These cutting boards made from chequerboard patterns of end grain make them the perfect blank slate, just waiting to be turned into 8-bit gaming icons.

There are a few sellers on Etsy who have turned their wood-crafting skills to retro video-gaming.

David Abramson's work is so popular that he can't keep up with demand. He only has two designs in his store: the Question Block (pictured above) and either Inky, Pinky, Blinky or Clyde from Pacman — it's a bit hard to tell when it's in monochrome. We particularly love the detailing that gives the Question Block a 3D appearance.

Cameron Oehler, of 1337motif, has a mad eye for a contrast, pairing dark- and light-coloured woods to tremendous effect — not just with Triforces and men that may or may not be mega, but stunning patterns.

The Triforce board above is made from walnut and hard maple wood, assembled with waterproof glue and finished with mineral oil and beeswax.

Jim Van Winkle of Prairie Oak Studios has the largest range of games cutting boards that we could find, including Mario, Space Invaders (pictured), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and even Nyan Cat. We think we may be more intrigued by The Cook's Rule — a beautiful chequerboard cutting board, with a secret ruler built into the design.

We're not sure what we think of this design by Jorge Nuñez of BuciWoods. On the one had, a cutting board shaped like a GameBoy Color is a neat idea; on the other, we can imagine food very easily getting caught in the cracks. And it's not as high-quality as the others, made of straight-grain wood that is harder on knives — and cheaper pine wood, too.

We can only hope that the back is at least smooth.

Overall, we like the Zelda one the best, although that Question Block is running a very close second.

What's your favourite?