Since the 90s, Panic has been known as a creator of playful, functional software. Then, nearly two decades into their existence they took an unexpected swerve into video game publishing. During that time they also managed to somehow grow a weird idea for a corporate gift into a brand new handheld video game platform. The Playdate!

The Playdate is a tiny handheld video game console, kind of like a quirky modern Game Boy, with a crank on the side. It feels like a strange merger of retro and modern, with a high resolution 1-bit black and white display, and a “Season” model for game distribution where every Playdate receives new games automatically over the internet, two a week for 12 weeks after you unbox it. It’s really neat.

Short Game Bird Correspondent Mark Bramhill joins us for this episode. Mark interviewed the Panic team about the history of their MP3 player application Audion for his incredible Welcome to Macintosh podcast (it’s a great listen!) and talks about seeing prototype Playdate hardware all the way back in 2016!

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