# What is this kids toy that I keep seeing? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [September 4, 2012, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-kids-toy-that-i-keep-seeing/633644 "2012-09-04T15:30:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-kids-toy-that-i-keep-seeing/633644/1 "2012-09-04T15:30:21Z")
Not sure what forum to put this in, but this seems as good as any. I saw several kids yesterday playing with what I presume is a toy. It looks like a laptop, but is a lot smaller. The part that would have a display has one, though it doesn’t go all of the way to the edges of the device. The bottom part, where a laptop’s keyboard would be, has another display. To the sides of both displays are some buttons, some of which are directional. It also looks like it has a port of some kind on the back. What is this thing? ---
**Author:** ![grump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8491ac/32.png) [@grump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grump)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-kids-toy-that-i-keep-seeing/633644/2 "2012-09-04T15:34:44Z")
Sounds like Nintendo DS. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-kids-toy-that-i-keep-seeing/633644/3 "2012-09-04T15:40:49Z")
That sure looks like it. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-kids-toy-that-i-keep-seeing/633644/4 "2012-09-04T20:22:10Z")
Had you not seen them before? I thought they were ubiquitous–they’ve been around since 2004 and sold over 150 million units. The extra large version of the 3D model came out relatively recently, though; you may have seen one of those–its size might make it more noticeable, and it’s a bit more laptop-looking than other models (in my opinion, anyway–you can see the 3DS and 3DSXL side by side [on Nintendo’s site](http://www.nintendo.com/3ds/)).