Maketato - A DIY, Pico-based handheld students can build

[macifom]

This Summer I ran workshop for a handful of kids who built Pi Pico-based MakeCode Arcade handhelds and created original games for them. The kids had a blast but the ‘3D-printed Game Boy’ models I repurposed for the project were a pain to produce and assemble. To save others grief, I designed a new handheld from scratch and documented the complete build process. You can read the instructions here and download the 3D models from cults3D. If you’re an educator and want a free non-commercial license just ping me.

Here’s one I printed in ‘Rainbow Fade’ for my daughter, playing the Kirby-inspired game she made:

Here’s what the internal wiring looks like. I also designed a LiPo-powered version with USB-C charging that’s a bit thinner but I recommend this battery-powered build for younger students:

[randomuser]

This is so cool!!

[macifom]

Thanks for checking it out! Would love to get your feedback on the design, build or documentation.

[Josvp]

Thank you very much! I built it and had my students try their games on it
. It has inspired me to start making a version for rp2040-zero to create a smaller device. So far I got it working on a breadboard by patching the uf2 to use different pins for the display.

[Josvp]

This is brilliant. Thank you so much!

Did you write the uf2 file yourself? Where did you find the documentation to do so?

[Josvp]

Progress so far:

Patched Macifom’s uf2 fil using uf2 patcher.

PIN_BTN_MENU = P_8
PIN_DISPLAY_CS = P_6
PIN_DISPLAY_DC = P_5
PIN_DISPLAY_MOSI = P_3
PIN_DISPLAY_RST = P_4
PIN_DISPLAY_SCK = P_2
PIN_BTN_DOWN = P_26
PIN_BTN_LEFT = P_29
PIN_BTN_RIGHT = P_28
PIN_BTN_UP = P_27
Made the mainboard and the buttonboard

Dimensions now 6.5 cm x 10 cm
No batteries or lipo yet, still working on the batterycase.

Case is still a bit of a challenge, but getting there
No batteries or lipo yet, still working on the batterycase.

Great fun this. Thank you Macifom!

[Josvp]

New version, “peepboy slim”
Dimensions: 95 x 75 x 18.5 mm
Soldered version, so not as modular orreusable, but I used cheap parts.
Lipo and loader included. Students loved it.