PRE-ORDER AND SAVE $20: As of April 6, you can still pre-order your Panic Playdate handheld for its base price of $179. Today is the last day to get it at this price before the April 7 price increase to $199.
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The Nintendo Switch is great for handheld gaming, and the Steam Deck is absolutely fantastic for playing your favorite PC games in bed and on the go. But Panic’s Playdate is a quirky indie take on the typical handheld that’s unlike anything else on the market.
This tiny yellow device is more akin to a Game Boy than anything else, but only in form and its grayscale screen. It has a fun gimmick: it uses a crank to control some of the games it features (from a variety of different indie creators like Bennett Foddy and Serenity Forge). Adam Rosenberg called the Playdate a “mighty digital toybox in a miniature form factor” in his review for Mashable, praising it as a “celebration” of the medium of video games.
The handheld, which first debuted in 2019, didn’t start shipping until 2022, and there’s still a long wait to get one if you’re interested. When you try and purchase one, you’ll be directed to pre-order for a late 2023 delivery. Right now, the gaming device can be purchased for just $179. That’s about to change on Friday, when developer Panic is set to raise its price to $199.
The price increase reflects higher manufacturing costs, but you’ll also get 24 games instead of 12, with a higher onboard storage capacity. And now that the Playdate Catalog is also available, you can purchase additional games as you see fit instead of waiting for new ones to roll out to your device.
This is your last chance to lock one in at $179, so if you’d like to try out this micro fun station, you’d best do so before the end of the day. Be sure to snag one if you love adorable handhelds, because the Playdate certainly fits the bill.
