Build Your Own Portable Video Game Machine with the DIY Gamer Kit

Make annoying people who think gaming is a lazy hobby try to build this.
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The DIY Gamer Kit tasks you with building your own portable game machine and programming its games. Looking for a fun project that you can get creative with? Have a little geek-in-training who won’t stop bugging you for a new console for the holidays? This kit may be the solution you’re looking for.

When the kit is fully assembled and soldered together, it sports a familiar, GameBoy-esque design, but the DIY machine is much simpler. It sports an eight by eight LED display and a buzzer for rudimentary sound. Of course, the real draw here is seeing how creative you can get with the included coding tools and the limits of the device.

As with most educational coding toys, the kit comes with some simple, pre-made software libraries that users can play around with and learn from, so that it’s easy to pick up with relatively low coding knowledge. As the coder’s skills grow, they can get more creative and see what they’re capable of. The kit also comes with custom versions of Snake and Breakout preinstalled, so you can take a little break after assembling it and get some ideas on what to code.

If you think kids these days are spoiled and take technology for granted, this may just make the perfect gift.

(via The Verge, image via DIY Gamer Kit)

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Dan Van Winkle
Dan Van Winkle (he) is an editor and manager who has been working in digital media since 2013, first at now-defunct Geekosystem (RIP), and then at The Mary Sue starting in 2014, specializing in gaming, science, and technology. Outside of his professional experience, he has been active in video game modding and development as a hobby for many years. He lives in North Carolina with Lisa Brown (his wife) and Liz Lemon (their dog), both of whom are the best, and you will regret challenging him at Smash Bros.