Handheld devices have taken the gaming market by storm, ranging from the hulking Steam Decks to retro consoles that relive the glory days of the like of the Nintendo Game Boy. The latter naturally rely on nostalgia as the biggest selling factor, allowing veterans to replay their favorite titles while youngsters discover the simple joys of classic games. Of course, that’s not the only direction the wind blows, and there are plenty of ways to re-imagine those old-school devices.
This concept design, for example, looks like a slightly modern reinterpretation of the Game Boy, but the association is superficial at best. The device is actually inspired more by coin-operated toys and gaming machines like arcades, but rather than paying for more time to play, the design transforms special coins into power-ups that will make the game a little more exciting and maybe even pave the way to victory.
Designers: Yongde Zhu, Yuxiong Dong, Yaoxin Cai
Almost like a slot machine for kids, arcade cabinets and coin-operated machines develop a somewhat addictive habit that keeps pushing players to push one more coin each time. That’s mostly because there’s technically no limit to how many coins you can drop in as long as you have the money and the shops are still open. CoinPlay has a different idea for “coins,” turning them into very limited resources that you have to spend wisely.
The coins are actually small plastic discs that do different things in the game. A blue chip, for example, could restore health or add life, while an orange coin offers a boost to damage and other stats. Red is quite intriguing as it adds a game of luck into any game, randomly dropping gear or loot when inserted. There are only three coins that come with each handheld, so you have to be strategic when you use these extremely limited lifelines.
The design also presents some opportunity for collecting power-ups, almost like in a TCG game, though that can easily be abused as well. More importantly, it adds a bit of a tactile element to an otherwise digital game and opens the door to social interactions through trading these coins.
As for the actual gaming handheld, the design is pretty much on par with concepts we’ve been seeing floating around the web. The area for controls is smaller and simpler, putting the focus on the large display and the coin slot above it. It has an almost industrial aesthetic as if it were something teenage engineering would design. Despite the seemingly segmented structure, CoinPlay isn’t a modular concept and frankly wouldn’t benefit from such a design anyway.
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