Thumby Color is the next generation of Thumby; tiny enough to take everywhere yet large enough to easily play. A new game engine allows both beginner and experienced developers to create fun and complex games. It comes fully assembled right out of the box and ready to play!

We took feedback about our original Thumby and have carefully built a new bite-sized experience from the ground up. Our love for the Thumby community has been poured into Thumby Color, and we need your help to fund it.

Built around the new Raspberry Pi RP2350 Processor, the successor to the RP2040 used in the original Thumby, the Thumby Color is significantly more powerful than the original Thumby. This new powerful processor enables us to implement a vibrant color screen and a highly featured game engine, allowing for the creation of some amazing games!

A fully functional game system in the palm of your hand
Uses the NEW Raspberry Pi RP2350 Processor, the successor to the RP2040
Beautiful 128x128 16-bit color IPS TFT display
RUMBLE MOTOR and working shoulder buttons!
Internal speaker, 4-way D-pad, A/B buttons, and a menu button
Preloaded with 5+ new games, works right out of the box
Backwards compatible with games made for the original Thumby
Rechargeable and programmable via USB-C
Create your own games using MicroPython in our FREE browser code editor

Games

Just like the original Thumby, Thumby Color games are free and open source, giving you the ability to modify them as you see fit. Games made for the original Thumby (and there are over 100 available) are still able to be played on the Thumby Color.

Thumby Color will ship with a number of new games specifically designed to show off the capabilities of this new platform. Currently there are six games but we expect to add several more prior to shipping units this fall. We've partnered with the game development company Glitchbit on creating several new titles for launch. We've also worked with a number of great Thumby developers on a beta program for the past three months to help test out the game engine and make some additional games. Thanks to Demod, SunnyChow, Austinio, AyreGuitar, TPReal and transistortester for all their help!

You can also easily download more games for free onto your Thumby Color as they become available on the color.thumby.us website.

You and other Thumby Color users can create and upload your own games using our free website editor and sharing them for the world to see!

Preloaded Games:

Monstra – A high-octane fixed shooter. Hunting cryptids has never looked so easy.
Thumbgeon 2 – The sequel to Thumbgeon on the Thumby: A tiny dungeon-crawler meant for big adventures. More loot, more monsters, more to explore!
Tag - Collect all three tokens as fast as you can... and don't get tagged!
BustAThumb – A puzzle shooter like the bubble-popping arcade classics.
Includes all original pre-loaded Thumby Games!
Plus several more to be announced prior to launch

Game Launcher

The Thumby Color can store many games internally, and a new game launcher at startup lets you easily pick which game you want to play.

Thumby Color Game Launcher

Rumble Motor

The Thumby Color features a programmable rumble motor (which is quite powerful even given the tiny size), to provide haptic response as you play.

Buzz, Buzz, Buzz

Run Original Thumby Games

Original Thumby games can easily be loaded onto your Thumby Color!

Thumby Color supports playing original Thumby games

Programming

Thumby Color uses MicroPython for its games, giving users an easy way to pick up and learn a programming language.

Our free browser editor lets you program, upload, and play, all in one browser tab! All you need is your Thumby Color and a USB-C cable. We offer tutorials for the editor, as well as help forums and a Discord server if you need any further help from our kind community.

Thumby Color Game Engine

The Thumby Color also implements a new game engine which allows high performance and complex games to be created using MicroPython.

Game Engine Features:

16-bit high-color graphics with opacity support
Complete documentation reference
Legacy (monochrome) Thumby compatibility layer
Fully-fledged entity component system
Advanced 2D sprite system with transformation features
Supports .wav audio and .bmp graphics formats
Integrated, easy-to-use 2D rigid body physics engine
Simple 3D scaling and draw effects
Low boilerplate -- what you want is all you need

Get started developing games now

Get a jump start on your Thumby Color game development by using the Thumby Color Development Board - this development board is completely compatible with the upcoming Thumby Color and is available now! The development board is larger than the Thumby Color with larger buttons and comes without a plastic case, but has the exact same display and RP2350 processor.

The Thumby Color Development Board is available here at TinyCircuits.com.

Access the getting started tutorials, game API, game engine and game tutorials at color.thumby.us

A Thumby Color development board resting on a keyboard.

The Thumby Color Development Board

Tech specifications:

Processor: 150MHz Dual Cortex-M33 Raspberry Pi RP2350 Processor (with FPU)
Memory: 520KB SRAM
Storage: 16MB Flash
Partitioned as 1MB firmware, 2MB game scratch, and 13MB filesystem
Connectivity: USB-C for charging and data uploading
Display: 0.85" 128x128px 16-bit Color Backlit IPS TFT LCD Display
Audio: Magnetic Buzzer
Haptics: DC Vibration Motor
Inputs: 9 tactile/programmable buttons
4 Directional Rocker D-pad, 2 A/B Action Buttons, 1 Menu Button, 2 Shoulder Buttons
Power: Slide switch, 110mAh Rechargeable LiPo Battery with 2 hours of gameplay
LED: Programmable Multicolor status LED
Time-Keeping: Internal RTC Clock
Dimensions: 51.6 x 30.0 x 11.6mm

Raspberry Pi RP2350

We've been teamed up with Raspberry Pi over the last six months developing the Thumby Color around the next generation microcontroller from Raspberry Pi, the RP2350. This processor is the successor to the RP2040 used in the original Thumby, and is incredibly powerful, allowing for the Thumby Color to run some amazing games!

Thumby Link - Multiplayer Thumbys!

Compete head-to-head with your friends by connecting two Thumby Colors over a standard USB-C to USB-C cable.

Thumby Color - Purple

At the base levels your Thumby Color comes in a classic purple case.

Thumby Color - Clear

At the level or higher - you have the option of selecting the Thumby Color in a clear case where you can see the internals of Thumby Color.

Thumby Color - Transparent Purple

At the level or higher - you have the option of selecting the Thumby Color in a transparent purple case where you can see the internals of Thumby Color.

Thumby Color - Special Edition

In the special edition levels - your Thumby Color will come in special edition packaging and you can choose a new Kickstarter exclusive color - Black and Gray!