To be honest, I didn't know what to expect when I ordered it, but have been very surprised - this is a fun system and really challenges the traditional gaming paradigm with the crank enabling some great games. It also has some interesting utilities and applications to experiment with too. More on these later.

I also grabbed the optional case cover, which is curiously purple in colour. It works great with the bright yellow colour of the Play Date system itself.

Gripes about the non-replaceable battery aside, the unit looks wonderful. The engineering of the Play Date was done by Teenage Engineering (who also made the amazing OP-1 that I also have). 

As an aside, you can see the OP-1 in action via Red Means Recording if you are interesting to see that amazing machine in action - I have so much to learn to use it at his level - he made a music album with it!

The Teenage Engineering design influence is very clear in the design of the Playdate too.

This system is very solidly built. The crank is metal and rotates and tucks away into the chassis when not in use. 

 

The handle of the crank is plastic, and yellow like the rest of the handheld chassis.

The metal grill is where the speaker is - A button to access the menu of the system is above it:

The top of the system has a power on/wake button with a small power light:

At the bottom of the system is the headphone jack and USB-C cable for charging.

The back of the system just has the Playdate logo and the PDU-Y-01 model number.

The usual controller and A and B buttons are used along with the crank to use the system:

As mentioned, I got the purple cover, which looks great on the Playdate - it uses magnets to attach to the body, and fits snugly.

With the lid closed, it protects the screen well for travelling:

After charging it up, I turned it on:

The first thing that got my attention is that the screen is not backlit.

It is like the original Gameboy in that respect, which supposedly gives it more battery life, but personally I haven't seen that - the unit runs out of juice surprisingly quickly, even in standby mode.

It means that you need a good light source to read the screen, and this limits where you can use it - you won't be playing it in a dimly lit room.

I walked through the setup, which connects the Playdate to WiFi:

Having connected to the internet, the Playdate then asks me to register the device to continue.

Essentially, all purchases of games (and initial season 1 of games included) have to be associated to an online account at play.date website.

With that registration completed, I could proceed:

Surprise surprise - firmware updates were needed...

I applied the system update and then set the system date/time:

I then completed the initial setup wizard:

The graphics and animations one the handheld look fantastic - I was impressed!

As a new machine, you get the first season of games included for free. Each month you get more titles to try out - all gift wrapped and ready to open up!

The games are all new, and never heard of any of them before. This makes a refreshing change from the endless remakes of the same tired boring games, Gran Turisnmo 7, Street fighter 6, GTA V. Seriously, can we have some original games?

Luckily with the Playdate, we get quite a few unique games alongside the copies of popular games - casual birder, duck game anyone?

From the top right menu button I can visit the Catalog, which is the online store to purchase additional titles:

The catalog can be navigated with the crank or the controller pad - it is divided into different genres - I have no idea why other e-stores (yes Nintendo I am looking at you) don't do this. 

From the status screen you can see the current games and applications installed on the Playdate, and any new games you have not yet downloaded onto the Playdate.

The Playdate has 4GB onboard storage, and you will need to buy a lot of games before this comes even close to full. Good thing, since it is not upgradable.

The Playdate is not limited to the catalog games and applications though. You can side load any released playdate games and applications on to the unit also. You can get them on places like itch.io from lots of small developers - most are free, some are paid. In all cases I found so far, the cost is not higher than $10 and generally less than $5 where it is a paid application or game.

This process has to be done from the play.date website, with the application/game uploaded to their website and then made available to download from the Playdate.

I believe it is also possible to load directly to the Playdate via USB-C, but I didn't do that. The upload method to the website means any updates are automatically applied to the installed applications on your Playdate, which I think is more convenient.

I got to work uploading and installing a number of titles - Duck game is where you control a duck collecting a small number of other ducks and navigating obstructions to reach the next level. 

Crank & Watch Octopus is a re-implementation of Octopus Game & Watch, using the crank to control the main character.

I also bought some games from the catalog on the playdate. You do need to register a credit card to your profile to enable purchases to be done from the playdate itself.

Zero Zero is kind of a densha de go train simulator.

Using the crank to control the train is very natural!

Have to admit - I enjoyed playing this:

You need to stop the train at the platform perfectly.

I also tried out the Octopus re-make, which worked amazingly well on the Playdate - I was very impressed. The crank is excellent for this game.

Next, I wanted to try out the multimedia capabilities of the Playdate - yes, you read that correctly! The Playdate (with the right applications installed) can play MP3 music files and some video files too.

I connected the Playdate to my Mac with USB-C cable and put it into disk mode. This gives me access to the file system from the Mac.

I can then load my music onto the 4GB storage. I didn't go crazy with that, since I wanted to make sure there is plenty of space for other applications and data.

I was impressed with this -  the Playdate can handle 3d gaming also, as well as video and mp3 playback - it is more powerful than the grayscale screen and simple controls suggests.

But with the right software, you can open up even more. Next I tried out Amigotracker, which is a re-implementation of an Amiga module tracker for the Playdate.

This allows me to load my favourite Amiga protracker music modules (via USB-C) onto the Playdate and enjoy them on the move.

I love the interface. The RAM disk icon contains the modules I loaded onto the Playdate via USB-C.

The Demo disk is the included modules to show off the capabilities of the tracker.

I mentioned earlier about being able to play videos on the Playdate. It seems kinda pointless with the greyscale screen, but I looked into it. 

Turns out there is a bit involved. You have to convert your original video file into two seperate files - an Mp3 file containing the audio, and a special formatted video file.

There is a online website to make the process of creating the videos easier, but I found the resulting video was jittery and not so great to watch - dropping way too many frames.

Probably I am doing something wrong with the settings or using too long videos to test with. 

To be honest this video playback is just a curiosity, as I am unlikely to actually use any videos on this unit. The file sizes are large and the point of doing it is mainly "because I can" rather than any useful reason to do it.

I have to say I am really happy with the Playdate - it has awakened some interesting new games in 2025, and the crank as a controller has meant some interesting new concepts in games can be achieved. 

Only thing I would change is the non-backlit screen, as it does limit where you can play it.

I look forward to trying out even more titles for the Playdate in 2025, and seeing what developers come up with to use next with the crank!