The progress we have made miniaturization They made things possible that a few years ago would have looked like authentic sci-fi, and Asterisk is one of the best examples. I’m sure many of our readers remember those huge portable consoles that featured the game Tetris (and some blocky variants) that allowed us to play for many hours without having to change batteries. They were a cheap alternative for those of us who couldn’t afford a real laptop, and their success was so great that they are still sold today.

Asterisk is, in a way, an evolution of that huge console. This system has only four centimeters in size, and it comes with a complete control system and a screen where we can play a minimalist version of Tetris. The top two buttons allow us to move the pieces left and right, the bottom left button allows the pieces to fall faster and the bottom right button allows us to rotate the pieces. It’s the only game to feature this quirky console, but it’s still impressive that it’s all been integrated into four centimeters.

The screen with the star is an OLED type, works in black and white, which translates into minimal power consumption because it directly turns off pixels to generate black, uses an ATTiny85 microcontroller, and the software it integrates has been customized using Arduino programming tools. The system comes fully assembled in its current version, but there is one thing that is not included, the battery. For this to work we will need two coin cell batteries that fit into the back.

Asterisk is not yet available, but it is already available for pre-order 20 dollars, 19.58 euros, quite a high number, but reasonable considering the quality of this console’s screen and its small size. It’s also important to note that Asterisk doesn’t have a release or availability date, so we’re waiting for confirmation on pre-orders, and I’m assuming they’ll ship later depending on pre-order order

Depending on the country you are pre-purchasing from you may have to pay customs fees, so keep that in mind before you go pre-buying. Personally, I think it’s a piece of cake for any tech and Tetris lover.