So what's a "beadsprite"?

Ever heard of Perler beads? They're a kid's craft where small beads are placed on a pegboard and ironed to form a colorful design. It was inevitable that someone would notice that they could easily be used for pixelated video game sprites. The rest was just a matter of time.

(For a better idea of what they are, check out the gallery.)

How does this site work?

beadsprites.com's purpose is to let you order our handmade products. You can do this in two ways:

• Buy a sprite already in our database. This is easy! Just browse or search for your favorite sprite and add it to your cart. Prices are listed when browsing the sprites. New sprites are added to the database regularly!
• Send in your own sprite. This is done on the commission page. (See that page for rules and limitations.) If we accept your sprite, it'll be publically added to the databse (if recognizable and/or a cool sprite!) or added to the database but hidden. We'll e-mail you with a price quote and an ID number you can use to add such hidden sprites to your cart like a normal database sprite.

Is there a fee for commissions?

Nope! Commissioning a sprite we don't have in our database costs exactly the same as one we do.

How much is shipping?

Most beadsprites are fairly small - under 6" long. Small orders, therefore, can usually ship very cheap. For larger sprites, mounts, or large amounts of smaller products, shipping will vary. We know how irritating high shipping costs can be, though, and endeavor to keep our shipping as low as possible. See our pricing page for more info.

Will you ship to other countries?

We ship everywhere that mail is delivered, but if you don't live in the continental United States, you'll have to contact us to work out your order (don't use the shopping cart).

Is this legal?

We believe that we are covered under the fair use doctrine. Our products are not infringing upon the copyright holders' ability to use the original sprites, as no product like ours is marketed (as best we know) by any video game company. On the contrary; we like to think that our products rekindle gamers' interest in these quality older titles. On top of this, we hand-make each beadsprite, selecting the color palette ourselves - creatively interpreting each of the original images as we make them. We welcome any questions you might have on this matter.