The Raspberry Pi Pico-powered Thumby is a tiny retro gaming console for your keychain that looks like a miniaturized Nintendo Game Boy

If you thought that the upcoming Steam Deck handheld console or the Nintendo Switch are pretty portable gaming machines, you may want to check out a recently started Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign for the retro gaming console called "Thumby".  Judging by its form factor, this could in fact be one of the smallest gaming consoles in the world. Granted, the Raspberry Pi Pico (from US$8 on Amazon) based Thumby is not really intended to compete against full grown consoles like the Steam Deck or the Nintendo Switch.

Nevertheless, the RP2040 processor of the little Raspberry Pi Pico is able to effortlessly render the five included classic games which are intended to resemble Nintendo's iconic Tetris, Asteroids, Snake and Saur Run. The 2MB integrated storage has enough space for more games, which can be developed using MicroPython or Arduino IDE. The tiny Thumby also features an OLED display with a resolution of 72 by 40 pixels and an integrated rechargeable battery with a capacity of 40mAh.

All of these components are built into a small case that resembles Nintendo's classic Game Boy, but the dimensions of the Thumby are dramatically smaller. Measuring only 29.5mm x 18mm x 8.5mm, the Thumby should be small enough to fit into any pocket, and it is certainly one of the tiniest micro consoles on the market. You can pre-order a Thumby by contributing at least US$24 to the according kickstarter campaign, and you can choose one from overall three colors. As always, be aware that there are certain financial risks when participating in such a crowdfunded project, although the Thumby looks very promising as it has easily surpassed its funding goal with almost a month left on the campaign.