Ars Technica (Sam Machkovech, 18 Apr 2022). Takahashi "has returned with his best game in years, and it's Playdate's most recognizable game thus far… as close as Playdate gets to a 'mascot' game."
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2022/04/all-24-of-playdates-included-games-reviewed/Games / Season One / Crankin's Time Travel Adventure
OverviewSeason One
Crankin's Time Travel Adventure
Action / RacingCrank: crank only (precision)Season One (included)
1 · official Catalog screenshot
2 · official Catalog screenshot
3 · official Catalog screenshot1 · official Catalog screenshot2 · official Catalog screenshot3 · official Catalog screenshotOverview. Not yet reviewed. No score. Checked 12 Oct 2026. Built from official and press sources.
What it is
Crankin loves naps, and today he woke up at the exact moment he was supposed to meet his date, Crankette. In Crankin's Time Travel Adventure you don't control Crankin directly. His route to the date is fixed, and the crank moves him forwards and backwards along it in time, while birds, butterflies and charging pigs move in real time around him. If a creature touches him, the day resets. Each level is a puzzle about finding the moment in his walk (a duck to sniff a flower, a jump for a pull-up bar) that lets the danger pass. The game uses only the crank, and it requires "a fair amount of precision".
It comes from uvula, the studio of Keita Takahashi (Katamari Damacy, Noby Noby Boy) and Ryan Mohler, with Matthew Grimm and Shaun Inman. It was the first game Panic showed when it demonstrated the Playdate in 2019, and it arrived in Week 2 of Season One, free with the console. The store page shows an update as recent as September 2024.
Who made it
What others are saying
Gabriel Toschi (blog, undated). "Yes, it's fun, but not for more than ten levels until it becomes too repetitive."
https://www.gabtoschi.com/blog/playdate-full-review/Playdate: The Unofficial Website (Nick Simberg). calls it "a semi-autobiographical tale of how Keita met his wife", and says the crank idea came from an old movie camera.
https://www.playdateunofficial.com/the-games/crankins-time-travel-adventureCallout (?): No review yet. We haven't reviewed Crankin's Time Travel Adventure yet. This page is an overview built from official and press sources.
Sources
Checked 12 Oct 2026.
- Official Catalog page (description, credits, size, dates, content/AI/accessibility notes). https://play.date/games/crankin/
- Season One page. https://play.date/games/season-one/
- Ars Technica, Sam Machkovech, 18 Apr 2022. https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2022/04/all-24-of-playdates-included-games-reviewed/
- Gabriel Toschi (undated). https://www.gabtoschi.com/blog/playdate-full-review/
- Playdate: The Unofficial Website. https://www.playdateunofficial.com/the-games/crankins-time-travel-adventure
- uvula. https://uvula.jp/crankin
- Playdate Podcast transcript: research/gamepages/sources/crankin/podcast.txt.
OverviewNo score
Overview
Not yet reviewed.
No score. This page is built from official and press sources.
On the card
Crankin overslept for his date again. Wind time forwards and backwards with the crank to get him past every hazard. From the creator of Katamari Damacy.
From the sources
