ASCII Aquarium – A new project takes a cheap yellow display (CYD) and turns it into a tiny simulated aquarium, complete with ASCII sea creatures that behave independently, a hidden configuration menu, feeding via tap input, and even a clock-like timekeeping option.
On a desk, the yellow display people treat like a throwaway learning board suddenly becomes something else entirely: a living little ocean.
[Kert Gartner]’s ASCII Aquarium repurposes a cheap yellow display (CYD) into a miniature simulated aquarium. Instead of running one-off animations. the setup includes ASCII sea creatures with their own behaviors and responses to in-world events—especially feeding. which is done by tapping on the screen.
There are more practical surprises too. The aquarium includes a hidden menu with a wide range of configuration and display options. It also has timekeeping functionality, turning the miniature water world into a desk clock when you need it to be. If you want to keep what’s on-screen, there’s an option to export the screen contents as bitmaps.
Visually, the project is meant to feel like a weekend build rather than just a demo. Add a 3D-printed enclosure and the whole aquarium can look like a tidy desktop object. There’s also a display flip mode for when you have a spare 50 mm beamsplitter. plus the simple design ambition behind it: using the CYD’s strengths—and its limitations—to make color and graphics look surprisingly good.
The aquarium runs on a CYD that’s an ESP32-based development board with an integrated touchscreen display. known for its affordable price and wide availability. In the spirit of other desk-friendly builds. it would sit especially well next to a CYD electric jellyfish. keeping the same charming theme of “cheap hardware. surprisingly vivid life.”.
ASCII aquarium CYD ESP32 touchscreen display desk clock timekeeping bitmap export 3D printed enclosure beamsplitter embedded graphics