The PinkyPi Pushes the Limits of How Small a Raspberry Pi Handheld Can Be

It doesn’t take a crack market analyst to surmise that the entire point of handheld video game consoles is portability. Some, like the Nintendo Switch, really walk right up to the line of what can be considered truly “portable.” Others, like the classic Nintendo Game Boy Color and the modern Arduino-based Arduboy, are actually small enough to fit in regular people’s pockets. Then you have the PinkyPi, which is a Raspberry Pi RetroPie handheld that’s small enough to get lost in those same pockets.

PinkyPi was developed by CrackedConsole specifically to push the limits of how small a Raspberry Pi handheld game console can be. While it is quite thick — a necessity to fit all of the components inside of the enclosure — it has a very small footprint. It easily fits into the palm of your hand, and is about as small as a handheld possibly could be while remaining playable. But packed inside is a Raspberry Pi Zero W running RetroPie, so it is definitely playable and fully capable of emulating classic games from the 8-bit era.

The screen is a 1.33 inch WaveShare IPS LCD Hat, which has a 240x240 pixel resolution that’s perfect for retro gaming. Power is provided by a 500mAh lithium-ion battery through a TP4056 boost converter and charging module. There is even a 23W audio amplifier and micro speaker tucked into the miniature case. That case is 3D-printable, and CrackedConsole has provided the STL files so you can make your own PinkyPi, and electronics kits may be made available for sale in the future.