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Nintendo Labo release date and price: Everything you need to know about the new cardboard console accessory

Andrew Griffin,Maya Yagoda
Thursday 19 April 2018 14:49 BST
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Nintendo Labo unboxing: Is the Switch cardboard kit worth £70?

Nintendo Labo – the new, strange, cardboard accessory for the Switch – is finally about to arrive.

The accessory allows you to make a car, a piano, a robot or a motorbike. And it does all that with just the use of some very well put together cardboard.

When is the release date?

US and Japan will get hold of Labo this week, on 20 April. In Europe and the UK, they will come out a week later, on 27 April.

How much will it cost?

In the US, the Variety Kit will sell for $69 in the US and the Robot Kit will cost. In the UK that is £59 and £69.

While the Variety Kit has more to do – you can create a whole range of things, including a car and a piano – it's a lot less complicated and in-depth than the Robot Kit, which presumably accounts for the difference in price.

Can I buy one now?

Unusually for a Nintendo product, there appears to be plenty of accessories available for pre-order. In the UK and the US, for instance, you can go to Amazon – which has both kits and plenty of accessories, all available to pre-order now.

What does it actually do?

Labo is a load of pieces of cardboard. But don't let that put you off: that cardboard can be assembled into magical things, like robots and pianos, all of which you do just by folding it all together.

Doing so can take a while: Nintendo estimates the robot will take people more than three hours to put together. But that is a large part of the fun, and assembling the cardboard is half of the point of the thing.

You assemble it using a special game that's put into the Switch. That shows you all the instructions, and takes you through the process of putting it together.

And then, once it is done, the Switch interacts with the cardboard to create all kinds of magical experiences.

Is that everything?

Potentially not: Nintendo has suggested that the first two boxes are just the beginning. Given the innovation on show in the two sets already made, it's not difficult to expect that Nintendo will be able to find even more ideas for new things to make for the Switch.

It's not been announced when or whether more Labo kits will be released. But you can expect them to come.

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