The Ongoing Pokewalker Tragedy

I was going to put up a post about how quickly Nintendo sent out the replacement pokewalker after my daughter’s initial one went through the wash this past weekend.

I put in the order on Sunday night and it was here on Wednesday.  Not bad, considering I chose the cheapest shipping option.

But then, less than 24 hours after the arrival of the new pokewalker, something happened.

My daughter and I were headed to the park.  I was walking and she was racing ahead on her scooter.  She had her new pokewalker with her, clipped to outside of her pants so as not to forget it in the wash, for its first venture into the outside world.  Before we made it to the park, which is less than a mile from our house, she stumbled trying to do a trick and fell.

She sustained a couple of scraps to one hand, but nothing serious.  They were light abrasions with no blood.  Then I saw the pokewalker.

Pokewalker Scraped Do Not Heal

There was a big, ugly set of scrapes across the front of the unit.

My daughter was very upset.  While her new pokewalker still worked, the screen was marred in such a way as to make reading any messages on it very difficult.

What to do?

I hated to go out and buy another new unit.  So I began to look into taking apart the washing machine victim so as to use its unblemished (and now very clean!) front plate to replace the damaged one.

Unfortunately, I was back to those tri-blade screws.  A run through Home Depot came up empty.

But the internet… the internet provides all.

I was able to find a vendor who sold exactly the right screwdriver.  Nintendo has been using this type of screw for a while now, or so it seems.  (The vendor in question, VPGames, has a lot of interesting Nintendo DS related items, along with parts for other game systems.)

And the screwdriver was cheaper than buying a new pokewalker, which any male knows is all the justification he needs to buy a new tool.

Now we’ll see if I can take apart and reassemble a pokewalker successfully.  Once the screwdriver arrives, that is.