A creative collaboration between Redbull’s GamePop and designer Kevin Bates has resulted in playful reinvention of the magazine cover into an interactive object, paying homage to gaming culture. Embedded on the cover is a fully playable version of the classic game Tetris.
Developed as a limited-edition dust jacket, the GamePop GP-1 cover integrates a paper-thin flexible circuit board layered within the magazine. It’s slim profile houses an ultra-thin, 0.1 mm flexible circuit board laminated directly into the paper, supporting a matrix of 180 RGB LEDs that form the game display. Instead of traditional buttons, seven capacitive touch sensors are printed into the copper layer of the circuit, using the natural flex of paper to create a subtle tactile response. A 32-bit microprocessor and rechargeable coin-cell batteries are discreetly housed along the spine, while a hidden USB-C charging port is embedded within the paper structure itself. The result is a hybrid object that still bends, feels and has the tactility of a magazine, while delivering a functioning game console.
Produced in an ultra-limited run of 150 prints, the project is less about mass production and more about possibility. It reframes print not as an obsolete medium, but creates a renewed sense of experimentation for publications and print design.
