On Kickstarter, the new 8-bit console “The Arduboy Mini” is making waves even before 2023. The creator of the project, Kevin Bates, originally only wanted to raise €9,300, but within a few days he had almost raised €50,000: His console is as small as a matchbox.
What kind of project is this?
- The “Arduboy Mini” is an 8-bit console. The “8-bit era” was actually 40 years ago. This generation of video game consoles includes systems like the “Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)”, which was released in 1983.
- The “Arduboy Mini” is the minimalist version of 2 earlier game consoles that the tinkerer Kevin Bates launched. The predecessors were the Arduboy and the Arduboy FX.
- The current project “Arduboy Mini” is characterized by its tiny size. The dimensions of the device are 48 × 33 × 8 mm. A matchbox normally measures 50 × 35 × 15 mm.
Kickstarter goal exceeded by 5 times
What can it do? The Autoboy Mini comes with more than 300 pre-installed games and has 6 buttons underneath the tiny display.
The games shown by the developer in a short video are open-source projects in black and white. First, he shows a “Falling Block” game, which is clearly a variant of Tetris.
Lovers are snatching the mini-console from the tinkerer
What does it cost? On Kickstarter, the smallest contribution costs about €28, and you are supposed to receive the Arduboy Mini by June 2023.
Those who spend more money will receive a graffiti edition or even 10 of the tiny consoles at once.
Is the project successful? Yes, indeed. Kevin Bates wanted to secure only €9,322 via Kickstarter by January 4, 2023, but as of now, on December 31, 2022, he has already raised almost €50,000.
Here’s the background: Kevin Bates created the “Arduboy” back in 2014, a handheld console that runs open-source software. The Arduboy made headlines back then because it resembled a credit card and could fit in your wallet.
At that time, Bates wanted to prove his skills in hardware hacking with the device and secure a job. That didn’t work out, as the site gizmodo reported.
But in the 8 years since then, Bates has apparently made a name for himself and built a loyal fan base. Variants of “Tetris” seem to be very popular on these consoles – just like back on the Gameboy.
The mini-console is designed to bring students into programming
The Arduboy is considered a good platform to start coding: Some have started designing games here, which now contributes to such a wide variety of small games for the tiny device. Hence, the Arduboy Mini is also intended for the classroom to introduce students to coding.
The author at gizmodo writes: Many want to learn programming, but sitting down with a book is quite a big hurdle. The idea of developing a real video game for the Arduboy Mini is significantly more appealing. Thus, the console is a “trojan horse” to bring children into programming.
For playing action games, the device is only suitable to a limited extent, as the controls are a bit sluggish.
Unfortunately, crowdfunding MMORPGs have not had as good a run on Kickstarter as hardware gadgets:
