Charming handheld proves that even crazy ideas can be successful

On the gaming date with the playdate? Pocket-sized gaming may never have been so yellow.

The Playdate handheld console has sold over 53,000 units to date. This emerges from an announcement by Panic. Panic is the company behind the unusual device.

Probably the biggest feature of the Playdate: the side-mounted crank, which also serves as an input device. An example is running forward while cranking in one direction and running backward while cranking in the opposite direction.

If you want a classic gaming handheld with lots of power instead, you should take a closer look at the ROG Ally from Asus, which also makes our colleague Nils Raettig very curious:

An unexpected success

Apparently, Panic did not expect the relatively high demand, because the news service The Verge quotes the company as follows:

So it will be quite a while before all customers receive their devices. To date, 27,000 units have been successfully delivered to customers.

Unsurprisingly, the project manager behind Playdate, Greg Maletic, is quoted as saying that he did not expect the relatively large demand. That is why the number of units to be manufactured was originally limited to 20,000.

In a nearly 10-minute video, the ShortCircuit YouTube channel approached the play date. ShortCircuit is part of the Linus Media Group, best known for Linus Tech Tips. If you want the particularly short info version about the handheld instead, skip to the next section.

Link to YouTube content

What exactly is the play date?

Screaming yellow color scheme, crank operation – and still (somehow) an official handheld console: that’s Playdate. Instead of hardware power, the Playdate relies on minimalism and retro charm – and a downright old-fashioned black and white display. The equipment is only 76 by 74 millimeters and has a width of 8 millimeters.

If you want to know more about the playdate: Kay Nordenbrock has written a detailed report about what the Playdate is exactly – and why, despite its manageable range of functions, it arouses desires in the gaming community.

The titles available for the play date tend to be gap and pause fillers – but certainly not triple-A or blockbuster titles. The idiosyncratic mini-device was first announced in 2019.

What do you think of the play date – or are you one of those customers who have received one in the meantime? What do you think of such charming gimmicks (especially in the area of ​​gaming)? Feel free to plow the handheld discourse in our comments!