How safe is it to swallow a 3DS cartridge whole?
Posted: Sun Feb 09, 2014 12:48 pm
It recently came to my attention that somebody I know is planning on swallowing his copy of Ocarina of Time for the 3DS.
He told me it will be a fitting tribute to a game series he loves so much, to have it always be "inside" of him. I told him that's not how digestion works and that the cartridge would pass through his body within a day or two, but he argued that since our bodies extract nutrients from food there would be some type of infusion taking place, where he would absorb some of the coding from the game into fat reserves or bone marrow or something else.
Apparently he originally wanted to do it with the gold cartridge of the N64 original, but he thought that breaking it apart and eating it in pieces would reduce the chance of anything coming from it.
I tried explaining how it was a bad idea, but he assured me that he checked into the science of it and digesting small quantities of plastic would cause negligible damage at best, and he thinks any "minor stomachache" that may result will be far outweighed by the satisfaction of knowing that part of his favorite game is always within his spirit.
He's planning on doing this with liquor, too. After showing me this chart...
... he said that since the liver and stomach are so close together, it would increase the chances of Zelda code spreading to other areas of his body if pieces of it travel the same route as the alcohol does for digestion.
I really think he should just get a Zelda tattoo and be done with it, but I know little about the nuances of the digestive system (though I obviously know you can't absorb something's power just be eating it), and because of that I don't think he gave my opinion much credence when I advised him that it would be dangerous.
Has anybody run into DS or 3DS games being swallowed before, be it by a sibling or a pet or something? Is there any science I can point him to in an attempt to dissuade him from doing this?
- Cartridge-Front.jpg (16.39 KiB) Viewed 2038 times
Apparently he originally wanted to do it with the gold cartridge of the N64 original, but he thought that breaking it apart and eating it in pieces would reduce the chance of anything coming from it.
I tried explaining how it was a bad idea, but he assured me that he checked into the science of it and digesting small quantities of plastic would cause negligible damage at best, and he thinks any "minor stomachache" that may result will be far outweighed by the satisfaction of knowing that part of his favorite game is always within his spirit.
He's planning on doing this with liquor, too. After showing me this chart...
- Intestines.gif (26.74 KiB) Viewed 2038 times
... he said that since the liver and stomach are so close together, it would increase the chances of Zelda code spreading to other areas of his body if pieces of it travel the same route as the alcohol does for digestion.
I really think he should just get a Zelda tattoo and be done with it, but I know little about the nuances of the digestive system (though I obviously know you can't absorb something's power just be eating it), and because of that I don't think he gave my opinion much credence when I advised him that it would be dangerous.
Has anybody run into DS or 3DS games being swallowed before, be it by a sibling or a pet or something? Is there any science I can point him to in an attempt to dissuade him from doing this?
