Inventor’s Nephew Crafts Gift Card-Sized Raspberry Pi Gaming Console with 4-Inch IPS Screen and Pre-Loaded Arcade Games

Retro gaming. I swear, it’s like the universe saying, “Hey, remember when life was a bit simpler?” So I stumbled onto this wild gadget—handheld, retro, new-to-me. It’s tiny, like gift-card tiny. Grant Sinclair’s behind it. Yeah, that Sinclair—Clive’s nephew. Kind of poetic if you think about it. Or maybe it’s just me overthinking.

This thing, the GamerCard. Raspberry Pi-powered and has a 4" IPS screen—254 PPI. If you’re into tech specs. Oh! The buttons—circular, tactile. Weirdly satisfying to press, like bubble wrap but for gamers. Comes ready with arcade games, so you’re basically set the moment you pick it up.

Grant’s keeping the family legacy alive, I guess. Or hanging onto it. Either way, it’s cool. There’s a custom home launcher—it’s got emulators. Recalbox, RetroPie, Lakka—familiar names for the nerd in you. And all those PICO-8 games you love? Yep, plays those too. Plus, you can code with it. It’s like a Swiss Army knife for geeks.

Two games—Bloo Kid 2 and AstroBlaze DX—made it from the Nintendo Switch to this little guy. Gets me thinking, did they just shrink down or something? Anyway, they fit the square screen. Pixel-art perfection, seriously.

Okay, let’s get tactile—6.5 mm thin, 100 grams. That’s lighter than my sandwich. Not even kidding. No case, just stacked PCBs. It’s kinda raw, you know? Like, you’re just playing the bare bones of tech. There’s something beautiful about that, no?

And the techie bits—Raspberry Pi Zero 2W, quad-core ARM Cortex-A53. That means it’s got power (and 128GB storage). Battery’s 1600mAh. You might care about that if you’re always forgetting chargers.

Odd quirk though—USB-C and HDMI ports. Go figure, your gaming device can be a desktop, I guess? Ludicrous, but I dig it.

Now, the kicker—this thing’s £125. About $170 freedom bucks. Retroid Pocket 4 Pro’s cheaper at $149, or one of those Anbernic gadgets under $100. Then there’s the Miyoo Flip and RG34XXSP—their names are bonkers. You could juggle ’em; they’re a third of the GamerCard’s price.

I mean, kudos to Sinclair. But, like, is it worth it? You’d need some serious nostalgia-power glasses to justify the splurge unless retro gaming is totally your jam. Or maybe, just maybe, you’re really into gift cards. Either way, can’t deny the creativity, eh?