Playdate games to check out before the Catalog’s 3-year anniversary sale ends

If your Playdate wishlist is anything like mine (infinite), here’s a good excuse to go ahead and free some of these games from limbo: Panic is having a sale on the Playdate catalog to celebrate its third anniversary. Sure, the majority of Playdate games are pretty cheap as is, but they can still add up when you go on a shopping spree. Ask me how I know! The sale started on March 5 and will end on March 19 at 1 p.m. ET (10 a.m. PT), so take advantage of the discounts while you can.

According to Panic, there are currently 423 games available in the catalog, so if you’re having trouble deciding which one to choose, I’ve got some recommendations for you here.

Season two

If $39 seemed too expensive for season two when it released last summer, now is the time to get it. The second season of Playdate only had half the number of games as the first, but it still seemed like a much stronger collection. Each of its 12 games is really solid, and there’s a lot of variety in terms of genre and style, from multi-hour puzzles and adventures to fast-paced action games perfect for intense periods of play. And it comes with Blippo+ – a weird cable TV simulator that’s unlike anything currently out there.

All of these games are worth playing, but there are definitely a few that stand out: The white veila post-apocalyptic adventure that will surely hit even harder given the winter we’ve had; the platform and puzzle game Taria and Como; the arcade action game Support point defender; the adventure of climbing, Little turnip. I also really appreciated Dig! Dig! Dinoo! for something on the cooler side.

Outdoor parties

I haven’t been able to shut up about this game since its release. It’s unique, it’s scary, it’s completely captivating and it really pushes the boundaries of what Playdate can do. Outdoor parties is a horror treasure hunt, presenting you with a massive image to peer through and find hidden scenes within, using the crank to constantly adjust the brightness so you can find anything that may be buried in the shadows. As you find these targets, more and more of the game’s story appears through strange audio clips. It’s such a cool experience and the atmosphere of it all is amazing. You’ll also get many hours of gameplay with this one, with over 150 targets to find and plenty of lore to discover.

Crank

A full-fledged western for the Playdate! Crank is a gallery shooter with minigames mixed throughout, and between the aesthetics, music, and activities, it’s a lot of fun. You can choose story mode to jump straight into shooting and defending the town from outlaws, or head to the lounge to individually choose from a handful of mini-games, including quick “spot the right card” deck shuffling games and a few mimicry games involving cranking. It’s like a Wild West theme park crammed into the Playdate, which is to say it’s wonderful.

Echo: The Oracle Scroll

This is one of my favorite Playdate games of all time. Echo: The Oracle Scroll is a metroidvania without the usual combat, focused entirely on exploration and puzzle-solving in a vast network of underground realms. In this game, the Blight has forced civilization underground and you play as a child sent on a mission to deliver a scroll from the lowest land, where humans live, to the Archives.

There are all sorts of dangerous environments underground, including magma lakes and areas filled with hostile vegetation, making this a sometimes difficult platformer that requires a lot of creativity to navigate your way through. The tone is a bit dark, but quirky characters – like a bouncing belly frog prince – keep things from getting too dark.

Carte blanche

This one is aimed at fans of classic card games. There are six games in this virtual card game parlor (run by a bird named Blanche): Cribbage, Gin Rummy, Spades, Cassino and Spite & Malice. It’s great if you already know what you’re doing, but I found Carte blanche be a very good introduction to these games also for absolute beginners, thanks to the easy-to-follow tutorials. When you win games, you’ll be rewarded with coins that you can spend on Blanche’s slot machine, which is full of little trinkets she’s collected.

Kellmore Castle

Kellmore Castle reigns absolutely. This first-person action game places you in a series of mazes where you must fight floating head monsters while searching for keys and trying to find doors and portals to escape. There are sixteen levels, and after completing each one you will get a small summary of how long it took you to complete that area and what percentage of enemies in the level you killed. I also really enjoy the sounds in this game. Enemies swallow and choke, and your character will let out a hilariously dispassionate “Ah” or “Ooeuugh” after getting a health boost or getting injured. Ideal for dungeon fans!

Pina Rollada

If you’ve ever played any of the Super Monkey Ball games, the gist of it should be pretty familiar to you: roll the ball through the course and collect all the fruits before reaching the exit. Don’t fall and do all of this in as little time as possible. Pina Rollada uses Playdate’s accelerometer, meaning you control the movement of the ball by tilting the console (there’s also the option to use the D-pad instead). The courses immediately start to become difficult, with thin paths without guardrails, obstacles to avoid and moving platforms. And, I’ll just close exiting will result in the ball being sucked in, so you need to keep that in mind when collecting the surrounding fruits if you don’t want the level to end prematurely.

This is another one of those games that is both frustrating (in a fun way) and totally addictive. Expect to shout a lot.

Other games to try

These are just the games I’ve been enjoying lately, but there are tons of other Playdate games worth checking out during the sale, like these cheesy games and Spilled 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 Summit And Bwirds. There are a few that I plan to finally get off my wish list, including The form that waits.

Updated, March 15, 2026, 7:15 p.m. ET: This story has been updated to include additional game recommendations.