Add Switched Headphone Jack to Bop It 2025 Edition

My kids have become obssessed with playing Bop It and the sound of the guy saying "Bop it! Twist it! Pull It!" has become a problem in our house. I added a headphone jack to their toy so they could play it without disturbing anyone. I also discovered that adding headphones made the Bop It a good screen-free activity to keep them entertained while traveling.

There is an existing guide for this but it's 15 years old and is for a different Bop It version. It also does not use a switching headphone jack which I something I wanted to use on mine. The switched headphone jack automatically switches audio output from the speaker to the headphones when they are plugged in and back to the speaker when headphones are unplugged from the jack.

For this project you will need:

1. CESS 3.5mm 1/8 Inch Female Stereo TRS Balanced Socket with Switch
2. 4x 330 ohm resistors
3. Wire
4. Heatshrink
5. Soldering Iron
6. Screwdriver
7. Hot Glue Gun

Remove the screws on the back of the Bop It and slowly pull it apart. Be careful not to lose any small pieces. There at least two plastic pieces that are easy to lose.

Cut the two white wires that connect the mainboard to the speaker. Try to do this at the midpoint of the wires to leave so that the four remaining wires all relatively the same length. This will make it easier to splice later.

Solder different colored wires to the five terminals on the headphone jack so they are easy to identify. Be careful not to accidentally short any of these connections.

Refer to the wiring diagram above and splice the wires together accordingly. You will need 4x 330 Ohm resistors for this. If you don't have those, you can experiment with different resistors. The resistors lower the power going to the headphones to reduce transients and volume.

Drill a hole using a 15/64 drill bit for the headphone jack. I drilled mine in the bottom half of the case so I could still open the case if I needed to make any further modifications.

Hot glue the headphone jack into place. Make sure to not get any hot glue on the edge of the case as that will prevent you from closing it back up at the end.

It can be tricky to put the two halves back together. Make sure the two small plastic pieces for the Twist It and Pull It mechanisms are in the correct position (you can reference the previous photo for this). Then snap the case back together and reattach the screws.

Hopefully it works and you can enjoy having the option to not listen to Bop It sound effects!