Thumby Color 1
Image: TinyCircuits

Remember the Thumby? Dubbed the world's smallest handheld, it launched back in 2021 and was so small it could fit on your keys.

Now, TinyCircuits – the company behind the original Thumby – has launched another Kickstarter campaign for its successor, the Thumby Color (thanks, Retro Dodo).

Powered by the Raspberry Pi RP2350 (which makes it "significantly more powerful" than the original Thumby), it boasts a 128x128 16-bit color IPS TFT display, rumble, a rechargeable battery and five pre-loaded games – plus, it's compatible with games made for the first-gen Thumby.

"Thumby Color is the next generation of Thumby," says the crowdfunding page. "Tiny enough to take everywhere yet large enough to easily play. A new game engine allows both beginner and experienced developers to create fun and complex games. It comes fully assembled right out of the box and ready to play."

Rather than run Game Boy games via emulation, Thumby has its own titles – and they're free and open source, "giving you the ability to modify them as you see fit." Over 100 games were made for the first Thumby.

You can purchase a Thumby Color for just $49 (about £39) in the standard purple colour, but transparent case options are available for just $5 more.

[source x.com]