SPEBEG Is a Fun 8-Bit Hardware Game Played on an 8x8 LED Matrix

When most of us think about electronic games, we think about console or PC video games played on TVs and monitors. But, that doesn’t mean that fun games can’t be played on far more primitive hardware. The most obvious examples are those inexpensive handheld electronic games that were popular in the ’80s and ’90s. However, there are also modern homebrew hardware games, like Figuramania’s SPEBEG.

SPEBEG (Single Player Eight Bit Electronic Game) is a simple game controlled with what appears to be third party (maybe CH Products?) Apple II joystick. The game screen is an 8x8 LED matrix, and two 7-segment displays for keeping track of the score. The game moves a pixel around the matrix, and the player attempts to move their targeting reticle pixel onto the target and fire before it moves. If the player hits the target they get a point, and if they miss the computer gets a point.

The entire game is made from rudimentary hardware components, like 555 timers and 74190 counters. It’s built completely on a large perf board and handwired. That makes SPEBEG impressive simply because of the difficulty of creating a fun game with far less processing power than even the most basic Arduino. In fact, it doesn’t have a processor at all, and that makes this really special.