NEW YORK — As skyrocketing RAM prices continue to ravage the budgets of both electronics consumers and producers, one retro handheld company is taking nostalgia in a bold new direction.

“It’s not about size, fancy gimmicks, or trying to do more with less,” touts the Kickstarter page for the upcoming handheld device, the Sprig-25 XB. “It’s about getting back to gaming’s roots.”

Unlike most portable retro gaming consoles, the Sprig-25 XB offers no technical specs at all—largely because it has no conventional hardware to list. While its technology remains proprietary, it appears to be just a wooden stick with a clump of dirt stuck on the end. 

The Sprig-25 XB’s Kickstarter page continues. “Go back. Go waaaaaaay back. Nope, further back than that. Before you had any motor skills or even object permanence. That’s true gaming nostalgia.”

The benefit of such simplicity is evident in the Sprig-25’s ultra-low price. As RAM and chip prices climb, leading many companies to raise MSRP or delay product launches, the base-model Sprig-25 XB is just $29.99 (plus shipping). For those with larger hands, there’s also the Branch-26 XC ($39.99), or for mobile power gamers, there’s the Cudgel-29 XXR ($79.99), which also includes several earthworms in the detachable dirt clump. 

“We looked at the overall consumer electronics market and saw an underserved niche,” said Greg Dowel, President of Infantile Games, the maker of the Sprig-25. “Nobody was leveraging the nostalgia of playing in the backyard while your mom drank wine with her friends on the patio, only to scream bloody murder when you flung mud on her summer dress. Ahh, good times.”

While its price is something no gamer can ignore in the current economic climate, the Sprig-25 XB cannot emulate even the oldest game consoles. Although the Kickstarter does include instructions for Centipede, it directs backers to specific locations where crawling insects are likely to be found, not to the Atari classic.

Despite these limitations, the Sprig-25 XB is now one of the top 10 retro handheld Kickstarters of all time, with 25,000 backers and over $1 million in funds. The Sprig-25 XB Kickstarter continues for the next three weeks, with deliveries expected to be delayed until fall 2045.