I like homebrew CPUs, and I like Conway’s Game of Life, so this video was just right for me:
Warren Toomey’s CPU is made with just 17 chips, using large EPROMs for huge lookup tables to implement the ALU, and it’s microcoded too, which also trades off hardware complexity for lots and lots of bits. See the project on hackaday.io.
Edit: there’s a blog too - I do like to read about development puzzles and solutions:
Fighting a Jump Bug in the CSCvon8
See also this thread on anycpu: CSCvon8: 8-bit TTL CPU
and as noted there:
This is a follow-up to my CSCV2 CPU, a 4-bit TTL CPU made from 13 chips: GitHub - DoctorWkt/CSCv2: Version 2 of my Crazy Small CPU.