Pip is a Pi-powered handheld console that wants to bring coding to the masses

Older Stuff readers may remember a halcyon age of mucking about with home computers like the ZX Spectrum, before games systems became sealed units. Pip (from £50) is a love letter to Britain’s tinkerer past, in encouraging kids and adults alike to play games, but then tear them to pieces and figure out how to make them their own. Although it looks like a cheap Switch knock-off, the Pip’s a Pi-powered unit. You can learn, invent, code, and – most importantly – use the PipHAT add-on to control a game of Space Invaders using electric paint and a banana. Try doing that with your Nintendo console.

Craig Grannell Contributor

About

I’m a regular contributor to Stuff magazine and Stuff.tv, covering apps, games, Apple kit, Android, Lego, retro gaming and other interesting oddities. I also pen opinion pieces when the editor lets me, getting all serious about accessibility and predicting when sentient AI smart cookware will take over the world, in a terrifying mix of Bake Off and Terminator.

Areas of expertise

Mobile apps and games, Macs, iOS and tvOS devices, Android, retro games, crowdfunding, design, how to fight off an enraged smart saucepan with a massive stick.