Shenzhen I/O
Hacker ApprovedShares rank 20 of 45 puzzle games by recommenders
Recommended for capturing what makes programming fun and mimicking an embedded developer's work environment. Caveat: minor differences from real hardware bother some engineers.
Recommended for capturing what makes programming fun and mimicking an embedded developer's work environment. Caveat: minor differences from real hardware bother some engineers.
14 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 13
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 93%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 13 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 13 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Part of well-regarded Zachtronics games
“All games by Zachtronics can be highly recommended to this crowd here”
Comment from 3 Jul 2026 in “Exapunks” “Notable mention also to The Signal State, Shenzhen I/O, and TIS100”
Comment from 5 Apr 2026 in “Show HN: A game where you build a GPU” “I can highly recommend TIS-100 and SHENZHEN I/O from Zachtronics”
Comment from 21 Jan 2026 in “EmuDevz: A game about developing emulators” Captures what makes programming fun
“with the LLM mandates made me have more fun playing Shenzhen I/O than actually programming at work”
Comment from 2 Jul 2026 in “Exapunks” “do a wonderful job of capturing the essence of what makes programming fun”
Comment from 2 Jul 2026 in “Exapunks” Mimics embedded developer work environment
“It mimics the typical work environment of an embedded developer”
Comment from 15 Jul 2026 in “Prioritize mental health, and why communication is so important” “I tried to get my son into it for just this reason.”
Comment from 5 Feb 2026 in “Simply Scheme: Introducing Computer Science (1999)” Story and flavor touches
“I only bought it because I liked the tidbits of story in Shenzhen and Infinifactory”
Comment from 2 Jul 2026 in “Exapunks” “I really liked the flavor of solitaire they put into Shenzhen IO”
Comment from 22 Sep 2026 in “Solitaire Alone Together”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Minor differences from real hardware
“for hardware engineering the minor differences with reality drive me crazy”
Comment from 3 Jul 2026 in “Exapunks” Needs the right tools
“It's fun to solve such problems but only with the right tools.”
Comment from 30 Sep 2026 in “Solving Factorio Quality”
Other puzzle games people recommend
The four most recommended other puzzle games, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Outer Wilds | 65 | 7 | 90% | 9 | — | Approved |
| enclose.horse | 64 | 10 | 86% | 4 | — | Approved |
| The Witness | 60 | 19 | 76% | 8 | — | Approved |
| Braid | 36 | 5 | 88% | 5 | — | Approved |
| Shenzhen I/OThis page | 13 | 1 | 93% | 5 | — | Approved |
What people said
13 of the 14 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“It's fun to solve such problems but only with the right tools.”
“I really liked the flavor of solitaire they put into Shenzhen IO”
“It mimics the typical work environment of an embedded developer”
“All games by Zachtronics can be highly recommended to this crowd here”
“for hardware engineering the minor differences with reality drive me crazy”
“I only bought it because I liked the tidbits of story in Shenzhen and Infinifactory”
“with the LLM mandates made me have more fun playing Shenzhen I/O than actually programming at work”
“i loved playing ShenzhenIO! So much so that i ended up buying and registering the domain”
“contrasted to the flickering playgrounds of Exapunks or Shenzhen IO”
“do a wonderful job of capturing the essence of what makes programming fun”
“Notable mention also to The Signal State, Shenzhen I/O, and TIS100”
“I tried to get my son into it for just this reason.”
“I can highly recommend TIS-100 and SHENZHEN I/O from Zachtronics”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.