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.

An exploded view of the internals of a Playdate device.

It also has a peppy little processor, Wi-Fi, 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!

The Design.

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.

The Crank.

Yes, the crank. Is it a gimmick? Nah. Does it charge Playdate's battery? Nope. Is it really fun? Yes yes yes. 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.

The Season.

Here's the truly unique bit. Playdate isn't just an empty system. Once you set up your Playdate, you'll start to receive two brand new games... every week. 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.

Casual Birder
Crankin's Time Travel Adventure

A short description of the game

uvula
Keita Takahashi & Ryan Mohler, Shaun Inman, Matthew Grimm
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
Inventory Hero

Panic
Star Sled

Panic

Learn more about the Season One games!

Season Two

Season Two of Playdate games is here—a bundle of a dozen original, unique, surprising new titles. Plus, a surprise.

Catalog

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.

Your games?

You can also make your own Playdate games. Our SDK is free to download, no special hardware required. And with the Pulp game maker, all you need is a web browser. Plus, sideloading games onto the Playdate is easy.

A trio of screenshots showing development tools in the Playdate SDK.

Big Screen Optional.

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.

A screenshot of the Mirror app on a laptop, with a Playdate in front of it. Both are running the same game, Ratcheteer.

Playdate for Education

Playdate's simplicity and scope make it perfect for teaching programming and game design.

With Playdate, students create real, playable games on a device they can hold in their hands. Students can code on their computers, test out the game on a Playdate, then go back to fine-tune. It’s experiential, project-based, learning-by-doing at its very best.

Qualified education customers receive a 15% discount on all Playdate hardware and accessories!

All for just $229.

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.

And Playdate Cover

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. Check it out!