TinyCircuits Thumby (Clear), Tiny Game Console, Playable Programmable Keychain: Electronic Miniature, STEM Learning Tool

My son loved it. Tiny and somehow it does what it says it should do. Cute.

The media could not be loaded. This is SO much fun and the perfect novelty gift for any retro gamer in your life.I was expecting two things - for the screen to be totally naff and for it to be unplayable with sausage fingers like mine but I’ve been happily proven wrong on both points.There are 5 preloaded games as standard but there is a web address on the packaging to download more games :)For something so tiny, it feels really well made - the buttons give you that satisfying click you’d like from them and the screen is crisp and clear.I’m one of the very few people who doesn’t have a single game on their phone but I’ve attached this as a charm for when I’m (inevitably) waiting in a queue or something so that I can have a quick play……I’ll probably make my eyes worse than they already are but I don’t care, because this is brilliant!

TinyCircuits Thumby (Clear)====================The relatively young company Tiny Circuits who produce a whole plethora of tiny miniatures from a tiny miniature violin to a tiny arduino powered arcade machine with a workable joystick, button and tiny screen. They've gone one step further and produced a tiny gameboy-like device running raspberry pi pico.The Raspberry Pi Pico is a radical change from previous Pi's, because it's not a Linux computer, but a microcontroller board like Arduino. Generally, you won't be running an operating system on the Raspberry Pi Pico. In most projects, you are likely to just need to upload code and then run that one program only.Obviously with the size limitations the spec isn't that great 2Mb ram, 72x40 dot pixel black and white screen, built-in battery and a small number of games. Whilst the games are playable, (only just about), they are not enjoyable at all, because the buttons and screen are so small.The company also uniquely provides an online editor at code.thumby.us which works in chrome or edge browsers and has a simplified version of python, allowing you to write your own games and upload them into your thumby. With a lot of examples and demos, you can copy and paste into the editor, it's a fun way to get started in simple programming.It has a tiny switch for power on the top, and a directional pad and two buttons. The start and select indents are just for show. Whilst it is pants to play on, it's a real engineering minaturised marvel, and an impressive piece of technology.I love this, but won't be putting it on my keychain any time soon, it's going to go on my display shelf, after I add a few of my own progs on there. A great conversation piece, and great online IDE development area. I have done lots of programming in the past, and am quite impressed with the IDE and emulator which allows you to create and run your programmes without connecting the thumby, and when you’re ready, you can transfer it straight to the thumby. The thumby would also make a great present for anyone just starting programming. The only very minor niggles for me is the IDE only runs on Chrome or Edge, (not the end of the world), and the micro usb cable isn't included, for charging and data transfer, but luckily I have loads lying around from old phones.

The media could not be loaded. I love the TinyCircuits Thumby, It’s so small, but amazingly, it is playable even with my sausage thumbs.The games are variants of games like Snake, Pong and Tetris, plus more games can be added to it.You can even link two Thumbys together for multiplayer.The Thumby is a STEM educational device. You can program games for it. Upload your own drawing and videos to it too.

Folks will call this teeny, tiny console out for it's shortcomings but you have got to see past its size. Thumby's strength is not in its usability (it is totally impractical to attempt to effectively play games on it) but in its learning potential because the Thumby is an excellent tool.It fits perfectly into the realm of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) and suddenly it is a learning resource for schools, in fact if you go to the main website shop you are able to bulk buy these tiny devices in bundles of say 25 for entire classes. The 'Thumby code editor' is free and totally online as far as I can see, it would be nice to be able to download it to a device as software but I totally get why the makers of Thumby did this, it has some nice tutorials to get you started, lots of other games in the arcade and will even emulate your creations.So the hardware I believe is based around the RPi RP2040 zero microcontroller board which is tiny but I will let the specs do the talking...Specs...Processor: Raspberry Pi RP2040 ProcessorMemory: 2MB total storageConnectivity: micro USB for programming & multiplayer using Thumby Link cableOutputs: 72x40 Monochrome OLED, Piezo SpeakerInputs: 6 tactile buttons (4-way D-pad, 2 action buttons)Power: Power switch, 40mAh Rechargeable LiPo Battery, ~2 hours of gameplayDimensions: 1.2" X 0.7" X 0.3" (29.5mm x 18mm x 8.5mm), 4.7 gramsProgramming: MicroPython or Arduino IDETo me this is just a novelty device but my mind was never able to grasp programming, hook it to your keys and it's one hell of a talking point with your mates but in a learning environment this tiny little device is so worth so much more. The only thing I could ask for in the Thumby would be a larger sibling, even if it was 4x the size it would make it more practical to use the buttons cos if you have sausage fingers...forget it!So to reiterate...The Thumby is a tiny but impractical for gaming on device, which is an excellent learning tool.Great piece of tech in my opinion.