The conundrum, at least to the crew over at Left Bracket, is that as DS owners we've got all these neat multiplayer games but we never know if there's anyone around who wants to play.

Enter a solution, stage right:


DS Buttons. These little guys, rife with their charming designs, purport to solve that nagging problem! Now everyone who is peeping your hot backpack, coat, or other wearable accessory will know that you're a proud DS-toter and you have the games represented on the buttons! It is a perfect world, in the era of DS buttons.


But how well do they work, and in what circumstances? It is difficult to say. Under extreme duress, one might theoretically examine his or her surroundings in a desperate effort to locate a DS Button owner, that some multiplayer action may indeed emerge from the miasma of public transportation. What is more likely, perhaps, is a chance encounter in a library, at a bus stop, or while waiting in some form of line.

The real question of necessity comes in the barrier of impersonality. If one is spotted playing a DS, conversation may likely ensue. If one has buttons, but no DS out and being played, one may fear to intrude. The logic: if a DS owner likes his DS, he is likely to be playing it when he so desires! If not... well, it's probably in the bag.


Utility questions aside, these one-inch buttons are painfully cute and original. Not content with mere copy-and-pasted designs indicating the games themselves, the buttons are colorfully and brightly adorned with hand-drawn images (sometimes obtusely) representing the games in whose image they were crafted. Animal Crossing's button is a crossing sign with a little bear on it. Mario Kart has a cup trophy. Brain Age is represented by a throbbing pink cortex! Even if I didn't own the games, I would joyfully place them on all manner of things.

The website allows you to purchase the default "I heart DS" button and your own selection of four tertiary buttons from the full line of nine for the price of twelve dollars, shipped. They would likely make a cute present for the holiday season!


Go forth then, DS Buttons user, and seek out your ad-hoc multiplayer gaming! I will be the fellow across from you on the bus, no longer too afraid to ask if you have a DS, for it shall be plastered on your sleeve like the names of so many independent bands.