# Press Start 2P font > A pixel font traced from 1980s arcade game lettering, built on an 8-pixel grid with Greek and Cyrillic. Press Start 2P is a bitmap-style display typeface by CodeMan38, based on the screen lettering of 1980s Namco arcade games. Press Start 2P comes in one Regular style with 657 glyphs covering Latin, Greek and Cyrillic, and is meant for sizes in multiples of 8 pixels. Press Start 2P is released under the SIL Open Font License 1.1. ## Facts - Classification: [Display](https://trendhub.net/fonts/category/display) - Designed by: CodeMan38 - License: SIL Open Font License 1.1 (https://openfontlicense.org/open-font-license-official-text/) - Styles: 1 (Regular 400) - Variable font: No - Glyphs: 657 - Character sets: cyrillic, cyrillic-ext, greek, latin, latin-ext - Last updated: 2025-09-16 - Official source: https://fonts.google.com/specimen/Press+Start+2P - Page: https://trendhub.net/fonts/press-start-2p - Tagged for: Headlines, Retro, Social media, Tech ## About Press Start 2P Press Start 2P is a display typeface whose letters are assembled from square pixels on a coarse grid, in the manner of arcade game screens. Every character in the specimen occupies the same width, and curves are rendered as steps. According to the official notes, the capitals and digits trace back to Atari's Sprint from 1977, while the specific glyph forms follow Namco's Return of Ishtar from 1986, an early game that used lowercase regularly. Unlike the original game font, this TrueType version adds many characters beyond ASCII so that European languages, Greek and Cyrillic among them, can be set; the total is 657 glyphs. Its pixels align at 8px, 16px and other multiples of 8. Cody Boisclair, credited as CodeMan38, made the font, which is licensed under the SIL Open Font License 1.1. ## License SIL Open Font License 1.1. Copyright 2012 The Press Start 2P Project Authors (cody@zone38.net), with Reserved Font Name "Press Start 2P". Allowed: - Use the fonts in personal and commercial work, in print, on the web and in apps. - Modify the fonts and build new versions from them. - Redistribute the fonts, on their own or bundled with software, as long as the license text and copyright notice go with them. Conditions: - The fonts cannot be sold by themselves. - A modified version must stay under the same license and cannot use a Reserved Font Name without the copyright holder's permission. - The authors' names cannot be used to promote a modified version without permission. Summary only, not legal advice. Full text: https://openfontlicense.org/open-font-license-official-text/ ## Where it works - **Retro game titles and menus**: The glyphs follow 1980s arcade lettering, so a start screen or score table looks period-correct. - **Pixel-art projects**: Set at 8px or a multiple of it, each font pixel lands on the grid alongside sprite artwork. - **Stream overlays and event posters**: A short line in blocky pixels signals gaming or chiptune themes at a glance. - **Game interfaces in Russian or Greek**: Cyrillic and Greek characters were added to the original Latin set, so localised menus keep the pixel style. ## Things to know - **Sizes should be multiples of 8**: The outlines sit on an 8-pixel grid. At 8px, 16px, 24px and so on the pixels are crisp; other sizes blur or distort them. - **One style**: Press Start 2P has a single Regular file. There is no bold or italic, and it is not a variable font. - **Wide characters**: Each glyph fills a square cell, so lines run long; the family name alone spans well over half of the specimen width. - **Romanian and Vietnamese are not covered**: Greek, Russian, Turkish and Polish are among the checked languages, but Romanian and Vietnamese are not. ## FAQs ### Is Press Start 2P free for commercial use? Yes. Press Start 2P is licensed under the SIL Open Font License 1.1, so it can be used in personal and commercial projects, modified and redistributed. The fonts cannot be sold on their own, and a modified version keeps the same license and may not use the Reserved Font Name Press Start 2P without permission. ### Who made Press Start 2P? Press Start 2P was made by Cody Boisclair, credited as CodeMan38. The copyright notice names The Press Start 2P Project Authors. ### What size should Press Start 2P be set at? Press Start 2P is designed for 8px, 16px and other multiples of 8, where its pixels align with the screen grid. ### How many weights does Press Start 2P have? Press Start 2P has one weight, Regular 400, with no italic. It is not a variable font. ### Which languages does Press Start 2P support? Press Start 2P includes the letters needed for English and other Latin-script languages such as French, German, Turkish and Polish, as well as Russian, Ukrainian, Bulgarian and Greek. --- Source: https://trendhub.net/fonts/press-start-2p (trendhub)