Guy straps spikes and a taser to his Steam Deck so his family will stop draining the battery

A Redditor going by ConroyyJenkinss has built what might be the most unhinged Steam Deck accessory ever conceived — a 3D-printed spike case paired with a Raspberry Pi, an object detection camera, and a taser, all to stop family members from using the handheld without permission.

The spike shell was modeled in Blender and snaps onto the side of the Deck, making it uncomfortable to hold. A Python script ties the Raspberry Pi to the camera: when someone picks up the device, it plays a goofy audio clip and triggers a taser mounted on top. The taser can't actually make contact from that position, so it's more deterrent than weapon. ConroyyJenkinss was blunt about the motivation — family members kept draining the battery and not recharging it, and a simple password felt insufficient. "This minimises the risk of them touching my Steam Deck at all, they are forced to ask for permission now," they wrote.

The Steam Deck has been around since 2022 and has built a devoted DIY community around it, with players regularly modding both the hardware and software. That culture of tinkering makes a contraption like this feel right at home, even if it sits at the extreme end of the spectrum. ConroyyJenkinss admits disarming the taser and removing the spike case is a genuine hassle, which somewhat undermines the convenience argument — but that's clearly not the point.

The post landed well on the Steam Deck subreddit, with one commenter coining the perfect description: "hostile architecture for gadgets." ConroyyJenkinss summed it up themselves — "easily the dumbest thing I've ever built but it works, and nobody touches my Steam Deck anymore."