There have been a number of handheld gaming machines that actually push the boundaries of how small a console can get, however the creator of the unique, credit card-sized Arduboy is back with an even smaller version that also seems very a lot playable. The machine is supposed to encourage avid gamers to dabble in {hardware} hacking to increase its capabilities.

Back in 2014, Kevin Bates wowed us with a customized 1.6-millimeter thick digital enterprise card, created by stripping down an Arduino board, that might really be used to play a easy Tetris clone. It was designed to cleverly showcase Bates’ {hardware} hacking expertise and land him a job, nevertheless it as a substitute led Bates down a special path when he turned his customized creation into the Arduboy: an open supply, credit-card skinny, 8-bit handheld for aspiring sport builders or retro gaming fanatics. 

The original Arduboy was ultimately adopted up by a model known as the Arduboy FX, that includes extra on-board storage able to storing over 200 Arduboy video games (with only a monochromatic pixelated display; the video games are very tiny), however Bates is again once more with an entire redesign of the Arduboy {hardware} that’s now greater than half the scale of the unique.

The new Arduboy Mini is totally backwards suitable with the unique, however contains much more storage than the Arduboy FX, and out of the field it comes pre-installed with over 300 Arduboy titles—or kind of each sport created for the system so far. Where the Arduboy Mini differs from the unique is that it’s been boiled right down to its naked requirements. It’s a unadorned circuit board with a 128×64-pixel OLED display, six buttons, and a USB-C port connected.

If you’re questioning the place the speaker and rechargeable battery are hidden on the Arduboy Mini, you received’t discover them, as a result of out of the field, it doesn’t have both. You’ll must plug the little handheld right into a USB-C cable linked to an influence supply to play it, and whereas that will appear to be an inconvenience, it’s really a part of the entire purpose the Arduboy Mini was created.

Besides being a gaming system, the unique Arduboy was a device that inspired customers to study to program by way of an abundance of sources and a thriving developer neighborhood on the Arduboy website. The Arduboy Mini strives to be a tool that additionally encourages customers to dabble in {hardware} hacking, and once you flip it over, you’ll discover pre-existing contacts for attaching audio system and a battery, with the circuitry wanted for recharging a battery by way of the USB-C port already baked proper in.

Bates is positioning the Arduboy Mini as a studying device for the classroom at the start, however at launch it’s being made accessible by way of a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign that’s open to anybody who desires to pledge $29 for the common model, or $34 for the Graffiti Edition, with supply anticipated as early as June of subsequent 12 months. A ten-pack can be being made accessible for faculties, with a barely discounted pledge of $240.

There’s all the time a threat with backing any crowdfunded product, notably electronics, given the continuing provide chain points round numerous elements. But Bates efficiently delivered the unique Arduboy by way of Kickstarter, and is aware of the challenges of bringing these units to customers. So whereas there’s not as a lot threat to backing the brand new Arduboy Mini, with crowdfunded merchandise, it’s all the time a ‘buyer beware’ scenario.