diff --git a/locale/circuitpython.pot b/locale/circuitpython.pot
index 4d8aceb85e..81ee31e1ec 100644
--- a/locale/circuitpython.pot
+++ b/locale/circuitpython.pot
@@ -3711,7 +3711,7 @@ msgid "threshold must be in the range 0-65536"
 msgstr ""
 
 #: shared-bindings/rgbmatrix/RGBMatrix.c
-msgid "tile must be greater than or equal to zero"
+msgid "tile must be greater than zero"
 msgstr ""
 
 #: shared-bindings/time/__init__.c
diff --git a/shared-bindings/rgbmatrix/RGBMatrix.c b/shared-bindings/rgbmatrix/RGBMatrix.c
index 3b2039e4d1..2a81bb53c2 100644
--- a/shared-bindings/rgbmatrix/RGBMatrix.c
+++ b/shared-bindings/rgbmatrix/RGBMatrix.c
@@ -214,9 +214,9 @@ STATIC mp_obj_t rgbmatrix_rgbmatrix_make_new(const mp_obj_type_t *type, size_t n
 
     int tile = args[ARG_tile].u_int;
 
-    if (tile < 0) {
+    if (tile <= 0) {
         mp_raise_ValueError_varg(
-            translate("tile must be greater than or equal to zero"));
+            translate("tile must be greater than zero"));
     }
 
     int computed_height = (rgb_count / 3) * (1 << (addr_count)) * tile;