Adafruit PyBadge LC - MakeCode Arcade, CircuitPython, or Arduino Low Cost Version

What's the size of a credit card and can run CircuitPython, MakeCode Arcade or Arduino even when you're on a budget? That's right, it's the Adafruit PyBadge LC! We wanted to see how much we could cram into a ​3 3⁄8 × ​2 1⁄8 inch rounded rectangle, to make an all-in-one dev board with a lot of possibilities, and this is what we came up with .

The PyBadge is a compact board, like we said, it's credit card sized. It's powered by our favorite chip, the ATSAMD51, with 512KB of flash and 192KB of RAM. We add 2 MB of QSPI flash for file storage, handy for images, fonts, sounds, or game assets.

This is the Low Cost version of our more fully featured Adafruit PyBadge . We pared down the hardware to make it even more affordable, and you can still use it with MakeCode Arcade, CircuitPython or Arduino ! The LC version has the same processor chip, QSPI Flash, on/off switch, buttons, buzzer, light sensor and battery circuit. It does not have Feather headers, JST STEMMA connectors, LIS3DH accelerometer, or optional speaker connection. Instead of 5 NeoPixels there is only one in the center front.

On the front you get a 1.8" 160x128 color TFT display with dimmable backlight - we have fast DMA support for drawing so updates are incredibly fast. There's also 8 silicone-top buttons, they are clicky but have a soft button top so they're nice and grippy. The buttons are arranged to mimic a gaming handheld, with a d-pad, 2 menu-select buttons and 2 fire-action buttons. There's also a NeoPixel LED in the front to dazzle or track activity.

For built in sensing, there's a light sensor that points out the front. To make bleeps and bloops, there's a built in buzzer-speaker.

You can power the PyBadge from any of our LiPoly batteries , but we like this 420mAh one . An on-off switch will save battery power when not in use. Or power from the Micro USB port - it will also charge up the battery if one is attached.

Now, how to program it? Well you've got a lot of options!

• MakeCode Arcade is the easiest to start for making games , you can drag-and-drop blocks and load games over the disk-drive bootloader
• CircuitPython lets you draw graphics, play wave files and print out text in any fonts - all in Python! There's tons of sensor support as well.
• Arduino is low level, powerful, but a little more challenging. You can use Adafruit Arcada to interface with the hardware and it will abstract some of the nitty-gritty details like reading buttons for you.

Here's a list of everything you get

• ATSAMD51J19 @ 120MHz with 3.3V logic/power - 512KB of FLASH + 192KB of RAM
• 2 MB of SPI Flash for storing images, sounds, animations, whatever!
• 1.8" 160x128 Color TFT Display connected to its own SPI port
• 8 x Game/Control Buttons with nice silicone button tops (these feel great)
• 1 x NeoPixel for badge dazzle
• Light sensor , reverse-mount so that it points out the front
• Built in mini-speaker buzzer
• LiPoly battery port with built-in recharging capability
• USB port for battery charging, programming and debugging
• Reset button
• On-Off switch