Over the last week, I've spent more than 20 hours folding and assembling cardboard, and I've learned a few things. One: You don't want to follow exactly in my footsteps. And two: Nintendo's Labo is ingenious. It's something few other companies could have produced and turns the Switch into so much more than a game console: With Labo, it's an engine powering a whole new world of DIY creations. Building Labo kits can be a pretty huge time sink. But for some, that might be a good thing.

It's not every day that I get to spend an entire afternoon building a piano from scratch. But that's exactly what happened this past Monday as I spent time digging into Nintendo's Labo variety pack for the Nintendo Switch. Nintendo unveiled its do-it-yourself Labo activity bundles earlier this year ahead of their official launch on April 20. Labo kits allow Switch owners to create handmade playful accessories for their console by folding and fastening cardboard pieces together. The concept sounds simple, but these playsets may very well be among the storied gaming company's most creative products yet. The variety pack I tried includes supplies for making five different types of accessories, which Nintendo calls Toy-Cons, named after the Switch's Joy-Con controllers.

Nintendo has sold a lot of Switches in the last year thanks to the console's unique ability to play games on a TV and on the go, but also thanks to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey. Though they came from 30 year-old franchises, both games helped millions fall in love with them all over again. In 2018, Nintendo is setting its sights in a direction it hasn't aimed at before: the do-it yourself crowd. Nintendo Labo are a series of experiences for Switch that let you (or your kids) build cardboard objects and play games with them. Robots, fishing poles, pianos... there's a lot to build and try here.

The internet's imagination went wild Wednesday when Nintendo announced it would reveal a "new interactive experience" for younger players. Would it be a new "Animal Crossing" game? What about a follow up to the Wii U's Miiverse online ecosystem? Nintendo threw a curveball at everyone with the announcement of Nintendo Labo, a sort of DIY setup where players young and old can make cardboard contraptions and play Nintendo Switch games with them. The trailer explains it better than a single sentence ever could.

Ever since Nintendo unveiled the Switch about one year ago, one message was immediately clear: The ability to interact with the console in a variety of different ways -- docked to a TV, held in your hands, or propped up on a table -- was going to be the device's distinguishing characteristic. Nintendo is now taking that idea one step further with the announcement of Nintendo Labo, a new line of do-it-yourself products that lets Switch owners build interactive cardboard add-ons for the console. Nintendo Labo involves sheets of modular cardboard cutouts that when assembled can take the form of various Switch accessories. The company calls those accessories Toy-Cons, a reference to the console's Joy-Con controllers. The $69.99 Labo variety pack comes with five different kits, including two RC cars, a motorbike, a fishing rod, a house, and a piano.

Nintendo's ingenious upcoming release for its Switch console uses augmented reality to make working cars, pianos and full-body robot suits – teaching coding and engineering principles through play Wed 17 Jan 2018 17.10 EST Last modified on Wed 17 Jan 2018 17.42 EST Nintendo has introduced a new product for its Switch games console: Nintendo Labo, an innovative augmented-reality game that turns cardboard models into fully functioning toys. Inside the Nintendo Labo box are 25 sheets of thick, brown, branded cardboard, and a little cartridge that pops into a Nintendo Switch console. Following Lego-like instructions on the Switch screen, you punch out the cardboard pieces and assemble them into contraptions of varying complexity. The first project, which takes maybe 15 minutes, is a simple little bug-like radio-controlled car; slot the Joy-Con controllers into its cardboard sides, pull up the controls on the Switch's screen, and the vibrations send it juddering across a flat surface with surprising speed. The more complex constructions are a telescopic fishing rod with a working reel, attached to a base with elastic bands and string for realistic tension; a cardboard model of a piano with springy keys; an abstract motorbike, with handles and a pedal; a little house.