Retro Gaming Startup Brings DIY Consoles To The Masses

Everything old is new again, apparently. Although many people pride themselves on having the newest technology the market has to offer, that doesn’t mean everyone’s on board with cutting-edge. Retro is having a bit of a resurgence, showing up in viral video recipes, fashion, and even the way we play games. Just ask 19-year-old Albert Gajsak, the young Croatian innovator behind a startup called CircuitMes. Gajsak has created a DIY gaming console, called MAKERbuino, that provides both distinctive nostalgia and the opportunity for the young and the young at heart to build their own devices and even code their own games.

Gajsak first became interested in building electronics at age 11. At age 14, he was building prototypes for what would later become the MAKERbuino. Instead of relying on PCB manufacturing companies to make components for his devices, he’d perform his own circuit board assembly. While some PCB manufacturing companies can perform PCB assembly services in five days or less, Gasjak developed his own system — an impressive feat for a teenager.

After launching a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo, Gasjak was chosen as Croatia’s official representative at the 2016 Maker Faire, an event sponsored by Google and Intel. He then secured an investor and launched a Kickstarter campaign that made $90,000 more than his original goal. This allowed Gasjak to release the MAKERbuino to the masses. And since the kit is only $49, DIY gaming and coding is now truly accessible.

The MAKERbuino website provides helpful resources for consumers, like tutorials on how to assemble their console, how to code games, and even how to “hack” the kit to put their own spin on the technology. Each kit comes with everything you need, including speakers, screws, and a PCB. Whether CircuitMess handles their own PCB fabrication and assembly in-house isn’t quite clear, but considering that Gasjak did so on a smaller scale before, it’s possible the startup doesn’t need any help from PCB manufacturing companies to create these components.

Gasjak maintains that the MAKERbuino introduces STEM concepts to kids as young as 11 years old — the age when Gasjak began his electronic building journey. He hopes to inspire young people to pursue technological interests with his DIY kit.

As Gasjak explained to Forbes: “I tell parents that you can buy a MAKERBuino as a substitute for roughly the price of a single video game. Kids spend more than six hours a week playing games. What if you could spend a part of that time as an educational playtime where they could learn electronics and programming?”