If your playdate wish list is like mine (endless), here’s a good excuse to actually go ahead and unchain some of those games: Panic is running a sale on the playdate catalog to celebrate its three-year anniversary. Sure, most of the playdate games are pretty cheap, but their price can still add up when you’re shopping wildly. Ask me how I know! The sale started on March 5 and will run until March 19 at 1 p.m. ET (10 a.m. PT), so take advantage of the discount while you can.
According to Panic, there are now 423 games available in the catalog, so if you’re having trouble deciding which game you should pick up, I’ve got you some recommendations right here.
season two
If $39 seemed like too much when season two came out last summer, now’s the time to get it. The second season of Playdate only had half the games as the first, but it still felt like a very strong collection. Each of its 12 games is really solid, and there’s a lot of variety in terms of style and genre, from puzzles and hours-long adventures to fast-paced action games that are great for intense play. And, it comes with blippo+ – A unique cable TV simulator that is unlike anything else out there.
All of these games are worth playing, but there were definitely some standouts: The WhiteoutA post-apocalyptic adventure that will surely become even more difficult given the winter we have now had; puzzle platformer Taria and Como; arcade action game Fulcrum Defender; climbing adventure, small turnip. I enjoyed it too to dig! to dig! Dino! For something on the chiller side.
external parties
I haven’t been able to shut up about this game since it came out. It’s unique, it’s scary, it’s totally entertaining and it really pushes the boundaries of what Playdate can do. external parties There’s a spooky scavenger hunt, which projects a giant picture for you to investigate and find the sights hidden within, use the crank to constantly adjust the brightness so you can find anything buried in the shadows. As you find these objectives, more and more of the game’s story is revealed through awesome audio clips. It’s a great experience and the atmosphere is incredible. It will also give you many hours of play time, with over 150 objectives to discover and lots of lore to uncover.
crankstone
A full blown western for a playdate! crankstone is a gallery shooter with minigames mixed in, and between the aesthetics, music, and activities, it’s a lot of fun. You can choose the story mode to get straight into the shooting and save the town from bandits, or visit the salon in person to choose from a handful of mini-games, including some fast-paced “find the right card” deck shuffling games and some mimicry games involving cranks. It’s like a Wild West theme park filled to the brim with playdates, which means it’s amazing.
echo: oracle scroll
This is one of my all-time favorite playdate games. echo: oracle scroll is a Metroidvania without the usual combat, focused entirely on exploration and puzzle solving in a vast network of underground kingdoms. In this game, the Blight has driven civilization underground, and you play as a child who is sent on a mission to deliver a scroll from the nether regions, where humans live, to the Archives.
There are all kinds of dangerous environments underground, including magma lakes and areas filled with hostile vegetation, making for a sometimes challenging platformer that requires a lot of creativity to make your way through. The tone is a little somber, but the quirky characters – like the bouncy-bellied Frog Prince – keep things from getting too dark.
katablanche
This is for lovers of classic card games. This virtual card game parlor (which is run by a bird named Blanche) has six games: Cribbage, Gin Rummy, Spades, Casino, and Spite and Malice. It’s great if you already know what you’re doing, but I found katablanche A really good introduction to these games even for beginners, thanks to the easy-to-follow tutorials. When you win the game, you’ll be rewarded with coins that you can spend on Blanche’s slot machine, which is filled with little things she’s collected.
Castle Kelmore
Castle Kelmore Exactly the rules. This first-person action game puts you in a series of mazes where you have to fight floating-head-style monsters while searching for keys and try to find doors and portals for your escape. There are sixteen levels, and completing each one will give you a little summary of how long it took you to complete that area and what percentage of the enemies you killed in the level. I also really enjoy the sounds in this game. Enemies squirm and scream, and your character will let out a hilarious, unnerving, “ahhh” or “ough” after regaining health or being injured. Great for dungeon fans!
Pina Rollada
If you’ve ever played any Super Monkey Ball games, the gist should be quite familiar: roll the ball all the way and collect all the fruit before you run out. Don’t fall off the edge, and do it all in as little time as possible. Pina Rollada Uses the playdate’s accelerometer, meaning you control the ball’s movement by tilting the console (there’s also an option to use the D-pad instead). The courses start getting pretty difficult right away, with narrow paths with no railings, no obstacles to avoid, and platforms that don’t move. And, just leaving near Exiting will result in the ball going inside, so you’ll need to keep this in mind when collecting nearby fruits if you don’t want the level to end prematurely.
This is one of those games that is both frustrating (in a fun way) and completely addicting. Expect a lot of yelling.
Other games worth trying
These are just the games I’ve been enjoying lately, but there are plenty of other playdate games worth checking out during the sale, like these cheese games and scattered mushrooms. And if you need even more recommendations, take a look at our list of the best playdate games, where you’ll find gems like meeting And Bird. There are also a few that I plan to eventually cross off my wish list, including the figure that waits.
Update, March 15, 2026, 7:15 PM ET: This story has been updated to include additional game recommendations.
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