The console that would not quit

More than 155 million PlayStation 2 consoles were sold. No console before or since has beaten that. And a surprising number of them are still running.

The PS2 won for a sneaky reason: it was a DVD player. In 2000, a standalone DVD player cost about as much as the whole console. Families bought a PS2 to watch movies and got the biggest games library ever made as a bonus. Thousands of games, from racing to role playing to that one weird fishing title someone in your house loved.

Sony kept making them until 2013. Thirteen years is forever in console time.

Today the PS2 is one of the best machines to start modding. Parts are cheap because there are millions of them. The common faults are well understood. The classic one, a console that spins a disc but will not read it, is usually fixed with a screwdriver and patience rather than new parts.

That is the magic of a machine this common. Nothing about it is rare, so nothing about it is scary. Break something? Another PS2 costs less than a pizza.

The library has the full spec sheet, the upgrade paths, and notes from owners. There is a good chance one is under your TV or in a box in the garage right now. Add it to your gear and be counted.