New from Sprixels · ETA Jan '27
Nostalgic hardware teardowns, re-invented.
Real gaming hardware, carefully taken apart and rebuilt as a wall-mounted display that lights up, plays video and tells its own story. Handmade in the UK.
Every teardown module is built from genuine original circuitry, housings and parts, rescued from faulty, damaged or surplus units. No replicas.
A built-in screen, speaker and 112 individually controlled LEDs turn a piece of gaming history into something that moves, glows and plays.
The Lumicade web app lets you load your own photos and video, design light shows and decide exactly what plays, and when.
The teardown
Each module takes an original console that’s faulty, damaged or simply surplus, like cartridge-only games without a box, and gives it a second life. Boards, buttons, screens and shells are mounted across layered, laser-cut acrylic so you can see exactly how it was made.
Every unit is built by hand, so no two are quite the same, but each unit is given the same love and attention.
Games, films and your own videos on screen, with the LEDs reacting to every frame and beat.
Retro
masterpieces100%
original partsUK
handmade
3D Printed Chassis
We 3D print our own frames paying careful attention to the quality and finish of every part. Smart retro rear detailing and fuzzy side walls create a sophisticated, professional finish.
Quality Parts
Every device features a hand modified plaque that uniquely numbers your Lumicade just so you know it was built only for you. Quality parts from Visaton and Newhaven ensure quality throughout.
Custom Design
Powered by a Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W, the custom board sits at the heart of every Lumicade Active Frame. WiFi connectivity allows for full app control and OTA firmware updates for future upgrades.
Gallery
Active Mode
Active Mode is the show. Lumicade's generators create original retro gameplay videos for you to sit back and watch: nobody's at the controls, and no two videos are the same. The LEDs react to every explosion and every beat, and the Montage Maker cuts your own clips to music.
Vector space battles, scrolling shoot-'em-ups and classic arcade defence, made from scratch in the app. Hit "New Take" for a fresh run, with explosions that light up the ambient LEDs around the screen.
Neon highways, retro road racers and light-cycle trails, all made by Lumicade's built-in game generators. Pick a track and the music, and every take comes out as a different race.
Scrolling parallax landscapes, palette-cycling skies, demoscene effects and tape loading screens: pure retro atmosphere for when you want something beautiful running in the background.
A series of original games in the style of the home computers of the 80s, complete with chunky pixels, colour clash and flashing tape-loading borders. That border becomes part of the light show, with colour spilling out onto the LEDs.
Platformers, pirate voyages, robot battles and run 'n' gun action, each one a little world that plays itself. Add music and the app turns it into a video ready for your Lumicade.
Drop in your own game recordings and Lumicade cuts them into a music video locked to the beat, with split screens, swipes and flashes. Every montage is different, so your own collection becomes something new to show off.
Passive Mode
When nothing's playing, your Lumicade keeps itself interesting: a history lesson, a clock, or a Bitcoin long shot.
15 classic machines ranging from the C64 and Spectrum ZX to the N64 and NeoGeo. Thousands of facts: best-sellers, famous flops, technical diagrams, developer showcases and head-to-heads with the rivals of the day.
Six clock faces, from a classic analogue dial to flip and binary, with a dimmer night look for the small hours. Or set it mining: a real Bitcoin lottery ticket, hashing away on the frame's own processor. A long shot, but someone has to win.
Play Mode
Lumicade plays real arcade games, drawn live on the device as you play. When nobody’s playing, they run themselves in attract mode, high-score table and all. Scan the code on the screen and your phone becomes the controller.
Every game shows a QR code during attract mode. Point your phone’s camera at it.
The controls appear on your phone and the game starts on the Lumicade. Or launch any game straight from the app.
Every game keeps its own Hall of Fame. Beat the top score and the whole room gets to see it.
Hold the rim. Nothing gets out.
Ride the edge of a neon web and blast everything that climbs up the lanes toward you. Clear the web, then dive down the tube to the next one.
Two riders. One grid. No way back.
Every rider leaves a solid wall of light behind them. Box your rival in before they box you. Play a friend side by side, each on your own phone, or take on the computer riders alone.
Six cities. Not enough missiles.
Warheads streak down the night sky. Burst your interceptors in their path and chain the blasts. Every city you save counts toward your score.
Keep moving. Keep firing.
A neon arena, a warping grid and waves that never stop coming. Collect what they drop to build your multiplier, and save the smart bomb for when it’s really bad.
Can it run Doom? Yes.
Every screen has to pass the test eventually. We built our own Doom-style engine from scratch to run Freedoom, the free, open-source game made for Doom engines, live on the device. Play it from your phone, with the LEDs flashing on every shotgun blast.
Freedoom © the Freedoom project contributors, used under the BSD licence. Not affiliated with id Software.
Attract mode
Every game keeps its own high-score table on the device. Between games it plays itself and shows off the scores, so it’s always ready for the next challenger. Add any game to your timeline, like a video or a clock, and it’ll take its turn on the wall.
Games arrive in a free firmware update.
The Lumicade web app
Every Active Frame ships with bespoke, copyright-free content already loaded. Then the web app hands you the controls, from any laptop or phone.
The Lumicade app is built to be simple. Line up your videos, add fresh gameplay videos from the generators, set what shows between them, then send it all to your Lumicade over Wi-Fi in one click. No settings to wade through.1 click content generators
Upload any MP4 and the app converts it into Lumicade's own format, ready for the screen. Pick an era and your footage takes on its look, from 4-colour Game Boy green to full 32-bit colour.
Nobody needs bright LEDs and a busy screen all night. Choose the hours, and your Lumicade settles into Downtime: a calm night clock, dimmed lights, and the original hardware on show with nothing competing for attention.
Switch to Advanced Mode and you direct all 112 LEDs. Build effects, chain them into sequences, and pick which parts of the box light up, layer by layer and side by side.
Take full control of what happens and when. Timelines decide what plays, rules decide when, and the LEDs can react live to the music: flashing on the kick drum, the bass or the beat.
Nothing is uploaded to our servers. Your clips live in your browser and on the frame’s own SD card.
Interchangeable modules
Modules come as hardware teardowns or custom dioramas, and each one fits either the Lumicade Active Frame or Passive Frame. Swapping takes seconds, with no tools.
Slide the four D-pad stand-offs on the back of the frame.
The magnets let go and a spring pushes the module out to meet you.
Drop in the next one. A built-in ID chip tells the Active Frame which module it is and loads its settings automatically.
The full Lumicade experience: a live display, lighting and audio, all controlled from the web app. Swap another Lumicade module in to change the look.
From £350
Every module looks gorgeous on its own and is supplied in a passive frame. Mount it on its own, or alongside an Active Frame for all the thrills.
From £180
Specifications
Designed and built in-house, from the custom mainboard to the laser-cut layers.
Frame: 277 × 277 × 43.5 mm (50 mm including hanger and cable space).
Display plaque: 277 × 135 × 13.5 mm (20 mm including hanger and cable space).
Newhaven 2.8″ LCD, 320 × 240 pixels at 60 Hz, up to 4,096 colours on screen at once.
Some modules use part of the screen: the Game Boy module runs at 270 × 240.
112 embedded SK6812 Mini LEDs across 8 independently controlled layers.
MAX98357 amplifier driving a Visaton BF32 speaker, 2 W max.
Custom-designed PCB with an embedded Raspberry Pi Pico 2 W running at 284 MHz, polyfuse protected.
2 A audio driver and built-in SD card reader with 32 GB storage. Specification subject to change.
2.4 GHz Wi-Fi for full control from the Lumicade web app.
5 V, 3 A max via USB-C.
Power supply not included.
Magnetically held, with a spring-eject release. Each has an ID chip so the Active Frame loads the right settings automatically.
Up to 8 laser-cut acrylic layers. Modules are permanently sealed and not designed to be opened.
Teardown modules use only original circuitry, housings and parts. Each is hand built, so expect small variations between units.
Register your interest
Lumicade is in its final stages of development. Leave your email for launch news, first access when pre-orders open and a 20% off early bird offer.
Our handmade 3D pixel artworks are getting an upgrade too - stay put...
Who we are
Our love of pixel art started in the late 80's and has continued to this day. Starting as a range of small game programming ventures and pixel art experiments, Sprixels.com has been our registered domain for some 15+ years.
In 2023 we officially set our roots in creating unique 3D shadow box based pixel art works; you could say it took us a while to get here... but the wait was worth it!
Gaming in the late 80's and 90's has had a lasting impression on us at Sprixels. Its simplified interpretation of complex objects, its vibrant colour scapes, and its immediate nostalgia hit have hooked us and never let go. We take great pride in creating unique stand out pieces that bring back those retro vibes. Emphasising depth through layered pixel art adds a new dimension to its 2D on screen rendition, providing a real parallax effect that adds its own natural shading to objects behind. Photos struggle to do the effect real justice!
Each of our items is created by hand in the UK via a mix of technologies and patience. Utilising laser cutting, 3D printing, Digital printing and a dab of glue we lovingly craft each item to look the best we can make it. We take great pride in our work and want you to truly enjoy our creations as much as we love putting them together. Enjoy!
Got something in mind you'd like creating? Take a look at our work and get in touch.
