Get ready for a gaming experience like NO OTHER!
The System.Playdate is familiar, but unlike anything you've ever seen. It has a very special black and white screen– not backlit, but super reflective – that looks way more amazing than you're probably imagining. It also has a peppy little processor, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth (coming soon), and a surprisingly loud loudspeaker. And when you're not using it, the screen doesn't turn off – it becomes a very nice low-power clock!
Thanks to our friends at Teenage Engineering, Playdate looks incredible. It's colorful. It fits in your pocket. And we worked hard to make sure buttons feel perfectly clicky and that the crank action is silky smooth.
Yes, the crank. Is it a gimmick? Does it charge Playdate's battery? Nope. Is it really fun?
It's an analog controller that flips out from the side, allowing you to precisely dial in the action. Not every game uses it, but some really do, like Crankin's Time Travel Adventure, below.
Your browser doesn't seem to support video.
Here's the truly unique bit. Playdate isn't just an empty system. Once you set up your Playdate, you'll start to receive brand new games...
For 12 weeks. That's 24 free games, in lots of genres. Some are short. Some are long. Will you love them all? Probably not. Will you have a great time trying them? Absolutely.
Wait!
| Game Title | Developer |
|---|---|
| Casual Birder | Diego Garcia, Music by Maxo |
| Crankin's Time Travel Adventure | Keita Takahashi & Ryan Mohler, Shaun Inman, Matthew Grimm |
| uvula | uvula |
| Demon Quest '85 | Lawrence Bishop, Alex Ashby, Duncan Fyfe |
| Echoic Memory | Samantha Kalman, Everest Pipkin, Carol Mertz, Rachelle Viola |
| Executive Golf DX | davemakes |
| Flipper Lifter | Serenity Forge |
| Forrest Byrnes: Up In Smoke | Christina "castpixel" Neofotistou, Nels Anderson |
| HYPER METEOR | VERTEX POP |
| Lost Your Marbles | Sweet Baby Inc. and Friends |
| Omaze | Gregory Kogos |
| Pick Pack Pup | Nic Magnier, Arthur Hamer, Music by Logan Gabriel |
| Questy Chess | Dadako |
| The Racheteer | Shaun Inman, Matthew Grimm, Charlie Davis |
| Sasquatchers | Chuck Jordan,Music and sound by Jared Emerson-Johnson |
| Saturday Edition | Chris Makris,Sound by A Shell In The Pit |
| Snak | Zach Gage |
| Spellcorked | Jada Gibbs, Nick Splendorr, Ryan Splendorr, Tony Ghostbrite, A Shell in the Pit (Em Halberstadt) |
| Whitewater Wipeout | Chuhai Labs |
| Zipper | Bennett Foddy |
| Boogie Loops | May-Li Khoe, Andy Matuschak, Andres Velasquez |
| Battleship Godios | TPM.CO SOFT WORKS |
| b360 | Panic |
| Panic | Panic |
| Inventory Hero | Panic |
| Panic | Panic |
| Star Sled | Panic |
| Panic | Panic |
| Learn more about the Season One games! |
The fun continues with awesome new Playdate games made by developers around the world. You can install our favorites with Catalog, a little game store right on your Playdate.
Playdate Catalog
You can also make your own Playdate games. Our SDK is free to download, no special hardware required. And with the Pulpgame maker, all you need is a web browser. Plus, sideloading games onto the Playdate is easy.
If you ever want to play Playdate games on another screen, we've got that covered with the Playdate Mirror app. It's a desktop app that streams gameplay in real-time from your Playdate to a macOS, Windows, or Linux computer. Handy for recording your playthrough or using alternative game controllers.
Includes the full Season One of games– 24 original Playdate games, delivered weekly, at no extra charge.
Does not include shipping. But you do get a very nice yellow USB-C to USB-A cable.
A cute, clean way to protect your Playdate. The Playdate Cover aligns with Playdate's screws and secures itself magnetically. Plus, when folded, it looks like a delicious electronic ice cream sandwich.
| Battery | 14 days standby clock |
| 8 hours active | 8 hours active |
| CPU | 168 MHz Cortex M7 |
| SDK supports | Lua, C |
| Storage | 16 MB RAM 8 KB L1 Cache 4 GB Flash |
| Size | 76 × 74 × 9 mm |
See it for yourself 
Included
Playdate
USB-C to A Cable
User Guide
Wireless
802.11bgn 2.4GHz Wi-Fi
Bluetooth®
Sound
Built-In Mono Speaker
Stereo Headphone Jack
Condenser Mic + TRRS Mic In
Display
400 × 240 1-bit
Inputs
D-Pad
A + B
Sleep + Menu
3-Axis Accelerometer
Crank
Cost: $229 
Plus Taxes & Shipping
"If we made hardware, and built a tiny little game system that came with lots of surprise games, would that make people happy?"
Playdate was created by Panic. Since 1999, Panic makes Mac software, and publishes video games like Firewatch, Untitled Goose Game, and Nour: Play With Your Food. Learn more about it from the first episode of the Playdate Podcast!
Sign up to get Playdate news. Only the important stuff.
Playdate - The Pocket-Sized Wonder!
Generate your own 90s page here!