Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – @BednarChuck
Ever wished that you had a truly tiny and accessible portable gaming system – you know, one the size of a credit card that you could slip into your wallet and bring with you absolutely everywhere? Then today is your lucky day, because the guys behind the new Arduboy are developing just such a device!
Credit: Arduboy
According to its Kickstarter crowdfunding page, Arduboy is a credit-card sized piece of game hardware that will play classic-style arcade games created using the Arduino platform. It is made from metal and polycarbonate, it features an OLED display and six soft-touch tactile buttons, and its rechargeable battery can provide up to eight hours of gameplay on a single charge.
All of Arduboy is open-sourced, the developers said, and online tutorials are provided for anyone interested in trying their luck programming for the device. Furthermore, one package allows teachers supporting the project to receive a set of 10 Arduboy units, plus a printed booklet and free online coursework on how to use the device to teach a course in C++.
Started as a hobby now we here
Arduboy founder Kevin Bates, who had been working on building wind turbines, told redOrbit via email that he enjoyed “messing around” with Arduino at home, and came up with the idea for the Arduboy when people would ask him what it was he did for a living.
“I would inevitably tell them about my boring day job when I really wanted to show them my Arduino projects,” he said, “but they were rarely portable. So I set out to create a digital business card. Originally I was just going to put some LED’s and buttons and make a ‘Simon Says’ game, but I had the OLED display and found it could be powered by a coin cell.”
The project launched on Kickstarter on May 11, and its goal of $25,000 was reached in just two hours. Currently, Bates and his colleagues have raised more than $300,000 in their online fund-raising campaign, which he said has been “a smashing success” – and somewhat of a surprise, as Bates said that the team didn’t think it would take off so fast. “Thankfully, we have been working on this for over year so we feel ready to take on the challenge.”
Besides giving the world a very cool-looking gaming system, Bates also believes that the tale of the Arduboy team stands as an inspirational success story. “If you follow your dreams, you can change the world,” he told redOrbit. “I was able to do it with the support of my fans who like what I’m doing and I’ll be doing the best to give back that experience to my customers!”
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