Gamers sometimes come together in the most surprising ways. Recently, a quirky gaming reference emerged in the National Geographic series Best of the World with Antoni Porowski. During his London visit, Porowski toured Big Ben with Andrew Strangeway, a clock technician for the Houses of Parliament. Strangeway revealed that he has been using a Playdate device to ensure the timing of the famous clock tower’s chimes. This is not Strangeway’s first encounter with the Playdate; a prior video showed him using the device while preparing Big Ben for its New Year’s Eve celebration in 2025.
small handheld. big ben.
— Playdate (@play.date) 2026-07-09T00:29:53.372Z
Playdate shared details about this recent appearance on Bluesky, emphasizing, “this is the sort of delightful magic that arises when you create hardware that’s simple to program, easily sideloadable, and supported by an intuitive SDK!” We continue to enjoy using this wonderfully creative little yellow device, and it’s impressive to witness it being utilized for purposes beyond gaming in real-world scenarios.
