Life & fun · alternatives · 2026

24 alternatives to Playscii

An open source ASCII-based art, animation, and game creation

Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. Playscii launched in 2016; newer entries below may have overtaken it.

1. 1
   Aseprite▲116

   Animated sprite editor and pixel art tool

   2017 · aseprite.org · its alternatives →

2. 2
   Image to ASCII▲105

   Make ASCII art for READMEs, Discord & creative visuals

   Sep 2026 · imagetoascii.art · its alternatives →

3. 3CP
   Choose Photo. Make Ascii▲116

   2012 · dchang.mit.edu · its alternatives →

4. 4
   ASCII Art Paint▲150

   Surprise your readers with an original post using text art

   2022 · github.com · its alternatives →

5. 5
   ASCII Prints▲169

   ASCII art on your wall ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

   2016 · its alternatives →

6. 6
   Asky▲136

   ASCII art as a service ᕙ(⇀‸↼‶)ᕗ

   2015 · its alternatives →

7. 7
   DrawType▲109

   The Drawing Keyboard

   2014 · archive.theowatson.com · its alternatives →

8. 8
   Make 8-Bit Art!▲107

   An in-browser canvas tool for making retro art.

   2014 · make8bitart.com · its alternatives →

9. 9
   I built an interactive plotter art exhibit for SIGGRAPH▲167

   I'm enthralled with using pen plotters to make generative art. Last August at SIGGRAPH, I built an interactive experience for others to see how code can be used to make visual art. The linked blog post is my trials and tribulations of linking a MIDI controller to one of these algorithms and sending its output to a plotter, so that people may witness the end-to-end experience.

   2024 · lostpixels.io · its alternatives →

10. 10
    JazzHands by IFTTT▲107

    A keyframe-based animation framework

    2016 · github.com · its alternatives →

11. 11
    ASCIImator▲79

    A simple photo app that converts images into ASCII art

    2015 · its alternatives →

12. 12
    Artpacks▲68

    ANSI & ASCII art over the years

    2015 · artpacks.org · its alternatives →

13. 13
    Hexascii▲92

    One stop for all the ASCII emoticon art

    2014 · hexascii.com · its alternatives →

14. 14
    An ASCII 3D Rendering Engine▲211

    Render 3D models (OBJ, glTF, GLB, STL, .vox) as ASCII art — in the browser, in React or Vue, or straight in your terminal. A three.js-style API with no WebGL and no canvas: just text in a single <pre>.

    Jun 2026 · glyphcss.com · its alternatives →

15. 15
    Curious Letters▲65

    A visual puzzle inspired by beautiful typography

    2015 · apps.apple.com · its alternatives →

16. 16
    Illuminascii▲66

    Rogue-like shooter with ASCII text stylings

    2015 · store.steampowered.com · its alternatives →

17. 17
    Sprites▲105

    Infographic creation tool

    2014 · spritesapp.com · its alternatives →

18. 18
    Asciimatics: a cross-platform terminal animation/drawing library▲21

    A cross platform package to do curses-like operations, plus higher level APIs and widgets to create text UIs and ASCII art animations - peterbrittain/asciimatics

    2016 · github.com · its alternatives →

19. 19AA
    An ASCII z-depth world (view source)▲44

    2018 · burrow.jollo.org · its alternatives →

20. 20CA
    Collaborative ASCII Drawing with Telnet▲101

    2024 · jott.live · its alternatives →

21. 21
    Open Game Art▲74

    Free Art, Music (even Code) for Indie Game Devs

    2015 · opengameart.org · its alternatives →

22. 22AA
    AsciiSketch a free browser-based ASCII art and diagram editor▲53

    Jan 2026 · files.littlebird.com.au · its alternatives →

23. 23
    ASCII Cats▲97

    Artwork created using keyboard symbols and characters

    2021 · user.xmission.com · its alternatives →

24. 24
    Inky Blocks▲95

    A colorful reimagining of Tetris

    2015 · its alternatives →

Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →