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Ventilastation
An open source, open hardware game console built into a spinning fan.
Ultimate IndieMash 2025 winner
Ventilastation is an electromechanical game console built into a large spinning fan. A column of LEDs spins at 600 RPM, and the games draw on it so that, thanks to persistence of vision, the display looks like a circular screen floating in the air.
It’s open source and open hardware. The spinning blade carries an ESP32 and 107 LEDs and runs the game code itself. A slip ring carries power and data down to the base, where a Raspberry Pi plays the music and sound effects. Games are written in MicroPython and can be developed on a desktop or web emulator, no hardware needed.
Ventilastation grew out of Super Ventilagon, and in May 2025 it won the Ultimate IndieMash, a playful contest broadcast live from Enschede by Sickhouse. The prize was a place at the Overkill Festival.
The console also has its own demo: Vlad Farty took first place in the oldskool demo category at FlashParty ‘23.
Links
Talks about this
Videojuegos en un Ventilador
Designing and building the first open source, open hardware video game console made in Latin America, which runs inside a fan, and the highs and lows of an amateur hardware project.
Juegos en un ventilador con MicroPython
Ventilastation, its history and how it works, and how to use MicroPython to write your own games for it.
Writing about this
Posts about this project are on the way.