.

The Game Chamber is a unique storage solution whose idea was born out of CEO Michael Rosenberg’s frustration with his children constantly losing or breaking their Nintendo DS cartridges (and DS Lite). So he set in motion a plan to develop a storage device that not only protected the games, but also taught his kids to follow the steadfast parental rule to “put it away before you get another one out”.

The Game Chamber comes packaged with the storage unit, wrist strap, seven blank cartridges and one blank label sheet to identify games in the slots. The operating instructions are printed in the packaging and are pretty straight forward. The exterior is made of two-toned colored plastic, with the top reflecting the selected color, and the bottom standard silver. The inner wheel that holds the games and rotates is made of rigid plastic. While I’m certain it wouldn’t withstand a direct smash onto concrete or similar force, it is certainly rugged enough to

The concept is actually quite simple, as The Game Chamber utilizes a pressure locking system to keep the DS (or blank) cartridges safely locked away in a rotating cylinder. Once a blank or DS game is placed in the open slot, the Chamber can only then be rotated to any of the other numbered slots to retrieve a stored game or replace a blank with a game. One item of concern I do have is the small door that covers the entry slot is extremely stiff to open and appears to be a candidate to be snapped off if it isn’t properly secured. The issue here is that the door keeps the cartridges from popping out the opening when they rotate through. The Game Chamber will still function and rotate if the door is open or gone, but it will no longer secure a game or blank in the entry slot.

In order to identify the games in the slots, you can use the enclosed label system, commit them to memory or play hide-n-seek with each cartridge until you find the one you are looking for. I strongly recommend using the label or writing it down if the label has been used up (because the labeling system is kind of a “one-and-done” design.) The Game Chamber ships with a single label that has eight numbered spaces corresponding to the eight numbered slots in the device. The design is such that as you add games into the numbered slots, you are to write the name to the corresponding numbered label. A problem may arise for people that have larger collections of games, or sell/trade in titles that had previously had its name written on the label.

Now here is one secret that you will really want to know, but you won’t want your kids to find out. If you lose a blank cartridge and are unable to turn the wheel to remove any of the DS games, there is a trick to get them out. You can use a butter knife or other slender object to depress the pressure lock at the bottom of the open slot and move the wheel enough to rotate it to the next slot. Obviously this defeats the purpose of keeping the games locked away until they are done playing with one, so try not to tip off your kids.

The Game Chamber is simply a fantastic device to protect games and help train your children (or husband/boyfriend) to keep their games put away and to only take out one at a time. While I have mild concerns about the entry slot door, the innovation and functionality outweigh this by far. I would suggest purchasing the set of seven blank cartridges right away, as digging around in the open slot with a knife seems like a good way to damage the product and teach your kids some bad habits.

The Game Chamber retails for $19.99 and can be purchased in Silver, Blue or Pink at www.GameChamber.com or one of several online retailers. Blank cartridges can also be purchased in a set of seven at the official site for $2.95.