I’m a parent, and Panic’s Playdate strikes me not just as a fun nostalgic game console for me, but something for the kids as well. Unfortunately, that latter bit isn’t quite true. I’ve been warned, and now so have you.
The Playdate Has One Very Fragile Component
Here’s something I’ve learned about kids in my near decade of being a father—they break just about everything. Crayons and pencils don’t stand a chance. Pages of books will get torn. Even the occasional Lego, which can survive being stepped on by 200-pound adults and leave the latter in pain, will end up chipped.
Very few electronics are built for this kind of abuse. One of the reasons I settled on getting Nintendo Switches for our household is because Nintendo builds systems with kids in mind. While the Nintendo Switch 2 costs more than I’m comfortable handing over to my kids, that’s a console that evenJerryRigEverything was unable to break. My kids, as hard as they are on their things, aren’t that abusive. The Switch may come out looking worse for wear, but I expect it to survive.
ThePlaydateseems like a device that could handle being tossed around by a kid. Thing is, the Playdate has a novel component that also happens to be its weakest link. That’s its crank.
For those not already familiar with the Playdate, let’s pause here a moment. The Playdate is a modern take on Nintendo’s original Game Boy. It’s tall, with a D-Pad, two buttons, and even a monochromatic screen. As its shtick, it also has a winding crank that extends from the side, which you can twist like a fishing rod. This is an interesting play mechanic that doesn’t come baked into any other console.
Smart money says that unless you have particularly careful kids, that crank will be a source of anxiety for you as you wait for the day it snaps off, which you will likely find out through a kid coming to you in tears, absolutely distraught and insisting you replace it. That leads us to our next issue.
The Playdate Is Prohibitively Expensive
Let’s be honest. This is the primary reason the Playdate isn’t a good buy for kids. It’s also the reason I can’t tell you about the Playdate’s crank breaking from first-hand experience. I’m getting the pro-tip not to trust the crank to my kids from my colleague Tim Rattay. Heowns a Playdate, loves it, and is hoping for its success. He also advised me not to buy one.
At $230, the Playdate is an expensive proposition for what it is. It was already expensive at the time of our follow-up review last summer, back when the console cost $200.
Thing is, when the Playdate first came out in 2022, it set you back an even lower $180. Back then I wanted one, yet even then I couldn’t bring myself to pull the trigger because of the cost. Inflation has not been kind to this device, and given that it hasn’t received any hardware enhancements, it’s a harder sell in 2025, even with the arrival of season 2.
That Screen Just Isn’t Going to Cut It
The black and white display is a big part of the Playdate ’s charm. It’s also consistently why people eventually stop returning to the device. Thanks to the lack of a backlight, it’s all but unplayable in anything other than direct light.
I can see all the issues this will lead to. Setting aside the dull nature of the graphics (which kids will probably only find interesting if they haven’t already been exposed to more vivid modern games), I imagine most kids won’t want to put up with the challenge of finding good light any more than adults do. In our house, where our kids share a room, I also see conflict ensuing as one child turns the bright bedroom lights on at inappropriate hours because it’s the only way to see the display.
I have fond memories of playing the original Game Boy as a child, and I’m not saying it wasn’t the kind of device that a kid could love—but there is no universe where I would have picked up that device over the alternatives available today. Even once the Game Boy Color came out, with the same game library and graphical prowess, just in color, that was enough for me to never have any interest in my old Game Boy again.
I recently bought my son a used Nintendo Switch off Swappa for under $190. Before that, my kids both played primarily with Android tablets that also cost around the same price. That’s what the Playdate’s up against. Parents thinking they can justify the cost of a Playdate by sharing it with their kids may want to think again, even if they stick the thing in a case.
Panic Playdate
Panic Playdate is a tiny handheld game system with reflective screen, new games, and a crank.
