Getting Personal with the Game Bub

📰 New article from RetroRGB

Getting Personal with the Game Bub

https://retrorgb.com/getting-personal-with-the-game-bub.html

Let’s be real—building a handheld gaming console from scratch isn’t just a hobby. It’s a midlife crisis with better visuals.

Enter the Game Bub: an open-source FPGA handheld that’s basically a love letter to retro gamers and electronics nerds alike. When the official Crowd Supply version (a sleek horizontal design) got delayed, one intrepid fan decided: Why wait? I’ll build the old vertical version myself. And by “build,” we mean soldering over 300 microscopic 0402 components—tiny enough to be mistaken for dust. Six hours in the oven later, he emerged… victorious. And slightly charred.

The twist? The GitHub version (Revision 2) is totally different from the polished, horizontal Revision 3 shipping to Crowd Supply backers. Turns out Eli, the creator, was still fine-tuning the final product—so our DIY hero accidentally scored a rare, early prototype. Talk about serendipity.

Now he’s got a working Game Bub to play Tetris on while waiting for his “premium” version. And yes—he filmed the whole chaotic, solder-splattered process in a 26-minute video. No commentary. Just pure, uncut electronics wizardry.

If you’ve ever stared at a circuit board and whispered, “I could do this,” watch it. Then go hug your toaster. You’re not alone.