NEED TO KNOW
A Maryland software engineer turned Dunkin’s “I Dough” ring box into a playable handheld gaming device in just two days
The project, inspired by Dunkin’s National Proposal Day promo, features a café-themed game called Latte Mania
The viral creation highlights the growing DIY tech trend blending coding and custom hardware among gamers
What started as a limited-edition donut box quickly became something much cozier — and much more interactive.
Brianna, a Maryland-based software engineer and self-described cozy gamer, has gone viral after transforming Dunkin’s “I Dough” ring box into a fully playable handheld gaming device — a build that’s bringing together tech, gaming, and Dunkin lovers across the internet.
“I was like, what if I made a game?” she tells PEOPLE in an exclusive interview. “It’s going to be a café game… and I just started coding as I thought about it.”
The box itself was part of Dunkin’s limited-time promotion tied to National Proposal Day on March 20, celebrating its new Wedding Cake Munchkins and encouraging fans to share creative proposal moments using the hashtag #DunkinVeraWangcontest.
Customers who purchased select Munchkins orders received the “I Dough” ring box — designed to hold a donut hole in place of a ring.
The inside mechanics of the hand-held game device by from the Dunkin ‘I Dough’ wedding box
Credit: CocoasAesthetic/TikTok (2)
The 25-year-old, who goes by the name Cocoa’s Aesthetic on TikTok, explains that she was gifted two of the “I Dough” ring boxes by her mother, who is a fan of novelty promotional items.
“She’s a big consumer. She loves promos. She loves standing in lines. She loves getting things,” Brianna says. “She actually got the last two boxes in her area.” That’s a feat, given how quickly the boxes sold out in multiple states nationwide.
However, the detailed packaging felt like more than just a one-day merch drop for the engineer, highlighting the box’s high-quality design, which included gold embossed lettering and stitching that wrapped around its top and bottom halves.
“They’re so high quality, so heavy. I was like, ‘I’m not going to throw this away,'” she recalls. “So I kept all the boxes — it didn’t feel right to throw them out,” she recalls.
Using an Arduino ESP32 microcontroller, two buttons, an RGB OLED Module screen, a passive buzzer for sound, assorted tools, a soldering iron, and a drill, Brianna created a Tamagotchi-style experience called Latte Mania, a cozy café game where players take coffee shop orders and complete mini-games to complete customer orders.
As explained in a follow-up explainer TikTok, the entire project, from the coding to assembly, came together in just two days.
“I started Friday morning… and I ended Sunday night,” she says. “I barely slept. I just had ideas and was coding, coding, coding.”
She then spent another day soldering components, drilling into the box and wiring the system together — despite not having all the proper tools on hand. “I literally drilled a hole with a full-power drill,” she describes with a laugh.
The result is a compact, pastel gaming device that nods to both retro handhelds like Tamagotchi and the growing “cyberdeck” movement, where hobbyists and tech enthusiasts build custom, often off-grid tech systems. A cyberdeck is a custom-built, portable DIY computer designed for specialized tasks, hacking, or as a creative project.
The project also reflects Brianna’s long history with coding, which she began learning at 13 after pitching her dad, also a software engineer, an idea for a game titled Space Puppies. “I didn’t even know what code was,” she recalls. “He showed me the basics, and I taught myself the rest.”
The Latte Mania creator says the project took two days to complete, from building to coding
Credit: CocoasAesthetic/TikTok
Latte Mania is just one of Brianna’s creations. She’s also created another mini handheld cozy game titled Mochi, where gamers take care of a Mochi pet that can be fed and played with. “It’s just black and white, but that was my first soldered project,” she says. “I really wanted to make another soldered, small, tiny, cute project,” and thus, Latte Mania was born.
Now, she’s already thinking about what’s next — including potentially putting the game online so others can play, given the positive and overwhelming reception of Latte Mania on social media.
“I can’t make a bunch of these and send them out,” she says. “But I can make it accessible on the web.”
As for Dunkin’s campaign, the timing couldn’t have been better. The brand’s push around proposals, paired with a chance to win a bridal experience with high-fashion designer Vera Wang, helped the box gain traction, even before Brianna gave it a second life. Now, one of them has become something entirely unexpected: a tiny, fully functional game console — built from scratch, powered by code and inspired by donuts.
The build taps directly into a rising interest in DIY tech, particularly among gamers looking to blend hardware and software in personal, creative ways.
“If you know how to code, I think you should leverage that,” Brianna highlights for aspiring builders, adding, “Make your own software — something that’s custom to you. I think that’s really cool.”
Read the original article on People