The Playdate is about to get a price increase

The Playdate, Panic’s cranky little console that could, is going to get $30 more expensive next week. Panic announced the increase in an email to customers, bringing the bright yellow handheld’s price from $199 to $229.

Yeah, so, guess what: after getting up and running at our new factory, they soon let us know that it would cost quite a bit more to make a Playdate than it did at our previous factory. We were not very excited to hear this! (What next?!) But as a result, on March 25th, brand new Playdate systems will be priced at $229.

It seemed important to give you a heads up before this happened — if you’ve been on the fence, we didn’t want the price to unexpectedly change on you. So: this is the very last week you can buy a brand new Playdate at the current price of $199. Act quickly if interested. And thanks for your understanding, always.

Though the Trump administration’s intermittent tariff applications are affecting many items, this price increase doesn’t seem related. The Playdate is still manufactured in Malaysia, a country which, so far, has not been targeted for tariffs.

There’s still time to get the Playdate (and you should!) before the price increase goes into effect, but if the current price isn’t low enough, Panic said it will offer a limited number of refurbished Playdates for $179 on March 25th.