With more than a million subscribers on YouTube, Michael Pick made the decision to quit his 9-to-5 job at Lockheed Martin and become the “Casual Engineer,” a guy who makes funny videos about building cool things.
Now a full-time YouTube content creator, Pick has 1.25 million subscribers and three Guinness World Records for his oversized versions of his favorite childhood games, including the world’s largest Nerf gun that shoots oversized Nerf darts.
“I grew up with the Guinness World Record books and thought it would be fun to break a record one day,” said Pick. “I had a Nerf gun as a kid and that was a really fun kids’ toy. That was a big reason why I wanted to break that record.”
Since then, he has received official Guinness certification for the world’s largest Xbox Series X. He also built a super-sized Nintendo Switch that did not receive Guinness certification. All of the mega games are functional.
Michael Pick of Huntsville, Alabama, built a supersized Nintendo Switch in 2023. This was not certified by Guinness World Records.Courtesy of Michael Pick
He started in 2021 while still working full-time at Lockheed Martin. With his degree in computer science from Tennessee Tech University, he got to work on his first ultra-cool, ultra-large toy.
“I designed the oversized Nerf gun using CAD on my computer and then built it in my garage over five months, working on it only on weekends,” he said.
The weapon is 12 feet, 6 inches long and weighs 250 pounds. It can also shoot an arrow 250 feet. In fact, Pick’s Guinness record for the “fastest rate of fire by a motorized foam arrow gun,” which is 2,643 shots per minute, was set in September 2023.
The folks at the Guinness Book of World Records wrote: “Michael’s giant Nerf gun has transformed a familiar toy into a powerful machine. The giant darts designed for his oversized creation can break glass cups and even smash right into a watermelon!”
Pick has shared photos of the Nerf gun, but to see it in person, you’ll have to take a long flight. “It’s currently on display at a Guinness World Records museum in Denmark,” he said. “I haven’t visited yet, but I plan to!”
Michael Pick of Huntsville, Alabama, was certified by Guinness World Records for building the world’s largest Xbox Series X. It measures 6.7 feet (2.03 meters) tall, 39 inches (101 centimeters) wide, and 39 inches (101 centimeters) long. It weighs 250 pounds (113 kilograms).Courtesy of Michael Pick
The Xbox Series X is 2.03 m high, 1.03 m wide and 1.03 m long. It weighs 113 kg. According to Guinness, it is “about the size of a standard refrigerator”.
Guinness explained Pick’s process in a 2021 article on his website: “Starting from a wooden case, he built oversized replicas of Xbox elements, including rear connection ports and other identifying features. According to Michael, the most difficult part of reproducing the massive gaming system was designing the curves on the top of the Xbox Series X and recreating the glowing logo.”
The Xbox doesn’t work like a standard model, but it works. “By enclosing a comparatively small, regular Xbox Series X inside its jumbo counterpart, the push of a button sends a signal to an Arduino microcontroller, which causes a motor to press the button on the original, full-sized console,” Guinness explained. The Xbox took about two days to plan and a month to build.
“I currently hold three world records and plan to break more,” said Pick.
Learn more about Pick and his creations by subscribing to his YouTube channel Michael Pick or following him on TikTok at @casual.engineer or Instagram at @casual.engineer.
