Today the internet once again proved to be the best thing ever. At least for a 40 year old techie guy in the mood for reminiscing.
These are several of the toys of my youth, and in many cases, my introduction to the world of personal electronic entertainment:
Tomy Digital Derby: Ahh.. scrolling transparent tape and a mechanical wheel. That’s all I needed!
Entex Soccer: It was no Coleco product that’s for sure. Even then I had taste and this left a sour one. But I didn’t turn it down at Christmas.
Coleco QuizWhiz: Yes, this was one of my parent’s earliest attempts at ‘educational’ toys. Mind you I didn’t love it, but I didn’t absolutely hate it either.
Einstein (by Castle Toy): The cool kids got a Simon. I got Einstein, a cheap rip-off clone. You might as well have bought my running shoes at the grocery store.
Coleco Pac-Man: It even looked like the arcade machine! Need anyone say more?
Coleco Alien Attack: Technically, this was my brother’s game. But when he wasn’t busy punching me in the gut, he let me play it. It was built like a tank, but man was it addictive. I can remember the tinny music inevitably speeding up as we ascended the levels. Awesome, absolutely awesome.
Coleco Electronic Quarterback: This was THE game. Everybody seemed to have this one. Except me. I’d like to think it was because I was so individualistic, but it wasn’t. I played it a lot though, even though I didn’t own one. I remember the thin red led’s and the massively stiff clicking buttons. So simple, but it held you there like a crack habit.
Were you ever part of the era of early handheld electronic games? What did you play?
Thanks to the Handheld Game Museum for all the wonderful images and info. You made my day people! Check it out to see if you can find some of the toys of your youth…
Also very interesting (for windows folks anyway), is Peter Hirschberg’s LEDHead handheld game simulator.
Ha! I had the Coleco Pac-Man and Electronic Quarterback games as a kid. Played the crap out of them too. I also had a Merlin and a Simon too…’member those?
Einstein was my poor excuse for a Simon (and for a Merlin too I guess). Although I had tons of toys, I always remember the ones I didn’t have: Operation, Lite-Brite, and Atari 2600 to name a few… grumble grumble
Late poster here. My older brother had electronic Quarterback. i got “Blip”. from the same peoplewho brought us digital derby. also had coleco “Zap”. Mattel electronic hockey and Entex space invaders. Ok, i’ll fess up. ive started collecting the things. once a geek……….