(^58) The Official Raspberry Pi Projects Book raspberrypi.org/magpi
eter Barker was inspired
to start making miniature
gaming devices following
the release of the Pi Zero, and seeing
other makers cramming it inside
an old Game Boy. “After ordering
all the parts, I initially wanted to do
the same, but couldn’t bear to take
a working Game Boy apart.”
Instead, he created his first
standalone Pi Zero-based gaming
device using a cheap 2.2-inch SPI
Projects SHOWCASE
Possibly the world’s smallest Pi-based gaming device
PI0CKET-TINY PI
P
PETER BARKER
A full-time software developer,
part-time hacker, with a passion for
making fun little projects to get a Pi
in his pocket.
@Pi0CKET / github.com/moosepr
screen flanked by two stripboard
button arrays. “Things progressed
from there, really,” recalls Peter.
“I didn’t like how big the circuit
board was for the screen, and
realised that there weren’t all
that many bits to it, so I started
designing my own.”
This resulted in his diminutive
Game Boy Zero device featuring
a 2.2-inch display on a custom
PCB, “which was pretty much as
small as I thought I could go.”
However, Peter then found a
smaller, 1.44-inch TFT screen that
perfectly matched the 128×128
resolution of the Pico-8 fantasy
games console (magpi.cc/2rCswv1)
that he’d stumbled across after
looking at the PocketCHIP
handheld computer. “It took me
back to the good old days of the
[Sinclair] Spectrum, where the
system was small enough that
Tiny Pi took
two months
to create
It runs for 3.5
hours on a 1000
mAh battery
Peter is
now selling
Tiny Pi kits...
...so you can
build your own
tiny console
He’d like
to create a
Pi pocket
computer
Quick
Facts
Tiny Pi’s custom-designed
PCB is just 0.8 mm thick
The 1.44 inch TFT screen’s
128×128 resolution is a perfect
match for Pico-8 games
A three-way switch can be
mapped to extra functions