handhelds/tabletops US market 77-84

[christianscott27]

sorry for the clunky sounding subject line, what i mean by it is "help me complete a list of companies who released handheld/tabletop games on the US market during the classic era 1977-1984" or to break it down even further "i'm trying to make a database of all the games a US shopper could have picked up back then and first i'm making a list of the companies"

its important for my purposes to stick with companies that served the US market, including asian and euro games would take the list from long to endless. the games i'm talking about as "handhelds/tabletops" include things along the lines of the mattel football games and the coleco pac man mini arcade games. i'm not talking about electronic toys such as simon or electro mechanical toys like tomy's daring driver, the game must have a SCREEN of some sort. the screen should be LCD, VFD, LED etc.

alright with that out of the way heres the list i have so far, can anyone add to it?

COMPANIES THAT MADE HANDHELDS FOR THE US MARKET 1977-84
coleco, mattel, tomy, entex, epoch, bambino, tandy, sears, parker bros., nintendo, tiger
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[vintagegamecrazy]

RadioShack was another big contender back then too. I know because I work there.

Vintagegamecrazy

[christianscott27]

yep da shack issued many games, oddly though they never made the games themselves rather they rebranded other companies machines, in fact they still do that today. there is a bit of confusion with their product line, take astro command for example in the US it was sold under the epoch banner, the radio shack banner and the tandy banner. the trick is that tandy and radio shack are the same company, hence the TRS-80 (tandy radio shack). making matters worse for sorting purposes, the same game was sold in the UK market as a Grandstand game...dont get me started on grandstand, they rebranded damn near everything in the classic era.

so i was including them in the first post as tandy but in fact i do own a copy of the game with RADIO SHACK right on it...
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[den68]

Kenner made an LED football game. Mego had a few, Pulsonic Baseball comes to mind.

[NE146]

Kenner! I used to think they were the shiznit with Star Wars Electronic Battle Command and Live Action Football (where you spun the wheel to make your guy run faster).

How about Lakeside? (they made the electronic version of that game, Perfection). I could probably think of one or two more if I break out some old books or mags later tonight...

[Lady Jaye]

Regarding Tandy: one good example of the third-party makers is Tandy Baseball (circa 1981-1982). I believe that this one was made by Entex, as it resembles Entex Baseball II too much to be a coincidence. Of course, it could be a mere clone, but it'd make sense if it were an actual Entex game. Just like the way Atari released a version of the VCS for Sears.

[slapdash]

There's also Galoob... Possibly Bandai -- I think they branded stuff in the early 80s... though IIRC they were allied with/actually Bambino?? Oh, and US Games! Looks to be the same as the company that made 2600 games by the logo... I think Casio did a couple as well; I'm pretty sure they had a calculator with a boxing game built-in at least.

Are you counting watches? If so, add GCE, and I think Nelsonic (they did the Q*Bert and/or Pac-Man watch(es), right?).

I actually have a list of electronic/handheld games, but I don't have just US or just that age range... Remind me via email and I can pull it out and give it a looksie.

[Achika]

Here's stuff that was in Electronic Plastic.

Tiger, Mattel, Atari, Mego, Lakeside, Milton Bradly, Parker Bros, Entex, Coleco, Tandy, and Radio shack are US developers.

Kenner (General Mills group), Casio, Bandai, Castle.

Also, check out Selchow & Richter for electronic Scrabble games.

I think CS, that Electronic Plastic would benefit parts of your research, it's a gorgeous book. No where near complete, but it's a start.

[IGotTheDot]

Vectrex is a table top (CGE)
I think Tomy was in that time period too. They had the little 3-d games

[Raedon]

I guess then so would a Virtual Boy

[christianscott27]

hmmm see the tricky part of just using a company name and then plugging in all of its games is that many of the companies (the Jp ones) served different markets. casio for example was big on the asian scene but quite limited on the US side, same with epoch and bandai is the worst of them all,

in order to make the list limited and useful to US collectors i've set some guidelines.

*the games must be a one trick pony, no vectrex, no virtual boy, no adventurevision, even though they are stand alones, they take carts and already have their own sections in the guide. no microvision,but i am making an exception for the selecta game since its essentially a series of tabletops using a common base.

*the game must have a playfield, things like merlin, computer perfection and simon fall short of that since they are more like blinking toys than video games.

*nothing word based and/or educational...sorry lil' professor :(

i've checked out electronic plastic and its a great looking book, kinda expensive though...

thanks for all the additional companies, keep em coming, this is going to be a LONG list.
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[game_trek]

Here's a list of all the ones I know:
Coleco, Entex, Epoch, Nintendo, Tomy, CGL(U.K.Frogger),Mattel, Bambino, Parker Bros., Tomytronics, Video Tech., Toytronic, Tiger, Fonas, Bandai, Kenner, Bandai Elec., Tandy and Gakken. Hope that will help.

[slapdash]

*the games must be a one trick pony, no vectrex, no virtual boy, no adventurevision, even though they are stand alones, they take carts and already have their own sections in the guide. no microvision,but i am making an exception for the selecta game since its essentially a series of tabletops using a common base.

Hmm... I'd leave Select-A-Game out myself, but I see your point I guess. There's also that Coleco (I think) sports handheld that switched screens -- Total Control.


*the game must have a playfield, things like merlin, computer perfection and simon fall short of that since they are more like blinking toys than video games.

This seems kind of silly to me too, though I know with games like Tomy's Blip it gets even weirder. I'd say what we're talking about are electronic games, which acts as kind of a bridge between toys and videogames, you know? Why not include those too?

What about Dark Tower, Arcade Mania, Stop Thief! and other board game based electronic games? Someone else already mentioned Lakeside Intercept.

I'm not sure about Computer Perfection -- wasn't the only thing electronic about that the timer? I admit, that's one even *I* might leave out...


*nothing word based and/or educational...sorry lil' professor :(

I think these could warrant their own sections, but... Man, is finding info going to be tough! I don't know of anyone who collects that stuff in a big way, and it doesn't seem to pop up all that often either. Oh well. Dataman will just have to stay in my fond memories for now...

[christianscott27]

what include or count as a game is in the end a matter of opinion, i use the playfield as the make or break factor, others might look at it differently. heres my self serving analogy-

say i told you i was writing a guide to arcade video games, would you expect it to include skee-ball in pinball? ok lets say the games have to have a screen, would you expect it to cover those triva countertop games? everyone pretty much agrees what an arcade video game is since its a more established field of interest, tabletop games are not so well defined.

its a hard definition to stick with, i'd like to include touch me and simon, two games created by the undisputed fathers of video games, bushnell and baer but by my standards they are toys...

anyways i dont have the final word here, i'm just making a list to help out completists like myself.
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[den68]

check this site out:

http://users2.ev1.net/~rik1138/index.html

I've got quite a few handhelds and go here for info. contributed a few pictures as well.

[Lady Jaye]

@Chris Scott: Chris, when it comes to Radio Shack/Tandy and Sears, would you consider them as a standalone brand, or would you consider the different companies who made the games for them (ie. Bandai, Entex, etc.)?

[christianscott27]

the guide will run A-Z rather than by company listing so you'll see the Radio Shack/Tandy games mixed in there. where applicable the will be an "also known as" AKA note such as you see in the atari 2600 section of the DP guide. if a game was released by more than one company in the US, as is the case with astro command (epoch and tandy) both will have their own listings. when a US released game has overseas AKAs they will only be mentioned in the US games listing.
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[slapdash]

what include or count as a game is in the end a matter of opinion, i use the playfield as the make or break factor.

Might I make a suggestion then -- break it down further by screen type -- LED, LCD or VFD (I think that pretty well covers it, and in fact it sounds like you might be leaving out LED games too).


i'm just making a list to help out completists like myself.

That's kind of my point... Leaving out games like Merlin & Touch Me is going to confuse other completists...

Oh well, no biggie. I guess the secret is to be very up front about your criteria in this case -- such that I wouldn't call the section "Handhelds & Tabletops", but rather "LCD & VFD electronic games".

Heh, of course, if you do that, then you may have to consider including the game that Coca-Cola built into their Coke machines, since they had the LCD screen. They just weren't anyhow portable! :-)

[christianscott27]

Might I make a suggestion then -- break it down further by screen type -- LED, LCD or VFD (I think that pretty well covers it, and in fact it sounds like you might be leaving out LED games too).

yes thats going to be in there, screen types include the ones you mention as well as CLCD (color LCD as in donkey jr.).

LCD games will be on the list where they fit into the era covered, its another tough call since there are more LCD games than any other format. the trouble is that LCD games continued thru the 80's, 90's and even now with those brick out 1000 in 1 games (you know the funny games that look like a PS controller). some time in the future i think it would cool to add a section on these LCD games, tiger made a lot of games that directly relate to sega, NES and arcade titles and they deserve mention, just not right now.

i count LED games, even the ones like entex baseball where the playfield consists of drawn in diamond and LEDs on the bases and outfield.

i'm kind of suprised theres so much to say about this part of guide, i've collected these games for a long time and just developed this definition that i thought was more or less easy to grasp. a toy is a toy and video game is a video game, merlin is a toy isnt it? just becasue something has batteries and lights doesnt make it a video game, i wouldnt call stop thief or dark tower a video game..but anyways lets read what another person who made this effort had to say on the definition of a handheld, Clint Dyer- the author of the handheld FAQ (1998)

Does a handheld have to be held in your hands?
No, a handheld can sit on a table, the floor or your wrist for that matter. Although most handhelds, like video game controllers, are indeed held in the hands.

Does a handheld have to take batteries?
Yes...and no! In order for a game to be classified as a handheld, it must use batteries. It can contain motors, but they must be powered by batteries. You won't find a game on this list that doesn't have normal batteries of some sort, except in the case of solar power and AC only games.

Does a handheld have to have lights (lcd's, led's, lights, vfd's)?
No. Some games that I would classify as handhelds have no lights. A more important description is that they have to have some kind of interaction with the user, whether it be lights, sounds or anything else.

What would I consider to be a game?
I consider a game to be anything that the user has to interact with. It can mean shooting down aliens, scoring touchdowns and avoiding bad guys, or it can mean drawing and making music

so there you have it, clint had a more open definition and included educational and light toy games...
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[slapdash]

Might I make a suggestion then -- break it down further by screen type -- LED, LCD or VFD (I think that pretty well covers it, and in fact it sounds like you might be leaving out LED games too).

yes thats going to be in there, screen types include the ones you mention as well as CLCD (color LCD as in donkey jr.).

I don't mean "in there", I mean break it into separate sections -- "Electronic Games: LCD" (which would include CLCD), "Electronic Games: VFD" & "Electronic Games: LED". Three sections instead of just one. (Not sure what to do with games with an actual bulb though, like Galoob Space Chaser -- probably include with LEDs in that section though).


i count LED games, even the ones like entex baseball where the playfield consists of drawn in diamond and LEDs on the bases and outfield.

i'm kind of suprised theres so much to say about this part of guide, i've collected these games for a long time and just developed this definition that i thought was more or less easy to grasp. a toy is a toy and video game is a video game, merlin is a toy isnt it?

Not in my mind. A puzzle, maybe, instead of a game, but definitely not a toy. I would DEFINITELY include it with other LED games if I were making that section.


just becasue something has batteries and lights doesnt make it a video game, i wouldnt call stop thief or dark tower a video game.

Well, but NONE of these are videogames. That's why I keep saying "Electronic Games" instead, and rather than "Handhelds".

[NE146]

yeah I've ALWAYS called them "Electronic Games" :) I think it was only after the Gameboy that I started using the term "handheld".

[christianscott27]

now that i've gotten further along in compiling the section i've decided to loosen up some of the rules that i've spent so many keystrokes going over in posts above. a lot of games, and game makers put out things that are so borderline toy/videogame i'd rather include them for the sake of being complete than spend a lot of time breaking things down like a birdwatcher..
i'm still using an a-z format that includes all display types, it works best with the database i'm using and i think it will serve the reader best- for example bambinos VFD superstar football, that belongs with all the other LED football games. since the screen type will be listed in the description so that info will be there for people to use.
i'm really enjoying the process so far, its a rich area of gaming that deserves as good a guide as i can make. theres a lot of information to track down still, i've already uncovered a dozen or so games not found on the major handheld sites and i know there will be more.

so anyways russ, i'm hoping to set up sort of a "peer review" process for this guide. in other words if you're interested i could send you copies of the works in progress for you to give feedback and suggestions on...interested?
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[slapdash]

so anyways russ, i'm hoping to set up sort of a "peer review" process for this guide. in other words if you're interested i could send you copies of the works in progress for you to give feedback and suggestions on...interested?

Sure thing, with a couple caveats:

1) I'm not as knowledgeable about these games as some other collectors; I sure wish Kurt Stone and Clint Dyer were still active...

2) I won't always have to time to do a good job and/or a fast job of reviewing things...

But other than that, I'm happy to help where I can.

[christianscott27]

sounds good, when the document reaches 80% or so i'll send it to you as a PDF, in the standard DP template. i can understand that no one has the time to go over it line by line, what i'm looking for is more of someone to sound out the feel of the guide. are the prices in line with what you have found, scarcity. what you'd like to see in terms of the descriptions, since thats really the only editorial area, everything else is just the facts. i'm hoping to be at that point of completion by the end of next week. i'll get back in touch with you then.

if anybody else cares to some "beta-reading" let me know.
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